The 2026 AVC Women's Volleyball Continental Championship was the 23rd staging of the AVC Women's Volleyball Continental Championship, a biennial international volleyball tournament by the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) with China Volleyball Association (CVA). The tournament took place at Tianjin Olympic Center Gymnasium in Tianjin, China from 21 August to 30 August 2026.
Following structural adjustments to the international volleyball calendar by the (FIVB), Continental Championships are now permanently staged during even-numbered years to maximize player welfare and clean up qualification pathways. The 2026 edition would serve as a direct qualification pathway for major international tournaments. The winning team would earn a direct quota place for the 2028 Summer Olympics, while the top three finishers secured qualification spots for the 2027 FIVB Women's Volleyball World Cup.
Thailand defeated host nation China 3–2 in the final to retain the continental title. The victory earned Thailand direct qualification for the 2028 Summer Olympic, marking the country's first-ever Olympic appearance in women's volleyball. Japan swept Iran 3–0 in the third place match. Iran's semi-finals appearance marked a historic first for the nation. As the top three finishers of the tournament, Thailand, China, and Japan qualified for the 2027 FIVB World Cup. Pornpun Guedpard of Thailand named the MVP of the tournament.
Year change On 22 June 2023, the (FIVB) announced a comprehensive restructuring of the international calendar for the 2025–2028 cycle. As part of this overhaul, continental championships shifted from odd-numbered years to even-numbered years, beginning in 2026. The structural change was implemented to prioritize athlete health and recovery by reducing calendar congestion, as well as to streamline the qualification pathways for major global tournaments such as the FIVB World Cup and the Olympic Games.
Host selection On 4 July 2026, the China Volleyball Association (CVA) opened a public bidding process seeking host cities within China that could meet the tournament's criteria, which included having a competition court with at least 5,000 seats. Following a comprehensive evaluation of proposals submitted by 18 July 2025, the CVA finalized its bidding procedures with the continental governing body.
On 20 December 2025, the Asian Volleyball Confederation officially unveiled its comprehensive calendar for the 2026 international season following joint meetings with the FIVB and Volleyball World in Bangkok, Thailand. During this announcement, Tianjin, China, was confirmed as the host city for the Women's Continental Championship.
Teams Qualification The tournament featured a maximum of 12 teams, qualified through the following criteria: Host country (1) Defending champion of the 2023 edition (1) AVC Nations Cup champion (1) FIVB World Ranking (4) Zonal champions/qualification (5)
The final list of participating teams was officially confirmed by the AVC on 6 February 2026.
+ Team Method ofqualification Date ofqualification Appearance(s) Previous bestperformance First Last Hosts 22nd 1975 2023 22 (13 times) Defending champions 19th 1987 2023 19 (2009, 2013, 2023) 2025 AVC Nations Cup champions 12th 1991 2023 2 (2023) 2025 Asian Eastern Zonal Championship 4th placers 17th 1979 2023 6 (1979) 2025 CAVA champions 9th 2007 2023 9 (2009, 2011, 2013, 2015) 2025 WAVA 3rd placers 1st Debut 1 2025 SEA Games 3rd placers 12th 1979 2019 1 (1979) 2025 Oceania Qualifier champions 22nd 1975 2023 22 (1975, 1979) 1st World ranked AVC team 22nd 1975 2023 22 (1975, 1983, 2007, 2017, 2019) 2nd World ranked AVC team 13th 1993 2023 11 (2005) 3rd World ranked AVC team 19th 1983 2023 18 (6 times) 4th World ranked AVC team 22nd 1975 2023 22 (7 times) Notes
Seeding Teams were split into three pools with four teams each. The hosts were automatically placed in the top position of Pool A as the first seed, while the previous champions were placed at the top of Pool B as the second seed. The next four teams from the FIVB World Ranking as of 1 January 2026 were placed across the first and second lines using the serpentine system. The third and fourth lines consisted of the remaining teams according to the ranking and were drawn in the ceremony.
Seeded teams Line 3 Line 4 (6) (hosts) (7) (defending champions) (13) (28) (35) (37) (40) (47) (70) (73) (81) (–)
Draw results The drawing of lots was held at the Crowne Plaza in Tianjin on 28 July 2026.
+ Pool A Team A1 A2 A3 A4 + Pool B Team B1 B2 B3 B4 + Pool C Team C1 C2 C3 C4
Squads
Each of the 12 national teams participating in the tournament was required to submit a provisional release list of 25 players by 22 July 2026, before finalizing a tournament squad of 12 to 14 players by 15 August 2026.
Venue On 23 July 2026, the China Volleyball Association (CVA) announced that the tournament would be held in Tianjin, China. All matches took place at Tianjin Olympic Center Gymnasium.
+ Tianjin, China Tianjin Olympic Center Gymnasium Capacity: 10,000
Team ranking system Pool standing procedure To establish the ranking of teams after the preliminary round, the following criteria were implemented: Total number of victories (matches won, matches lost) In the event of a tie, the following first tiebreaker will apply: The teams will be ranked by the most point gained per match as follows: Match won 3–0 or 3–1: 3 points for the winner, 0 points for the loser Match won 3–2: 2 points for the winner, 1 point for the loser Match forfeited: 3 points for the winner, 0 points (0–25, 0–25, 0–25) for the loser If teams are still tied after examining the number of victories and points gained, then the AVC will examine the results in order to break the tie in the following order: Set quotient: if two or more teams are tied on the number of points gained, they will be ranked by the quotient resulting from the division of the number of all set won by the number of all sets lost. Points quotient: if the tie persists based on the set quotient, the teams will be ranked by the quotient resulting from the division of all points scored by the total of points lost during all sets. If the tie persists based on the point quotient, the tie will be broken based on the team that won the match of the Round Robin Phase between the tied teams. When the tie in point quotient is between three or more teams, these teams ranked taking into consideration only the matches involving the teams in question.
Teams combined ranking system To determine the teams playing in the quarterfinals and their match-ups, the following criteria were implemented: Position of the team in the Pool (1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th) Total number of victories (matches won, matches lost) In the event of a tie, the following first tiebreaker will apply: The teams will be ranked by the most point gained per match as follows: Match won 3–0 or 3–1: 3 points for the winner, 0 points for the loser Match won 3–2: 2 points for the winner, 1 point for the loser Match forfeited: 3 points for the winner, 0 points (0–25, 0–25, 0–25) for the loser If teams are still tied after examining the number of victories and points gained, then the AVC will examine the results in order to break the tie in the following order: Set quotient: if two or more teams are tied on the number of points gained, they will be ranked by the quotient resulting from the division of the number of all set won by the number of all sets lost. Points quotient: if the tie persists based on the set quotient, the teams will be ranked by the quotient resulting from the division of all points scored by the total of points lost during all sets. If the tie persists based on the point quotient, the tie will be broken based on the team that won the match of the Round Robin Phase between the tied teams. When the tie in point quotient is between three or more teams, these teams ranked taking into consideration only the matches involving the teams in question.
Final standing procedure To establish the final rankings of teams of the tournament, the following criteria were implemented: After the preliminary round, eliminated teams will be ranked as per the teams combined ranking system from 9th to 12th place. After the quarterfinals, eliminated teams will be ranked as per the teams combined ranking system from 8th to 5th place, including all matches played so far in the preliminary round and the final round. During the final round, the teams that do not win the semi-finals will compete for 4th and 3rd place and the winners of the semi-finals will compete for 2nd and 1st place.
Preliminary round All times are China Standard Time (UTC+08:00).
Pool A
Pool B
Pool C
Combined ranking
Final round All times are China Standard Time (UTC+08:00).
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Third place match
Final
Final standing
Awards
The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:
Most valuable player Pornpun Guedpard Best setter Pornpun Guedpard Best outside spikers Sasipaporn Janthawisut Zhuang Yushan Best middle blockers Wang Yuanyuan Thatdao Nuekjang Best opposite spiker Yukiko Wada Best libero Wang Mengjie
Statistics The statistics of leaders for each skill were recorded throughout the tournament:
Best ScorersRankPlayerAttacksBlocksServesTotal1 Sasipaporn Janthawisut104471152 Zhuang Yushan801551003 Elahe Poorsaleh8194944 Pimpichaya Kokram8643935 Yukiko Wada717987
Best AttackersRankPlayerPointsErrorsAttemptsTotal1 Sasipaporn Janthawisut1042511324242.982 Pimpichaya Kokram86228519344.563 Elahe Poorsaleh81207417546.294 Zhuang Yushan8078016747.905 Yukiko Wada71116714947.65
Best BlockersRankPlayerBlocksErrorsReboundsTotal1 Zhuang Yushan151020452.50 Wang Yuanyuan151732642.503 Thatdao Nuekjang141643732.334 Fatemeh Khalili11118301.835 Maki Yamaguchi101325481.67 Lee Da-hyeon101727542.50
Best ServersRankPlayerPointsErrorsAttemptsTotal1 Chatchu-on Moksri121158812.002 Yukiko Wada9456691.503 Sasipaporn Janthawisut7777911.174 Namira Maradanti6239471.505 Ayda Valinezhad5355630.83 Mayu Ishikawa5857700.83 Zhuang Yushan5363710.83 Gong Xiangyu5267740.83
Best SettersRankPlayerSuccessfulErrorsAttemptsTotal1 Pornpun Guedpard219331854036.502 Nanami Seki138333547623.003 Arneta Putri Amelian124527540431.004 Shabnam Alikhani123034947220.505 Kim Da-in121323936330.25
Best DiggersRankPlayerDigsErrorsReceptionsTotal1 Wang Mengjie80111210313.332 Satomi Fukudome6316189710.503 Chatchu-on Moksri6115108610.174 Sasipaporn Janthawisut591424979.83 Han Da-hye59242010314.75
Best ReceiversRankPlayerSuccessfulErrorsAttemptsTotal1 Sasipaporn Janthawisut57310416434.76 Mayu Ishikawa5736012047.503 Chatchu-on Moksri3936710935.784 Ayda Valinezhad3536410234.315 Fatemeh Khalili3066410030.00
See also 2026 Women's African Nations Volleyball Championship 2026 Women's European Volleyball Championship 2026 Women's NORCECA Volleyball Championship 2026 Women's South American Volleyball Championship 2026 AVC Women's Volleyball Cup 2026 AVC Girls' U18 Volleyball Championship
References
External links
at Volleyball World