2023 FIVB Women's Volleyball Challenger Cup

2023 FIVB Women's Volleyball Challenger Cup
Tournament details
Host nation	France
City	Laval
Dates	27–30 July
Teams	8 (from 5 confederations)
Venue(s)	1 (in 1 host city)
Champions	France (1st title)
Runners-up	Sweden
Third place	Colombia
Fourth place	Ukraine
Tournament statistics
Matches played	8
Attendance	7,858 (982 per match)
Best scorer	Isabelle Haak (92 points)
Best spiker	Isabelle Haak (45.30%)
Best blocker	Anastasiia Maievska (3.00 Avg)
Best server	Nina Stojiljković (2.00 Avg)
Best setter	Nina Stojiljković (17.33 Avg)
Best digger	Héléna Cazaute (16.33 Avg)
Best receiver	Amanda Coneo (24.51%)
Official website
	Volleyball Challenger Cup
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The 2023 FIVB Women's Volleyball Challenger Cup was the fourth edition of the FIVB Volleyball Women's Challenger Cup, an annual women's international volleyball tournament contested by eight national teams that acts as a qualifier for the FIVB Women's Volleyball Nations League. The tournament was held at Espace Mayenne in Laval, France, between 27 and 30 July 2023.^[1]^[2]

Five teams made their first appearance in the women's Challenger Cup in this edition: Kenya, Mexico, Sweden, Ukraine and Vietnam.

The host France won the title, defeating Sweden in the final, and earned the right to participate in the 2024 Nations League replacing Croatia, the last placed challenger team in the 2023 edition. Colombia defeated Ukraine in the 3rd place match.^[3]

Qualification

A total of 8 teams qualified for the tournament.

Country	Confederation	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances			Previous best performance
Country	Confederation	Qualified as	Qualified on	Total	First	Last	Previous best performance
Kenya	CAVB	Highest ranked in CAVB	—	0	None		None
Colombia	CSV	Highest ranked in CSV	—	2	2018	2022	Runners-up (2018)
France	CEV	Host country	1 June 2023^[1]	1	2022		5th place (2022)
Mexico	NORCECA	2022 NORCECA International League Final Four champions^[4]	19 June 2022	0	None		None
Vietnam	AVC	2023 Asian Challenge Cup champions	25 June 2023	0	None		None
Ukraine	CEV	2023 European Golden League champions	28 June 2023	0	None		None
Sweden	CEV	2023 European Golden League runners-up	28 June 2023	0	None		None
Croatia	CEV	2023 Nations League last placed challenger team	2 July 2023	2	2019	2022	Champions (2022)

Format

The tournament will compete in the knock-out format (quarterfinals, semifinals, and final) with the host country (France) playing its quarterfinal match against the lowest ranked team. The remaining six teams are placed from 2nd to 7th positions as per the FIVB World Ranking as of 10 July 2023.^[5] Rankings are shown in brackets except the host.

Match	Top ranker	Bottom ranker
Quarterfinal 1	France (Hosts)	Vietnam (47)
Quarterfinal 2	Colombia (17)	Kenya (29)
Quarterfinal 3	Mexico (19)	Sweden (28)
Quarterfinal 4	Ukraine (20)	Croatia (25)

Venue

All matches
Laval, France
Espace Mayenne
Capacity: 4,500

Knockout stage

All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).

Quarterfinals		Semifinals		Final

27 July

France	3
		29 July
Vietnam	0
		France	3
27 July
		Ukraine	0
Ukraine	3
				30 July
Croatia	1
				France	3
28 July
				Sweden	1
Colombia	3
		29 July
Kenya	1
		Colombia	1
28 July
		Sweden	3	3rd place match
Mexico	2
				30 July
Sweden	3
				Ukraine	1

				Colombia	3

Quarterfinals

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
27 Jul	17:00	France	3–0	Vietnam	25–20	25–16	25–17			75–53	P2 Report
27 Jul	20:30	Ukraine	3–1	Croatia	25–15	25–15	18–25	25–19		93–74	P2 Report
28 Jul	17:00	Mexico	2–3	Sweden	25–20	25–19	20–25	22–25	5–15	97–104	P2 Report
28 Jul	20:30	Colombia	3–1	Kenya	25–22	21–25	25–23	25–19		96–89	P2 Report

Semifinals

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
29 Jul	17:00	France	3–0	Ukraine	25–10	25–20	25–22			75–52	P2 Report
29 Jul	20:30	Sweden	3–1	Colombia	25–17	25–17	22–25	25–17		97–76	P2 Report

3rd place match

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
30 Jul	13:30	Ukraine	1–3	Colombia	23–25	25–12	24–26	22–25		94–88	P2 Report

Final

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
30 Jul	17:00	France	3–1	Sweden	25–21	25–16	22–25	25–15		97–77	P2 Report

Final standing

Rank	Team
	France
	Sweden
	Colombia
4	Ukraine
5	Mexico
6	Kenya
7	Croatia
8	Vietnam

	Qualified for the 2024 Nations League

Source: VCC 2023 final standings

2023 Women's Challenger Cup champions
France First title

14–woman Roster

Héléna Cazaute (c), Amandine Giardino, Christina Bauer, Nina Stojiljković, Lucille Gicquel, Amandha Marine Sylves, Eva Brooklyn Elouga, Léandra Olinga-Andela, Émilie Respaut, Guewe Diouf, Amélie Rotar, Halimatou Bah, Sabine Haewegene, Juliette Gelin

Head coach

Émile Rousseaux

References

^ ^a ^b "Challenger Cup 2023". FF Volley. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
^ "Challenger Cup : Le plateau est connu" [Challenger Cup: The field is known]. FF Volley (in French). 30 June 2023. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
^ "France's women to play in VNL 2024 before hosting Olympics". Vollleyball World. 30 July 2023. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
^ "Mexico qualifies to FIVB Challenger Cup winning NORCECA Final Four". norceca.info. 19 June 2022. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
^ "Competition Formula". Volleyball World. Retrieved 28 June 2023.

External links

Fédération Internationale de Volleyball – official website
2023 Challenger Cup – official website
Brackets

[Host-1] "Challenger Cup 2023". FF Volley. Retrieved 28 June 2023.

[2] "Challenger Cup : Le plateau est connu" [Challenger Cup: The field is known]. FF Volley (in French). 30 June 2023. Retrieved 3 July 2023.

[3] "France's women to play in VNL 2024 before hosting Olympics". Vollleyball World. 30 July 2023. Retrieved 30 July 2023.

[4] "Mexico qualifies to FIVB Challenger Cup winning NORCECA Final Four". norceca.info. 19 June 2022. Retrieved 27 June 2023.

[5] "Competition Formula". Volleyball World. Retrieved 28 June 2023.

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