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Five Continents Choose Olympic Teams This Month
Japan, Cuba and Brazil have taken three of the five, Brazil with a sweep of Argentina in Rio on Sunday morning. Africa's is decided on 25 September and Europe's on 26 September.
Asia's place went first. Japan took it in Kitakyushu with a sweep of Iran, North America's went to Cuba in Moncton on 19 September, and South America's went to Brazil in Rio the next morning. The two that are left are both settled before the end of September.
Africa's is decided on 25 September and Europe's on 26 September.
Twelve teams play the indoor tournament at the Honda Center in July 2028. One is the host, five are the continental champions, three come out of the 2027 World Cup in Poland and three out of the world ranking two summers from now.
The United States is in that field as the host. Japan, Cuba and Brazil are the only other teams in it.
Moncton Runs Two Tournaments Back to Back
NORCECA's championship finished on Wednesday and was followed by a separate Olympic qualification tournament on 18 and 19 September, from which the United States was excluded because it already holds the host's place.
Eight teams went to Moncton in two pools of four. Canada and the United States won theirs at three wins from three, and the top three in the championship's final standings take World Cup places.
Both won their semi-finals on Tuesday and both won in three. Canada beat Cuba 3-0 (26-24, 25-22, 25-17) and the United States beat the Dominican Republic 3-0 (25-20, 25-15, 25-19).
The United States won Wednesday's final 3-2 (25-19, 26-24, 25-27, 17-25, 15-13) and Canada took silver. Both sides scored 108 points in it. That match has its own page here.
Four teams stayed on for the qualifier. Cuba beat Canada 3-1 (25-21, 25-23, 23-25, 25-22) in the final on 19 September and took the place, four days after Canada had swept them. Mexico finished third. That match has its own page too.
Canada Lost Both Finals in Moncton
Canada lost the championship final on Wednesday to a team that cannot use a continental place, and then lost the Olympic qualification final on Saturday to a team that can.
Canada head coach Dan Lewis, to the Canadian Press in Moncton after the Puerto Rico match.
Puerto Rico is always a dangerous team because they have a long history of volleyball there. They can be very technical and they can get momentum. You always need to have big presence of mind to play this team, but we are on a mission here to make sure that we win the pool. That's the first goal to set ourselves up for the proper execution of the second half (of the tournament). There was one phase in the second set where we weren't exactly playing our style of intensity needed to execute at a high level, but the guys corrected themselves.
Canada won the pool it said it wanted and won the championship semi-final, and it is going home with a silver medal and a World Cup berth rather than an Olympic place.
Three World Cup places come out of each continental championship, fifteen of the thirty-two going to Poland, and NORCECA handed its three out in the same fortnight as the Olympic one.
Africa and Europe Decide the Last Two
South America's went to Brazil at the Maracanãzinho, 3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-20) over Argentina in the last round of a six-team round robin both had entered unbeaten. The full account of that morning is filed separately.
Argentina finished second and Chile third, so both go to the 2027 World Cup in Poland, which is where three more of the twelve places come from.
EuroVolley is the longer of the two still running. Its round of sixteen finishes today in Turin, the quarter-finals are on 22 and 23 September, and the semi-finals and the medal matches are on 25 and 26 September.
The CEV's own ticketing page puts the last two days at the Unipol Forum in Assago. Other listings name a different Milan arena and the CEV has not reconciled them.
Africa's started in Tunis on 15 September, ten days late and in a country it was not awarded to, and this site covers it separately.
When Europe's finishes on 26 September, six of the twelve teams at the Honda Center will be known, and the other six do not all settle until 2028.
