The best volleyball teams in the world

Brazil

Because of the abundance of lovely weather, and golden beaches, it probably stands to reason that Brazil would be awesome at volleyball, and awesome they most certainly are. It took the Brazilians until 1984 to scoop their first Olympic medal (silver), and they’ve never looked back since. Having won 10 Olympic indoor medals, and 9 World Championship medals, they are a powerhouse of the sport. But the beach is where Brazil really dominate, with 13 Olympic medals, and 15 World Championship medals. The men also top the current world ranking charts, with the women in fourth place. This is the sort of dominance that has to see Brazil take their familiar position of first, on our list.

United States

Don’t think we’d forgotten about the good ol’ US of A, we’re in at number two with a bang. Brazil keeps the US off the top spot due to their sheer dominance in the sport, and their relentlessly high world rankings, but the USA are no slouches either. Consistently ranking among the world’s best volleyball teams, the USA has designs on taking Brazil’s title. Now, if the list were ranked by gold medals, USA would be top, for they have 6 Olympic beach volleyball golds vs. Brazil’s 3. But, the South Americans have won more medals overall, so they make the cut. The US women were ranked number one in the world going into the Rio Olympics, but they were forced to settle for the bronze medal, as Brazil took silver and Germany bronze. The United States also claimed bronze in both men’s and women’s indoor at the Olympics. Despite what might be considered setbacks, the USA rank 2nd in the world in both categories, and are superior to every other nation bar Brazil!

Russia

It may not come as a big surprise that Russia makes our list, considering the fact that they are the largest country in the world. However, it might surprise you to learn that Russia has struggled with beach volleyball for some time. Or perhaps not, considering snow is much more prominent than sand! Now, Russia does have a glittering medal history, but much of this was the Soviet Union, rather than simply as Russia. Nevertheless, this is still an impressive feat, and enough to earn them recognition and praise. In spite of their struggles on the beach, Russia has been a dominant force at indoor volleyball – winning 6 medals in six consecutive Olympic Games (but none in Rio). The best they could manage was 4th place in the beach volleyball, but, rest assured, Mother Russia will be back with a vengeance, and they’re sure to add to their medal tally in the future.