The return of the Prime Volleyball League for its second season has now been marked by some big news: the Volleyball World Club World Championship (CWC), run by world body FIVB, will be hosted in India for the next two years.
This comes with incentives for PVL 2023 and PVL 2024 winners to participate in the CWC for the respective years.
It’s a huge deal for a country that isn’t exactly at the forefront of global volleyball: a unique opportunity for fans to see some of the world’s best volleyball players in the flesh. For players, this is an incredible opportunity to test their skills and measure them against the highest possible benchmark.
It is also a major milestone for the new league.
The Prime Volleyball League was born after an initial franchise-based league called the Pro Volleyball League was launched and canceled after a dispute between the promoters, Baseline Enterprises, and the Volleyball Federation of India. This led to a long legal battle and the promoters eventually won.
The current iteration is being run without the VFI, with only promoters and franchise owners as stakeholders. Top Indian players choosing to go with the Prime Volleyball League have already clearly emphasized its legitimacy, but the FIVB has helped go a step further. With CWC, the new PVL has gained credibility internationally.
The World Championships were initially launched in 1989 and ran until 1993 before a long hiatus. The FIVB revived it in 2009 and has run it every year since. There have been 17 editions so far, with Italian clubs winning 11 times, Brazil 4 times and Serbian and Russian clubs 1 time each.
Italy’s Trentino are the most successful team in the competition’s history, winning five times; Brazil’s Sada Cruzeiro is second with four titles. Sir Safety Susa Perugia of Italy is the defending champion.
The current format of the tournament pits the winners of the European, African, Asian and South American continental club championships against each other along with the host country/city team and a nominated team from North America. Runners from European and South American championships will also participate. The number of participating teams can be changed with wild cards: defending champions Perugia were a wild card entry in the 2022 edition, which had eight teams.
Meanwhile, PVL Season 2, which begins in Bengaluru on February 4, will add a new franchise to the Mumbai Meteors roster. It joins Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Calicut, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kochi as franchise cities in the league.
PVL 2023 will be played in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kochi and the final match will be held in Kochi on March 5.
