Which Countries Are Most Successful in Volleyball?

The sport of volleyball has become increasingly popular all over the world but which countries are best at it?

By looking at the record of the biggest volleyball nations, we can see which of them have been most successful.

Brazil

No matter which measure we use, Brazil comes out on top in any online betting prediction. The sport is hugely popular here and they lead the FIVB World Rankings too. In terms of the Olympics, Brazil leads the men’s table with three golds and three silvers but is down in fifth place in the female version, thanks to a couple of gold medals, a silver, and two bronze medals.

Volleyball was first played at the Olympic Games in 1964, and the now-defunct Soviet Union won the first gold medals in the men’s events. By the 1980s, Brazil had become a force in the game, winning their first silver medal in 1984 and then claiming gold in 1992.

With the 2016 games held in Rio, the home nation won two of the four gold medals, confirming their dominance in the men’s game both indoors and on the beach. The sport remains hugely popular among Brazilians of all ages, and they also created a sport called footvolley that combines volleyball and soccer.

The United States

Since second place in the medals table is taken by the Soviet Union, which no longer exists, we can say that the US is the second-best team behind Brazil right now. In fact, the early years of the sport in the Olympics was dominated by the USSR and other Eastern bloc countries, but the turning point appears to have come with the Soviet decision to not go to the 1984 Olympics, where the Americans won gold in the men’s tournament and silver in the women’s event.

That marked the beginning of an era in which the US and Brazil have fought for dominance. The Americans have earned four golds in total and picked up another in the 2020 games, where their female team easily defeated Brazil by 3-0 to win their first ever gold medal.

As for the male team in 2020, they won their first couple of games but losses to Brazil and Argentina saw them sent home early, to the surprise of their supporters. With the sport getting increasingly competitive it’s going to be tough for the Americans to maintain their position near the top, but it’s worth remembering that the sport was invented here and that more than 46 million Americans are said to play volleyball regularly.

Japan

The medal table for the Summer Olympics shows us how popular volleyball is across the world, as the medals…