The qualification for the 2016 Men's Olympic volleyball tournament was held from 8 September 2015 to 5 June 2016. Twelve teams qualified, the hosts, the FIVB World Cup champions and runners-up, five continental Olympic qualification tournament champions and four teams from two World Olympic qualification tournaments. Teams already qualified for the event were not eligible to play in the following qualification tournaments.
Contents
Host country
FIVB reserved a vacancy for the 2016 Olympic Games host country to participate in the tournament.
2015 World Cup
The top two teams qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games.
Africa
African Olympic Qualification Tournament
The winners qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games. The second and third ranked teams qualified for the 2nd World Olympic Qualification Tournament.
Asia and Oceania
Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament
The Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament combined with 1st World Olympic Qualification Tournament. The hosts Japan and the top three ranked teams except Japan from the FIVB World Ranking as of October 2015 competed in the tournament. The top ranked among the four teams qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games as Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament winners.
Europe
European Olympic Qualification Tournament
The winners qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games. The second and third ranked teams qualified for the 1st World Olympic Qualification Tournament.
North America
NORCECA Olympic Qualification Tournament
The top four ranked teams from the 2015 NORCECA Volleyball Championship competed in this tournament. The winners qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games. The runners-up qualified for the 1st World Olympic Qualification Tournament, whereas the third ranked team qualified for the 2nd World Olympic Qualification Tournament.
South America
South American Olympic Qualification Tournament
The winners qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games. The runners-up qualified for the 1st World Olympic Qualification Tournament, whereas the third ranked team qualified for the 2nd World Olympic Qualification Tournament.
World qualification tournaments
World Olympic Qualification Tournaments
There were 2 tournaments to get 5 remaining spots in the 2016 Olympic Games. Only the teams which had not yet qualified from the 3 events above played in the tournaments. 12 teams had rights to play in the tournaments, Japan as the hosts of the 1st tournament, the top three Asian teams except Japan from the FIVB World Ranking as of October 2015 and the second and third ranked teams from continental qualification tournaments. The 1st tournament was combined with the Asian Olympic qualification tournament which played in Japan. The best ranked Asian team qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games. The best three ranked teams, excluding the best Asian team, also secured the vacancies in the 2016 Olympic Games. The 2nd tournament which was held in Mexico consisted of 4 teams, and only the best ranked team took the last spot for the 2016 Olympic Games. The table below showed the allocation of 12 qualified teams.