FIVB World Rankings

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The FIVB World Rankings is a ranking system for men's and women's national teams in volleyball. The teams of the member nations of FIVB, volleyball's world governing body, are ranked based on their competitions results with the most successful teams being ranked highest. A point system is used, with points being awarded based on the importance of each FIVB International competitions and Continential competitions also. Under the existing system, rankings are based on a team's performance, with more recent results and more significant competitions being more heavily weighted to help reflect the current competitive state of a team.

The ranking system was most recently revamped after the 2006 World League (for men) and 2006 Grand Prix (for women).

The rankings are used in international competitions to define the seeded teams and arrange them in pools. Specific procedures for seeding and pooling are established by the FIVB in each competition's formula, but the method usually employed is the serpentine system.

[edit] Rankings

Rank	Team	Points
Men's Volleyball Top 20 Rankings as of December 2006
1	Brazil	195
2	Italy	132
3	Russia	125
4	Poland	124.5
5	Serbia	117.5
6	Bulgaria	99
7	France	92
8	United States	89
9	Argentina	67.5
10	Japan	62.5
11	Greece	48.5
12	Canada	45
13	Cuba	43.5
14	Germany	41.5
15	Tunisia	39.5
16	China	37.5
16	Puerto Rico	37.5
18	Egypt	36.5
19	Republic of Korea	35.5
20	Venezuela	33.5

Rank	Team	Points
Women's Volleyball Top 20 Rankings as of December 2006
1	Russia	201
2	Brazil	190
3	China	147
4	Italy	145.5
5	Cuba	138
6	Japan	104.5
7	United States	87.5
8	Serbia	82.5
9	Republic of Korea	61.5
10	Netherlands	52.5
11	Poland	43
12	Turkey	42.5
13	Germany	41
14	Azerbaijan	39.5
14	Dominican Republic	39.5
16	Taiwan	37.5
17	Kenya	35.5
17	Peru	35.5
19	Kazakhstan	34
19	Puerto Rico	34