2026 Sitting Volleyball World Championships – Men's event

For the equivalent women's tournament, see 2026 Sitting Volleyball World Championships – Women's event.
2026 Sitting Volleyball World Championships
2026 年坐式排球世界锦标赛
Tournament details
Host nation China
CityHangzhou
Dates10–17 July
Teams16 (from 4 confederations)
Venue(s)1 (in 1 host city)

The 2026 Sitting Volleyball World Championships – Men's event is the 14th edition of the quadrennial world championship, contested by the senior men's national sitting volleyball teams, sanctioned by World ParaVolley. It will be held in Hangzhou, China from 10 to 17 July 2026, marking the first time the event is held in the country and the first time it will be held in East Asia.

16 teams will take part for the third time since the expansion in 2018. Hosts China automatically qualified as hosts. Qualification took place between May and November 2025, with continental, world tournaments and rankings being used as qualification. Thailand will make their debut.

The winners secure a ticket to the 2028 Summer Paralympics.

Iran are the defending champions, after beating Bosnia and Herzegovina 3–0 in the 2022 final in Sarajevo.

Host selection

After withdrawing from hosting the 2022 edition, Hangzhou was given the 2026 hosting rights instead.[1] Hangzhou had already been stated as the host on the events section of the World ParaVolley website but it was made official in July 2025. This marks the first time the event is held in the country and the first and second time it will be held in East Asia and Asia respectively.

Quotes

“We sincerely appreciate WPV’s trust and support in entrusting us with hosting the 2026 WPV Sitting Volleyball World Championship! We will go all out, prepare with great care, and strive to present a wonderful and successful sports event!”

— Lu Cailiang, president of ParaVolley Asia-Oceania and director of the World ParaVolley Development Centre, Hangzhou.

“After an extensive dialogue with the local organizing committee we are extremely happy to announce the contract signature for the 2026 Sitting Volleyball World Championships for Women and Men. Hangzhou has already successfully hosted this year’s ParaVolley Asia-Oceania Zonal Championships. The Worlds will kick us off into the qualification race for the LA28 Paralympics – so we can expect thrilling matches for the global crown and for the first tickets to LA28 to be awarded.”

— Juergen Schrapp, President of World ParaVolley.

“I am excited that the 2026 World Championships will be held in Hangzhou, China. It’s the first time the World Championships have been held in Asia, the first of our LA28 qualification events, and the first time that the challenge system will be used at this level of event. It is a great facility, so we expect some spectacular matches between our teams that have already been qualifying via their 2025 Zonal Championships.

— Stephen Giugni, Sport Director of World ParaVolley.

Preparations

  • On 29 July 2025, the host contract was signed.[2]

Qualification

Slot allocation

16 teams will take part for the third time since the expansion in 2018. Hosts China automatically qualified as hosts. Qualification took place between May and November 2025, with continental, world tournaments and rankings being used as qualification. A total of 32 countries took part in qualification, excluding Iraq who qualified despite not taking part in a qualifier.[3][4]

Of the qualified teams, 14 took part in 2022. Thailand will make their debut, marking the first time a team from Southeast Asia qualified. Hosts, China return after missing out on 2022 due to Covid.

Of the absentees, two-time champions, Netherlands, the only team to have taken part in every edition, missed out for the first time ever. Serbia missed out after their sporadic appearance in 2022. Similar to 2022, Russia was banned from taking part in qualification.

For the first time, Canada qualified for the second successive time. For the first time ever, Europe doesn't have the most teams at the championship, as Asia and Oceania have six teams taking part compared to Europe's five.

The highest ranked team to not qualify was 2024 Paralympic Games hosts, France, ranked 15th, while the lowest ranked team to qualify was Thailand, placed 20th.

Qualified teams

Qualification Host Dates Vacancies Qualified
Host nation China Hangzhou 29 July 2025 1  China
2024 Summer Paralympics winners France Paris 29 August – 7 September 2024 1  Iran
2028 Summer Paralympics hosts Peru Lima 13 September 2017 1  United States
2025 Pan American Championships United States Denver 24–28 May 2025 2  Brazil
 Canada
2025 Asia and Oceania Championships China Hangzhou 9–14 June 2025 2  Kazakhstan
 Thailand
2025 African Championships Kenya Nairobi 4–9 July 2025 2  Egypt
 Rwanda
2025 European Championships Hungary Győr 28 July – 2 August 2025 3  Bosnia and Herzegovina
 Germany
 Ukraine
2025 World Cup United States Fort Wayne 12–18 October 2025 2  Poland
 Croatia
World rankings 12 November 2025 2  Japan
 Iraq

World rankings

The final 2 places belonged to the top 2 teams as per the sitting volleyball world rankings who had not yet qualified as of 12 November 2025.[5][6]

Top 20 in world rankings

Qualified for the 2026 Sitting Volleyball World Championships
Qualified for the 2026 Sitting Volleyball World Championships via World Ranking
Rank Team Points
1  Egypt 4,714
2  Brazil 4,297
3  Bosnia and Herzegovina 4,150
4  Iran 4,000
5  Kazakhstan 3,872
6  United States 3,379
7  Germany 3,343
8  Canada 2,628
9  Ukraine 2,594
10  Croatia 2,342
11  Poland 2,253
12  Japan 1,966
13  Iraq 1,643
14  China 1,632
15  France 1,487
16  Rwanda 1,282
17  Netherlands 1,059
18  Serbia 980
19  Morocco 815
20  Thailand 794

Summary of qualified teams

Team Qualification method Date of qualification Appearance(s)[7] Previous best performance[a] WR
Total First Last Streak
 China Host nation 6 February 2025[8] 5th 2006 2018 5 Sixth place (2006) 14
 Iran 2024 Summer Paralympics winners 12th 1985 2022 10 Champions (Eight times)[b] 4
 United States 2028 Summer Paralympics hosts 9th 1986 7 Eighth place (2018, 2022) 6
 Brazil 2025 Pan American Championships 27 May 2025 5th 2006 5 Runners-up (2014) 2
 Canada 28 May 2025 3rd 2010 2 Eleventh place (2022) 8
 Kazakhstan 2025 Asia and Oceania Championships 13 June 2025 5th 1998 3 Fifth place (2022) 5
 Thailand 14 June 2025 1st Debut 20
 Egypt 2025 African Championships 8 July 2025 9th 1986 2022 8 Third place (2006, 2010) 1
 Rwanda 4th 2010 3 Thirteenth place (2022) 16
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 2025 European Championships 1 August 2025 8th 1998 8 Champions (2002, 2006, 2014) 3
 Germany 14th 1983 14 Runners-up (1983, 2002) 7
 Ukraine 2 August 2025 5th 2010 5 Fourth place (2018) 9
 Poland 2025 World Cup 17 October 2025 4th 2014 4 Twelfth place (2014, 2018, 2022) 11
 Croatia 18 October 2025 6th 2006 6 Seventh place (2006) 10
 Japan World rankings 12 November 2025 6th 1998 3 Eighth place (2002) 12
 Iraq 6th 1990 2 Sixth place (1990, 2002) 13

Venue

The World ParaVolley Development Centre in Hangzhou will be the venue. The venue hosted the 2017 and 2025 Asia and Oceania Sitting Volleyball Championships, plus the 2017 World ParaVolley Women's Super 6.

Hangzhou
World ParaVolley Development Centre
Capacity: Unknown

Format

16 teams are split into four groups of four, where every team advances to the Round of 16. In the Round of 16, teams who finished 1st play the teams that finished fourth, and the teams who finished 2nd play the teams that finished third. The eight winners advance to the Quarter Finals, while the eight losers play in a 9–16 classification bracket.

Group stage

  • All times are local.
  • The top four teams in each pool qualify for the final round.
  • 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

Tiebreakers

  1. Number of matches won
  2. Match points
  3. Sets ratio
  4. Points ratio
  5. If the tie continues as per the point ratio between two teams, the priority is given to the team which won the match between them. When the tie in points ratio is between three or more teams, a new classification of these teams in the terms of points 1, 2, 3 and 4 is made taking into consideration only the matches in which they were opposed to each other.

Pool A

Pos Team Pld W L Pts SW SL SR SPW SPL SPR
1 Team 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
2 Team 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
3 Team 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
4 Team 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
Source: [ 2026 Sitting Volleyball World Championships]


Pool B

Pos Team Pld W L Pts SW SL SR SPW SPL SPR
1 Team 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
2 Team 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
3 Team 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
4 Team 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
Source: [ 2026 Sitting Volleyball World Championships]


Pool C

Pos Team Pld W L Pts SW SL SR SPW SPL SPR
1 Team 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
2 Team 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
3 Team 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
4 Team 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
Source: [ 2026 Sitting Volleyball World Championships]


Pool D

Pos Team Pld W L Pts SW SL SR SPW SPL SPR
1 Team 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
2 Team 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
3 Team 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
4 Team 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
Source: [ 2026 Sitting Volleyball World Championships]


Knockout stage

Bracket

 
Round of 16QuarterfinalsBronze Medal matchGold Medal match
 
              
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3rd place match
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 

Final standing

Rank Team
1st place, gold medalist(s)
2nd place, silver medalist(s)
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Qualified for the 2028 Summer Paralympics

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Bold text indicates they hosted that edition.
  2. ^ Iran have won in 1985, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2010, 2018 and 2022.

References

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