The qualification for the 2016 Women's Olympic volleyball tournament was held from 22 August 2015 to 22 May 2016. Twelve teams qualified, the hosts, the FIVB World Cup champion and runner-up, five continental Olympic qualification tournament champions, and four teams from the World Olympic qualification tournament respectively. 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 Olympics host country to participate in the tournament.
FIVB World cup
The winners and runners-up from 2015 FIVB Volleyball World Cup qualified for the Olympics.
Africa
African Olympic Qualification Tournament
The winners qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games. The second and third teams would play in World Olympic Qualification Tournament.
Asia and Oceania
Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament
The Asian Olympic qualification tournament combined with World Olympic qualification tournaments. The host teams and the top three ranked teams from the World ranking as of 1 January 2016 competed in the tournament. The top ranked among the four teams qualified as Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament winners.
Europe
European Olympic Qualification Tournament
The winners qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games. The second and third teams would play in 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 second and third teams would play in the World Olympic Qualification Tournament.
South America
South American Olympic Qualification Tournament
The winners qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games. The second and third teams would play in 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 could play in the tournament. 12 teams had rights to play in this tournament, Japan as a host of 1st tournament, the top three Asian teams from World ranking as of 1 January 2016, and the 2nd and 3rd place 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 Puerto Rico consisted of 4 teams, and only the best ranked team could take the last spot for the 2016 Olympic Games. The table below showed the allocation of 12 qualified teams.