How Long Do Volleyball Tournaments Last?
Volleyball tournaments are a great way to attract the best of talents at a single place who compete for ultimate glory. However, many participants and tournament organizers get confused about the length of a volleyball tournament.
The length of volleyball tournaments depends on the number of teams, availability of courts and other resources, tournament and match formats, and rest time between matches, among other things. Typically, volleyball tournaments last anywhere between one day to one week. But it’s not uncommon to see even lengthier events.
My Personal Experience Playing Different Lengths of Volleyball Tournaments
I had been a part of multiple volleyball tournaments in my college days, with each event lasting between 3 to 5 days.
The management at the college level had only one court available, and that too for a limited amount of time every day.
That is why they had to stretch the tournament long enough.
But that is not the case with all the volleyball tournaments I have witnessed over the years.
I had been on the administrative side of the volleyball tournaments in my community and successfully managed to complete them overnight.
We have had success managing both single day and multiple week events in our community.
Varied Nature of Volleyball Tournaments Length Depending Upon Formats
You can see the varied nature of volleyball tournaments everywhere out there.
Let’s take the example of the Men’s International Volleyball World Cup, for instance. The tournament is where the best of the talents compete for the ultimate glory.
In 2023, the tournament, from September 16 to October 24, almost 38 days.
In the Olympics, the tournament usually lasts from 12 to 15 days.
So, it all comes down to the number of teams and the format of the tournament.
Here are different types of volleyball tournaments and their possible duration.
Single Elimination Tournament
Total Matches in a Single Elimination Tournament = N – 1
Most often, you will see single elimination tournaments getting finished within a day or two at max. This is when you have all the facilities available to arrange the tournament, and no administrative hindrance stops the play.
You can easily calculate the number of matches in the single elimination tournament and decide for yourself how many matches you can arrange in a day to get the longevity of the competition.
Double Elimination Tournament
These tournaments last typically from 3 days to one week.
Total Matches in a Double Elimination Tournament = 2N – 1
Based on which team wins the first final, you can have one more match in a double-elimination tournament.
So, if 15 teams are participating, you will have 28 or 29 matches in a double-elimination tournament.
Roughly, this is double the matches that you would have in a single elimination tournament with the same number of teams.
So, you will need double time to arrange a tournament.
Double elimination volleyball tournaments are usually preferred when you have a low number of teams or when you value the teams so much that you think that they do not deserve elimination just because of a single defeat, which happens in a single elimination format.
Round Robin Volleyball Tournaments
The formula to calculate the number of matches in a round-robin volleyball competition is:
Total Matches = (N x (N-1)/2) + Semifinals + finals
Where N = No of teams.
Round robin volleyball competitions mostly take more than one week.
These are the longest tournaments and are only conducted if you have extensive resources available in every sense.
Most often, round-robin volleyball competitions last almost more than a week, especially if the number of participating teams is more than 10.
Just for ten teams, the total number of matches will be 48, which can easily take a week.
When the number of teams gets too large, and the organizers still want a round-robin system, they split the teams into different groups, and each group has its own round-robin competition leading up to the playoffs and the final.
In such a case, the number of matches gets reduced significantly and becomes more manageable.
Beach Volleyball Tournaments
Beach volleyball tournaments are relatively shorter, mostly because there are only two players in a team, which eventually results in quicker matches.
Not to mention that there are mostly knockout or single-elimination matches that are mostly shorter in length. So you can expect to get over with beach volleyball tournaments in a day or two.
Other Factors Impacting Volleyball Tournament Duration
Here are other things that influence the length of a volleyball tournament.
Broadcasters Requirements
Another important aspect that can influence the length of a volleyball tournament is broadcasting requirements.
The commercialization of sports has also impacted its length in a way that is beyond the imagination of many people.
This stands true for volleyball tournaments that are live telecasted on TV and consumed by the masses.
If these types of tournaments are completed in a single day, they struggle to get viewership, and eventually, the ad revenue declines for broadcasters.
So, tournaments like the World Cup, olympics, and others tend to last longer to satisfy all the stakeholders involved.
For tournaments that do not get live telecasted on TV, this factor is not much of a worry.
Availability of Fans for the Event
When you are arranging the whole tournament in a single day, and the fans have to pay for entry, you are highly unlikely to see a good crowd at the event (until you are doing something extraordinary to attract and entertain them).
That is why tournament organizers have to consider the comfort of fans as well, especially if they are the paid ones.
This is important to:
- Collect gate money
- Sell them items during the matches
- Attract sponsors to your events
If the entry ticket is free and crowd is not much of an issue, completing tournament within a single days is also a fine approach, just like many club facilities do.
Match Format
Many tournament organizers ignore this factor while arranging the competition, but this is such an important thing that it can significantly alter the duration of a volleyball tournament.
I have been into tournaments in which games last well more than three hours. The rallies get so long that it eventually translates into longer matches and, hence, longer tournaments.
But that is not the case in low-skilled volleyball tournaments where rallies get over quickly, and so do the tournaments.
It is up to the volleyball organizers to do their research and arrange matches accordingly so that they can complete the events in a reasonable time frame.
Some tournaments, wary of runaway matches, put a cap on the duration.
It is a way to keep the schedule on track so that a single prolonged match does not throw off the timing of the entire event. This might seem like a way to shorten the tournament, but it’s more about predictability and flow, managing the temporal rhythm of the event.
Availability of Facilities
Tournament officials need a lot of arrangements for a successful volleyball event.
Volleyball courts, spectator seating, lighting, scoreboards, changing rooms, restrooms, medical facilities, refreshment stands, parking, officials’ area, equipment storage, team benches, media and broadcast areas, warm-up areas, tournament office, Wi-Fi or Internet access, public address system, safety and security measures, are the things they usually need for well-organized tournaments.
If the organizers can arrange these things easily and effectively, well and good. If they don’t, things can get quite messy and mess up the tournament.
Rest and Recovery Time
Adequate downtime is vital for peak performance.
Organizers must balance the schedule to allow for this, often stretching the event over additional days. This is not just a matter of physical necessity but also of maintaining the quality of the game and letting them avoid common injuries.
To make things fair enough for all the participating teams, you also need to give the same amount of rest and recovery time to all of them.
Opening Ceremonies, Awards, and Other Events
The pomp and pageantry of opening ceremonies and the emotional highs of award ceremonies make tournaments engaging and attractive.
They add to the overall duration, sure, but they also elevate the tournament from a mere series of matches to a memorable event.
In fact, all of these things combined can take three to four hours, depending on what organizers want to do in these ceremonies.
Weather or Environmental Considerations
The whims of weather also play a pivotal role in outdoor tournaments. Rain, wind, and even extreme sunshine can delay matches and extend the tournament.
Contending with these environmental factors is part of the challenge and charm of organizing an outdoor volleyball event.
Final Words
So, the bottom line is that the usual duration of a volleyball tournament is anywhere between one day and a couple of weeks.
However, there are a lot of deciding factors that contribute to the longevity of these tournaments. As long volleyball tournaments can also become boring, organizers must adopt fun tournament ideas to make things enjoyable.
And one of the most important things to do is to decorate your tournament food table with good foods that make the tournament even more interesting.
Ahmed is the founder of Ball and Net Sports, a platform where he writes about volleyball.
As a professional volleyball player who has participated in various national and international level volleyball competitions, he loves to teach other volleyball enthusiasts about the game.
He is now a professional volleyball coach who organizes volleyball camps and social events for talent hunting for top volleyball teams.
As a volleyball talent-hunting specialist, he loves to teach people how they can make their game better in the fast-paced volleyball environment where it is extremely difficult to get quality content free of cost.
