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A change to how the FIVB World Rankings are determined will not move the U.S. Men’s Junior National Team outside of the top 10.
The United States remained at No. 9 in the newest FIVB Men’s U-21 World Rankings released during the weekend.
The FIVB reorganized its ranking system in an effort to better represent the different age divisions competing at the FIVB World Championship.
With the previous system, the tournament results from a country’s junior U-21 national team and youth U-19 national team were combined to establish its world ranking. The current system now provides separate rankings for each team.
The FIVB World Rankings for each division are determined through a mathematical formula based on how a team fared at its FIVB World Championship and continental championships. In addition, the world rankings are used decide what teams receive at-large bids to the FIVB World Championships if they do not earn a continental automatic bid.
The United States won the bronze medal at the NORCECA U-21 Continental Championships in August and narrowly missed one of NORCECA’s two automatic bids to the 2015 FIVB Men’s U-21 World Championship. It also finished in 11th place at the 2013 FIVB World Championship.
The U.S. Boys Youth National Team benefited the most among all the U.S. youth and junior teams from the new format change to the rankings.
The United States in that division jumped eight spots to No. 8 in the latest FIVB World Rankings. This team also will compete at the 2015 FIVB Boys Youth Championship after winning the gold medal this summer at the NORCECA Continental Championships.
Along with the two men’s teams, the U.S. Women’s Junior National Team moved up four spots to No. 11 in the FIVB Women’s U-21 World Rankings, while the U.S. Women’s Youth National Team remained at No. 2 in its rankings.