Volleyball at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament

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]

Men's volleyball at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
Venue	Ariake Arena
Date	24 July – 7 August 2021
Competitors	144 from 12 nations
Medalists
France (1st title)  ROC  Argentina
← 2016 2024 →

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 medals for the competition were presented by Bernard Rajzman, IOC Member, Olympian, and Silver Medalist, Brazil; and the medalists' bouquets were presented by Ary Graça, FIVB President; Brazil.

Competition schedule

P

Preliminary round

¼

Quarterfinals

½

Semifinals

B

Bronze medal match

F

Final

Sat 24	Sun 25	Mon 26	Tue 27	Wed 28	Thu 29	Fri 30	Sat 31	Sun 1	Mon 2	Tue 3		Wed 4		Thu 5		Fri 6	Sat 7
P		P		P		P		P		¼				½			B	F

Qualification

Main article: Volleyball at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's qualification

Event		Dates	Venue(s)	Quota	Qualifier(s)
Host nation[6]		—		1	Japan
Intercontinental Qualifier	Pool A	9–11 August 2019	Varna	1	Brazil
	Pool B		Rotterdam	1	United States
	Pool C		Bari	1	Italy
	Pool D		Gdańsk–Sopot	1	Poland
	Pool E		Saint Petersburg	1	ROC
	Pool F		Ningbo	1	Argentina
European Qualifier		5–10 January 2020	Berlin	1	France
Asian Qualifier		7–12 January 2020	Jiangmen	1	Iran
African Qualifier		7–11 January 2020	Cairo	1	Tunisia
South American Qualifier		10–12 January 2020	Mostazal	1	Venezuela
North American Qualifier		10–12 January 2020	Vancouver	1	Canada
Total				12

Format

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]

Pool A	Pool B
Japan (Hosts)	Brazil (1)
Poland (3)	United States (2)
Italy (4)	ROC (5)
Canada (7)	Argentina (6)
Iran (8)	France (9)
Venezuela (36)	Tunisia (22)

Rosters

Main article: Volleyball at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's team rosters

Venue

All matches
Tokyo, Japan
Ariake Arena
Capacity: 15,000

Pool standing procedure

In order to establish the ranking of teams after the group stage, the following criteria should be implemented:^[10]

1. Number of matches won
2. Match points
3. Sets ratio
4. Points ratio
5. 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]

• Hernán Casamiquela
• Paulo Turci
• Liu Jiang
• Denny Cespedes
• Fabrice Collados
• Daniele Rapisarda
• Shin Muranaka
• Sumie Myoi
• Luis Macias
• Wojciech Maroszek
• Evgeny Makshanov
• Vladimir Simonović
• Juraj Mokrý
• Kang Joo-hee
• Susana Rodríguez
• Hamid Al-Rousi
• Patricia Rolf

Preliminary round

• All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+09:00).
• The top four teams in each pool qualified for the quarterfinals.

Pool A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	Pts	SW	SL	SR	SPW	SPL	SPR	Qualification
1	Poland	5	4	1	13	14	4	3.500	435	365	1.192	Quarterfinals
2	Italy	5	4	1	11	12	7	1.714	447	411	1.088
3	Japan (H)	5	3	2	8	10	9	1.111	437	433	1.009
4	Canada	5	2	3	7	9	9	1.000	396	387	1.023
5	Iran	5	2	3	6	9	11	0.818	453	460	0.985
6	Venezuela	5	0	5	0	1	15	0.067	281	393	0.715

Source: Tokyo 2020 and FIVB
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(H) Host

24 July 2021 (2021-07-24) 09:00 v	Italy	3–2	Canada	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Evgeny Makshanov (RUS), Liu Jiang (CHN)
	(26–28, 18–25, 25–21, 25–18, 15–11) Results Statistics

24 July 2021 (2021-07-24) 17:05 v	Japan	3–0	Venezuela	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Luis Macias (MEX), Vladimir Simonovic (SRB)
	(25–21, 25–20, 25–15) Results Statistics

24 July 2021 (2021-07-24) 19:40 v	Poland	2–3	Iran	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Daniele Rapisarda (ITA), Juraj Mokrý (SVK)
	(25–18, 22–25, 22–25, 25–22, 21–23) Results Statistics

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26 July 2021 (2021-07-26) 09:00 v	Iran	3–0	Venezuela	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Hernán Casamiquela (ARG), Susana Rodríguez (ESP)
	(25–17, 25–20, 25–18) Results Statistics

26 July 2021 (2021-07-26) 14:20 v	Poland	3–0	Italy	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Paulo Turci (BRA), Denny Cespedes (DOM)
	(25–20, 26–24, 25–20) Results Statistics

26 July 2021 (2021-07-26) 19:40 v	Japan	3–1	Canada	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Daniele Rapisarda (ITA), Patricia Rolf (USA)
	(23–25, 25–23, 25–23, 25–20) Results Statistics

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28 July 2021 (2021-07-28) 09:00 v	Canada	3–0	Iran	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Luis Macias (MEX), Paulo Turci (BRA)
	(25–16, 25–20, 25–22) Results Statistics

28 July 2021 (2021-07-28) 17:15 v	Poland	3–1	Venezuela	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Hamid Al-Rousi (UAE), Shin Muranaka (JPN)
	(25–16, 25–13, 18–25, 25–15) Results Statistics

28 July 2021 (2021-07-28) 19:40 v	Japan	1–3	Italy	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Juraj Mokrý (SVK), Fabrice Collados (FRA)
	(20–25, 17–25, 25–23, 21–25) Results Statistics

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30 July 2021 (2021-07-30) 09:00 v	Canada	3–0	Venezuela	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Patricia Rolf (USA), Susana Rodríguez (ESP)
	(25–13, 25–22, 25–12) Results Statistics

30 July 2021 (2021-07-30) 14:20 v	Japan	0–3	Poland	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Hernán Casamiquela (ARG), Liu Jiang (CHN)
	(22–25, 21–25, 24–26) Results Statistics

30 July 2021 (2021-07-30) 19:40 v	Italy	3–1	Iran	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Vladimir Simonović (SRB), Denny Cespedes (DOM)
	(30–28, 25–21, 21–25, 25–21) Results Statistics

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1 August 2021 (2021-08-01) 09:00 v	Poland	3–0	Canada	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Paulo Turci (BRA), Hamid Al-Rousi (UAE)
	(25–15, 25–21, 25–16) Results Statistics

1 August 2021 (2021-08-01) 16:25 v	Italy	3–0	Venezuela	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Hernán Casamiquela (ARG), Sumie Myoi (JPN)
	(25–22, 25–15, 25–17) Results Statistics

1 August 2021 (2021-08-01) 19:40 v	Japan	3–2	Iran	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Juraj Mokrý (SVK), Daniele Rapisarda (ITA)
	(25–21, 20–25, 29–31, 25–22, 15–13) Results Statistics

Pool B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	Pts	SW	SL	SR	SPW	SPL	SPR	Qualification
1	ROC	5	4	1	12	13	5	2.600	427	397	1.076	Quarterfinals
2	Brazil	5	4	1	10	12	8	1.500	476	450	1.058
3	Argentina	5	3	2	8	12	10	1.200	476	464	1.026
4	France	5	2	3	8	10	10	1.000	449	442	1.016
5	United States	5	2	3	6	8	10	0.800	432	412	1.049
6	Tunisia	5	0	5	1	3	15	0.200	339	434	0.781

Source: Tokyo 2020 and FIVB
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

24 July 2021 (2021-07-24) 12:02 v	Brazil	3–0	Tunisia	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Hamid Al-Rousi (UAE), Fabrice Collados (FRA)
	(25–22, 25–20, 25–15) Results Statistics

24 July 2021 (2021-07-24) 14:20 v	ROC	3–1	Argentina	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Denny Cespedes (DOM), Paulo Turci (BRA)
	(21–25, 25–23, 25–17, 25–21) Results Statistics

24 July 2021 (2021-07-24) 23:00 v	United States	3–0	France	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Wojciech Maroszek (POL), Hernán Casamiquela (ARG)
	(25–18, 25–18, 25–22) Results Statistics

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26 July 2021 (2021-07-26) 11:05 v	United States	1–3	ROC	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Juraj Mokrý (SVK), Liu Jiang (CHN)
	(23–25, 25–27, 25–21, 23–25) Results Statistics

26 July 2021 (2021-07-26) 16:25 v	France	3–0	Tunisia	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Vladimir Simonović (SRB), Kang Joo-hee (KOR)
	(25–21, 25–11, 25–21) Results Statistics

26 July 2021 (2021-07-26) 22:25 v	Brazil	3–2	Argentina	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Shin Muranaka (JPN), Luis Macias (MEX)
	(19–25, 21–25, 25–16, 25–21, 16–14) Results Statistics

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28 July 2021 (2021-07-28) 11:05 v	United States	3–1	Tunisia	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Evgeny Makshanov (RUS), Sumie Myoi (JPN)
	(25–14, 23–25, 25–14, 25–23) Results Statistics

28 July 2021 (2021-07-28) 14:20 v	Argentina	3–2	France	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Liu Jiang (CHN), Daniele Rapisarda (ITA)
	(23–25, 25–17, 25–20, 15–25, 15–13) Results Statistics

28 July 2021 (2021-07-28) 22:16 v	Brazil	0–3	ROC	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Wojciech Maroszek (POL), Vladimir Simonović (SRB)
	(22–25, 20–25, 20–25) Results Statistics

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30 July 2021 (2021-07-30) 11:05 v	Brazil	3–1	United States	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Daniele Rapisarda (ITA), Luis Macias (MEX)
	(30–32, 25–23, 25–21, 25–20) Results Statistics

30 July 2021 (2021-07-30) 16:30 v	Argentina	3–2	Tunisia	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Juraj Mokrý (SVK), Wojciech Maroszek (POL)
	(23–25, 23–25, 25–19, 25–18, 15–8) Results Statistics

30 July 2021 (2021-07-30) 22:35 v	ROC	1–3	France	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Shin Muranaka (JPN), Paulo Turci (BRA)
	(21–25, 25–20, 17–25, 20–25) Results Statistics

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1 August 2021 (2021-08-01) 11:05 v	Brazil	3–2	France	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Wojciech Maroszek (POL), Liu Jiang (CHN)
	(25–22, 37–39, 25–17, 21–25, 20–18) Results Statistics

1 August 2021 (2021-08-01) 14:25 v	ROC	3–0	Tunisia	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Luis Macias (MEX), Patricia Rolf (USA)
	(25–20, 25–22, 25–16) Results Statistics

1 August 2021 (2021-08-01) 23:00 v	United States	0–3	Argentina	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Denny Cespedes (DOM), Vladimir Simonović (SRB)
	(21–25, 23–25, 23–25) Results Statistics

Knockout stage

• All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+09:00).
• 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]

Bracket

	Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Gold medal match
	3 August
	Poland	2
					5 August
	France	3
					France	3
	3 August
					Argentina	0
	Italy	2
									7 August
	Argentina	3
									France	3
	3 August
									ROC	2
	Japan	0
					5 August
	Brazil	3
					Brazil	1
	3 August
					ROC	3			Bronze medal match
	Canada	0
									7 August
	ROC	3
									Argentina	3
									Brazil	2

Quarterfinals

3 August 2021 (2021-08-03) 09:00 v	Canada	0–3	ROC	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Hernán Casamiquela (ARG), Shin Muranaka (JPN)
	(21–25, 28–30, 22–25) Results Statistics

3 August 2021 (2021-08-03) 13:00 v	Japan	0–3	Brazil	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Denny Cespedes (DOM), Liu Jiang (CHN)
	(20–25, 22–25, 20–25) Results Statistics

3 August 2021 (2021-08-03) 17:01 v	Italy	2–3	Argentina	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Vladimir Simonović (SRB), Wojciech Maroszek (POL)
	(25–21, 23–25, 22–25, 25–14, 12–15) Results Statistics

3 August 2021 (2021-08-03) 21:30 v	Poland	2–3	France	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Juraj Mokrý (SVK), Daniele Rapisarda (ITA)
	(25–21, 22–25, 25–21, 21–25, 9–15) Results Statistics

Semifinals

5 August 2021 (2021-08-05) 13:00 v	Brazil	1–3	ROC	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Daniele Rapisarda (ITA), Wojciech Maroszek (POL)
	(25–18, 21–25, 24–26, 23–25) Results Statistics

5 August 2021 (2021-08-05) 21:00 v	France	3–0	Argentina	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Shin Muranaka (JPN), Liu Jiang (CHN)
	(25–22, 25–19, 25–22) Results Statistics

Bronze medal match

7 August 2021 (2021-08-07) 13:31 v	Argentina	3–2	Brazil	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Wojciech Maroszek (POL), Fabrice Collados (FRA)
	(25–23, 20–25, 20–25, 25–17, 15–13) Results Statistics

Gold medal match

7 August 2021 (2021-08-07) 21:15 v	France	3–2	ROC	Ariake Arena, Tokyo Referees: Vladimir Simonović (SRB), Paulo Turci (BRA)
	(25–23, 25–17, 21–25, 21–25, 15–12) Results Statistics

Final standing

Rank Team[13][14]  France  ROC  Argentina 4  Brazil 5  Poland 6  Italy 7  Japan 8  Canada 9  Iran 10  United States 11  Tunisia 12  Venezuela

2020 Men's Olympic champions  France First title 12–man Roster Barthélémy Chinenyeze, Jenia Grebennikov (L), Jean Patry, Benjamin Toniutti (c), Kévin Tillie, Earvin N'Gapeth, Antoine Brizard, Stéphen Boyer, Nicolas Le Goff, Daryl Bultor, Trévor Clévenot, Yacine Louati Head coach Laurent Tillie

Medalists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
France (FRA) Barthélémy Chinenyeze Jenia Grebennikov (L) Jean Patry Benjamin Toniutti (c) Kévin Tillie Earvin N'Gapeth Antoine Brizard Stéphen Boyer Nicolas Le Goff Daryl Bultor Trévor Clévenot Yacine Louati Head coach: Laurent Tillie	ROC Yaroslav Podlesnykh Artem Volvich Dmitry Volkov Ivan Iakovlev Denis Bogdan Pavel Pankov Viktor Poletaev Maxim Mikhaylov Egor Kliuka Ilyas Kurkaev Igor Kobzar (c) Valentin Golubev (L) Head coach: Tuomas Sammelvuo	Argentina (ARG) Matías Sánchez Federico Pereyra Cristian Poglajen Facundo Conte Agustín Loser Santiago Danani (L) Sebastián Solé Bruno Lima Ezequiel Palacios Luciano De Cecco (c) Nicolás Méndez Martín Ramos Head coach: Marcelo Méndez

Awards

The awards were announced on 7 August 2021.^[13][15]

Position	Player
Most valuable player	Earvin N'Gapeth
Setter	Luciano De Cecco
Outside hitters	Earvin N'Gapeth
	Egor Kliuka
Middle blockers	Ivan Iakovlev
	Barthélémy Chinenyeze
Opposite spiker	Maxim Mikhaylov
Libero	Jenia Grebennikov

Statistics leaders

• Only players whose teams advanced to the semifinals were ranked.

Best Scorers Rank Name Points 1 Bruno Lima 138 2 Earvin N'Gapeth 136 3 Jean Patry 135 4 Maksim Mikhaylov 130 5 Facundo Conte 125

Best Spikers Rank Name %Eff 1 Jean Patry 42.06 2 Trévor Clévenot 34.03 3 Maksim Mikhaylov 33.33 4 Yoandy Leal 33.16 5 Ricardo Lucarelli 32.37 Best Blockers Rank Name Avg 1 Ivan Iakovlev 0.70 2 Lucas Saatkamp 0.66 3 Agustín Loser 0.63 4 Barthélémy Chinenyeze 0.61 Nicolas Le Goff Best Servers Rank Name Avg 1 Ricardo Lucarelli 0.38 2 Bruno Lima 0.26 3 Antoine Brizard 0.24 4 Egor Kliuka 0.23 5 Jean Patry 0.21

Best Diggers Rank Name Avg 1 Thales Hoss 2.25 2 Jenia Grebennikov 1.94 3 Valentin Golubev 1.73 4 Santiago Danani 1.66 5 Bruno Rezende 1.22 Best Setters Rank Name Avg 1 Bruno Rezende 10.78 2 Luciano De Cecco 10.34 3 Igor Kobzar 8.73 4 Antoine Brizard 7.09 5 Benjamin Toniutti 4.12 Best Receivers Rank Name %Succ 1 Thales Hoss 73.15 2 Santiago Danani 67.08 3 Egor Kliuka 66.67 4 Trévor Clévenot 64.74 5 Facundo Conte 62.56

Source: Olympics.com

See also

• Olympic Games portal

• Volleyball at the Summer Olympics
• Volleyball at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament
• Beach volleyball at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament
• Sitting volleyball at the 2020 Summer Paralympics - Men's tournament