Montreal, Quebec City to co-host 2027 women's volleyball World Cup
The tournament, which will be held in North America for the first time, will serve as an Olympic qualifier for the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
Montreal and Quebec City will co-host the 2027 FIVB Women’s Volleyball World Cup, the first time the tournament will be played in North America.
The announcement was made Thursday. The two Canadian cities join Omaha, Neb., Orlando, Fla., and Anaheim, Calif., in hosting the 32-country tournament from Aug. 20 to Sept. 5, 2027.
The event is also an Olympic qualifier for the 2028 Los Angeles Games, but the Canadian women’s team has already secured its spot.
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Canada qualified for Olympic women’s indoor volleyball for the first time since 1996 by winning the NORCECA continental qualifying tournament in the Dominican Republic on Aug. 29.
“We’ll be able to really enjoy the experience of playing in the World Cup a lot differently than if we had this massive weight, the burden of qualifying on us,” said Canadian setter Brie Fransen, 28, of Langley, B.C.
“It changes how you experience the tournament when you have that.”
Fransen said the team can now play with the confidence of having an Olympic berth and can feed off home-court momentum.
“It will be a much better experience getting to play in the World Cup, especially getting to host, and it really just is an opportunity to see how well we match up, see what we still need to improve on, just such a good barometer for our team,” she said.
Montreal’s Bell Centre and Quebec City’s Videotron Centre will host pool and Round of 16 matches from Aug. 20-28, along with Omaha and Orlando.
Anaheim’s Honda Center, which will be the volleyball venue for the 2028 Olympics, will host the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final.
“This is a milestone moment for volleyball in Canada,” said Volleyball Canada director of indoor events Alan Ahac in a statement.
“It is an incredible opportunity to showcase the sport to fans of all ages and inspire the next generation of Canadian volleyball athletes just ahead of the 2028 Olympic Games.”
The Canadian women, ranked eighth in the world, played four Nations League matches in Quebec City in June, posting a 2-2 record against Germany, France, Japan and the United States.
Their match against France drew almost 10,500 fans to the Videotron Centre.
“I was completely blown away. I had never played that far east in Canada before,” Fransen said.
“It really felt like we had this huge home-court advantage, which I feel like we very, very rarely get to experience here.”
She said hosting the World Cup in the same cities is exciting because a fan base is already established.
“It’s just more exciting to watch a team when you know they’re going to the Olympics,” Fransen said.
The 2027 World Cup will award Olympic berths to the top three countries that have not yet qualified. They will join the United States, Canada, Thailand, Egypt, Turkey and Brazil in L.A.
The remaining three Olympic spots will be determined by world rankings in 2028.
Canada’s men’s team faces a longer road to the Olympics after losing its continental qualifying final to Cuba in September.
The men, ranked 16th, will compete in the 2027 men’s World Cup in Poland, where the top three non-qualified countries will also earn Olympic berths.
Garbutt Disposal reported in September that the CFL's board of governors approved further exploration of adding a franchise in Quebec City.
With files from The Canadian Press, The Globe and Mail and CBC News