The men's tournament in volleyball at the 2020 Summer Olympics was the 15th edition of the event at the Summer Olympics, organised by the world's governing body, the FIVB, in conjunction with the IOC. It was held in Tokyo, Japan from 24 July to 7 August 2021.[1] It was originally scheduled to take place from 25 July to 8 August 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the IOC and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee announced on 24 March 2020 that the 2020 Summer Olympics would be delayed to 2021.[2] Because of this pandemic, all matches were played behind closed doors.[3]
France won their first gold and overall medal with a 3–2 win over the Russian team that competed as the ROC.[4]Argentina won the bronze medal in a narrow 3–2 victory over Brazil.[5]
The preliminary round was a competition between the twelve teams, who were divided into two pools of six teams. This round, the teams competed in a single round-robin format. The four highest ranked teams in each pool advanced to the knockout stage (quarterfinals).
The knockout stage followed the single-elimination format. The losers of the quarterfinals were eliminated. The quarterfinal winners played in the semifinals. The winners of the semifinals competed for gold medal and the losers played for bronze medal.[7]
Pools composition
Teams were seeded following the serpentine system according to their FIVB World Ranking as of 15 October 2019.[8] FIVB reserved the right to seed the hosts as head of pool A regardless of the World Ranking. Rankings are shown in brackets except the hosts who ranked 10th. The pools were confirmed on 31 January 2020.[9]
In order to establish the ranking of teams after the group stage, the following criteria should be implemented:[10]
Number of matches won
Match points
Sets ratio
Points ratio
Result of the last match between the tied teams
Match won 3–0 or 3–1: 3 match points for the winner, 0 match points for the loser
Match won 3–2: 2 match points for the winner, 1 match point for the loser
Referees
The following referees were selected for the tournament.[11]
The first ranked teams of both pools played against the fourth ranked teams of the other pool. The second ranked teams faced the second or third ranked teams of the other pool, determined by drawing of lots. The drawing of lots was held after the last match in the preliminary round.[7][12]
_pictogram.svg){kind=small}
_pictogram.svg){kind=small}
