Volleyball

Volleyball World sets 2023 beach schedule, no U.S. stops but two in Canada

January 19, 2023

The 2023 beach volleyball schedule is set.

It’s more than just a schedule, too, as Volleyball World’s Beach Pro Tour is also the path to the Paris Olympics. This season marks the first year of Olympic qualifying, and the 16-month window to punch a ticket to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games begins in just two weeks, with the Beach Pro Tour’s season-opening event in Doha, Qatar on February 1.

That Elite 16, which comes on the heels of the 2022 World Tour Finals next weekend, features just two American teams on the men’s side. Theo Brunner and Trevor Crabb will be making their debut as a pair, and are currently seeded fifth in the qualifier. Evan Cory and Logan Webber, reunited after a season away from one another, are currently No. 12 in the qualifier. On the women’s end, Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes are seeded second in the main draw, while Terese Cannon and Sarah Sponcil are No. 11. In the qualifier are Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth, and Emily Stockman and Megan Kraft. Betsi Flint and Julia Scoles, who were initially seeded into the main draw, dropped out.

After Doha, there will be a month-long break before the Beach Pro Tour resumes, resembling something the players have long been waiting for: A true tour. For years, the World Tour has been a bit of a misnomer in that it didn’t resemble a tour so much as it did a scatterplot. Players would travel from Brazil to China to Europe with little to no discernible order.

Volleyball World has changed that.

This season, there will be consecutive stops in Mexico, in La Paz and Tepic, before a month straight in Brazil, as Volleyball World will hit Itapema, Saquarema, and Uberlandia. A month later, Europe follows, hitting traditional stops in the Czech Republic, Latvia, Switzerland, and Portugal.

In July, professional beach volleyball alas returns to North America, as Canada is set to host consecutive events, in Edmonton and Montreal.

It gets spotty from there, as Hamburg will host the only major tournament — as of now — in August, and Paris the only event in September. The Maldives, which hosted its first professional event last fall, is again on the fall schedule, hosting a Challenge at the end of October. It kicks off an Asian swing, as China will host the following weekend, which precedes Dubai, the host of back to back Challenge events in 2022. Australia, host of three events in 2022, will again be on the November slate, as will the Philippines, which has hosted a number of smaller — one-stars and Futures — events in recent years, and is now upgrading to a Challenge.

It will all culminate, once more, in Doha, Qatar, for the 2023 World Tour Finals on December 7-10.

“The first season of the Beach Pro Tour has seen the world’s best teams compete at the highest level and we are looking forward to building on that success in the competition’s second season in 2023,” Volleyball World CEO Finn Taylor said. “The interest from fans — both inside arenas and watching on TV and Volleyball World TV — shows the popularity is growing. The audience numbers around the globe particularly highlight the fact that beach volleyball continues to be an amazing product for sports fans to watch.

“We are taking beach volleyball to fans in all corners of the world next season and the 2023 calendar represents a great opportunity for fans of all ages to rub shoulders with Olympic and world champions in some truly breathtaking locations.”