The 2026 AVC Asia Beach Volleyball Championship will take place in Shangluo, China from 2 to 6 September with 16 out of the 24 participating men teams being supported by the FIVB Volleyball Empowerment Programme.
Volleyball Empowerment-supported pairs from Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Lebanon, New Zealand, Oman, The Philippines, Qatar and Uzbekistan will vie for the South American title in Shangluo which will also secure the champions a slot at the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028.
Of the 16 Volleyball Empowerment duos, Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand and Qatar have two pairs each while Lebanon, Oman, The Philippines and Uzbekistan will be represented by one duo each.
Hosts China will be represented by the empowered pairs of Jiaxin Wu & Chaowei Zhou and Yanwei Wang & Hongjun Du. Brazilian legend Riceler Waske Dos Santos is currently the Physical Trainer of China’s men’s team as part of Coach Support projects worth USD 46,800 in total.
Top seeds Jiaxin Wu & Chaowei Zhou are in Pool A with Empowerment-backed Nodirjon Alekseev & Muhamadiev Yakhyo of Uzbekistan and New Zealand’s Juraj Krajci & Noah Smith as well as Iran’s Abbas Pourasgari & Alireza Aghajanighasab.
Shailen Ramdoo manages Uzbekistan’s men’s team in a Coach Support project worth USD 21,000.
The other Chinese pair of Yanwei Wang & Hongjun Du are seeded sixth and are in Pool F with Thailand’s Pithak Tipjan & Wachirawit Muadpha and the empowered duos of Lit Fung Lee & Cheuk Hei Lee (Hong Kong) and Musa Alkeer Mou & Mohamed Ihab Zaki (Qatar).
Brazilian coach Augusto Sabbatini manages Hong Kong’s junior and senior men’s beach volleyball teams as part of Coach Support projects worth USD 21,000.
Cherif Younousse & Ahmed Tijan of Qatar are seeded second and will be gunning for a fourth Asian title in Shangluo. Argentine expert Pablo Bernardi leads Qatar’s men’s team as part of Coach Support projects totaling USD 126,000. Cherif & Ahmed are in Pool B alongside another Empowerment team Sam O’Dea & Ben O’Dea of New Zealand, Teh You Hao & Yong jian Khor of Malaysia and Netitorn Muneekul & Poravid Taovato of Thailand.
FIVB has invested a total of USD 231,000 in New Zealand’s men’s team currently led by Jason Lochhead and Craig Seuseu. Previously, FIVB had invested USD 126,000 in Thailand’s men’s national team under the Volleyball Empowerment Programme.
Third seeds Mark Nicolaidis & Izac Carracher of Australia will return to Shangluo with fond memories of their gold medal feat at the Beach Pro Tour Challenge event held in July. FIVB has invested a total of USD 231,000 in the Coach Support projects in Australia with Max Roiuk, Joey Yigit, Ruben Gale and Evgeniya Ukolova taking charge of the men’s national team.
Nicolaidis & Carracher–who claimed silver medal in the previous edition held in 2024 in Santa Rosa, The Philippines–are in Pool C with three other Empowerment teams namely Kai Kurokawa & Ryuichi Adachi of Japan, Lebanon’s Jad Abi Karam & Hadi El Chabib and James Buytrago & Ronniel Rosales of The Philippines.
American expert Steve Anderson manages Japan’s men’s beach volleyball programme as part of Coach Support projects totaling USD 63,000 while Nader El Fidawi is in charge of Lebanon’s men’s team as part of Coach Support projects worth USD 42,000 in total. Brazilian coach João Luciano Simão Barbosa leads The Philippines’ men’s team as part of Coach Support projects totaling USD 165,875.
The second Australian pair of Thomas Hodges & Ben Hood will start as fourth seeds in Pool D where they are drawn together with the empowered Mazin Alhashmi & Hood Al Jalaboubi of Oman, Sergey Bogatu & Kirill Gurin of Kazakhstan and Abolhassan Khakizadeh & Amir Ali Ghaleh Novi of Iran.
Amirhossein Aliakbar Esmaeilzadeh takes charge of Oman’s men’s team as part of Coach Support projects worth USD 84,000 in total.
The 24 participating men’s teams will be split into 6 single round-robin pools of four for the first stage of the competition. The six pool winners, the six pool runners-up and the two best ranked third-placed teams will advance directly to the eighthfinals. The remaining four third-placed teams will move on to a sixteenthfinal round, the so-called “lucky loser” playoffs, set to get the single-elimination-format stage underway.
After the eighthfinal playoffs, quarterfinal and semifinal rounds will eventually lead to the two medal matches.
