NORCECA to organize 56 Continental Cup events in 2014

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, January 4, 2014 – Fifty-six beach volleyball tournaments -28 per gender- are scheduled to be played this year as the NORCECA Continental Cup towards the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games gets underway in the months of June and July.

“We are pleased and at the same time very proud to announce that the forty National Federations and Territories of NORCECA, that is 100 percent of our membership, will be participating in the event,” NORCECA President Cristobal Marte Hoffiz said.

“Those tournaments, without any doubts, will generate a lot of attention and will contribute to enhance the popularity of beach volleyball in our continent,” he added.

The host countries and the dates have been already decided as well as the eight NORCECA top ranked countries (as of January 1, 2014) that will participate in the seventh and final series of tournaments in order to provide a more balanced competition level in the early rounds.

The top eight ranked countries in the women’s division are: United States, Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Guatemala and Honduras. In the men’s field those countries are: Mexico, Canada, United States, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and Guatemala.

In the first round, thirty-two countries have been distributed into eight pools of four teams in both genders, according to their respective rankings and utilizing the serpentine system. The top three teams of each pool will move to a second phase of six four-team pools later this year while the fourth placed teams will play in a consolation round in 2015 to stay in competition.

The first-round women’s tournaments with sites, dates and participating teams are the following:

Group A at Cayman Islands (June 6-9) Cayman Islands, Panama, Antigua and St Eustatius. Group B at El Salvador (June 6-9) El Salvador, French St Martin, Belize and Bonaire. Group C at Trinidad and Tobago (June 20-23) Trinidad and Tobago, Bahamas, Dominica and Turks and Caicos. Group D at Nicaragua (June 20-23) Nicaragua, Grenada, Anguilla and Dutch St Marteen. Group E at St Lucia (July 4-7) St Lucia, St Vincent and Grenadines, British Virgin Islands and Montserrat. Group F at St Kitts and Nevis (July 4-7) St Kitts and Nevis, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guadeloupe and Martinique. Group G at Cuba (July 24-27) Cuba, Curacao, Suriname and Bermudas. Group H at Jamaica (July 24-27) Jamaica, Barbados, Haiti and Aruba.

The men’s tournaments with location, dates and participating countries are the following:

Group A at St Lucia (June 6-9) St Lucia, Suriname, Panama, and Turks and Caicos. Group B at Nicaragua (June 6-9) Nicaragua, Grenada, Antigua and St Eustatius. Group C at Cuba (June 20-23) Cuba, St Vincent, Belize and Bonaire. Group D at El Salvador (June 20-23) El Salvador, St Kitts and Nevis, Dominica and Dutch St Marteen. Group E at Aruba (July 4-7) Aruba, Jamaica, French St Martin and Montserrat. Group F at U.S. Virgin Islands (July 4-7) U.S. Virgin Islands, Bahamas, Anguilla and Martinique. Group G at Curacao (July 24-27) Curacao, Honduras, British Virgin Islands and Bermudas. Group H at Cayman Islands (July 24-27) Cayman Islands, Barbados, Guadeloupe and Haiti.

The second phase of the NORCECA Continental Cup scheduled in 2014 features six tournaments per gender with the top three teams of each first round event divided into six pools of four teams and will be played in the months of August, September and December.