Canada men's national volleyball team

In 1953, the Canadian Volleyball Association (CVA) was formed, joining FIVB the same year. That year, the first national volleyball championship was held as well. Canada's first appearance at a major international competition was at the 1959 Pan American Games, held in Chicago.[1] Canada finished 6th in the tournament, after finishing 3rd in their group and failing to advance to the final group.[2] In 1968, Canada joined NORCECA, two years after it was formed. They competed in their first NORCECA championship in 1969, finishing 4th.

In 1973, at their second NORCECA championship, Canada won the bronze medal. A year later, they competed at their first FIVB World Championships, in Mexico. Canada finished last in their group in the first round, losing all three matches in straight sets. In the classification round, they finished 3rd, finishing below both Tunisia and the United States. In the final classification round, Canada finished 2nd in the group, placing them 20th overall in the tournament.[3]

Canada qualified for their first-ever Olympic tournament in 1976 as hosts. They finished bottom of their group in the group stage, losing in straight sets in every match, and ending up in 9th place overall.[4] The next year, Canada appointed Ken Maeda as the head coach, and in the team's first competition under him, they won bronze at the 1977 NORCECA Championship. In 1978, Canada finished 20th out of 24 teams at the World Championships. At the 1979 Pan American games, Canada won bronze, winning five matches while losing two in the tournament.

At the 1981 NORCECA championship, Canada finished 3rd, beating Mexico in the bronze medal match. The next year, Canada competed in their 3rd FIVB World Championship, held in Argentina. They finished top of their group in the first round, ahead of East Germany and Italy on their set ratio. In the second group round, Canada finished 5th in their group, knocking them out of medal contention and ranking them 11th place in the tournament. The following year at the 1983 NORCECA Championships, they won the silver medal, finishing below the United States.

In 1984, Canada competed at the Olympic Games for the second time in their history. They finished top of their group ahead of Italy and Japan on their set ratio in the group stage, advancing them to their first Olympic semi-final appearance. They met the United States in the semis, losing in straight sets, sending them to the bronze medal match where they lost to Italy again. Their 4th place finish at the tournament stands as their highest ever Olympic finish.

Canada finished 3rd at the NORCECA Championship in 1985 and 1987, and finished 2nd at the 1989 NORCECA Championship while failing to qualify for the 1986 FIVB World Championships.

Canada competed at the 1990 FIVB World Championships in Brazil, finishing 3rd in their group in the group stage. In the round of 16, Canada lost to France in four sets, sending them to the classification bracket, where they lost in five sets to both Czechoslovakia and Japan. Canada finished the tournament in 12th place. The next year, Canada competed in the FIVB World League for the first time. They finished bottom of their group with 18 points over 16 games and finished the tournament in last place. That same year, Canada hosted the NORCECA Championship for the first time, with the tournament taking place in Regina. Canada finished 3rd in the tournament, and qualified for the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. At the Olympics, they finished 5th in their group, failing to make it to the quarterfinals and finishing the tournament in last place.

In 1993, Canada finished in 3rd place at the NORCECA Championship, beating Puerto Rico in the bronze medal match. At the 1994 FIVB World Championships, Canada lost out in the round of 16 after finishing 3rd in their group, finishing the tournament tied for 9th place. At both the 1995 and 1997 NORCECA Championships, Canada finished with bronze, beating Puerto Rico and Mexico in both respective bronze medal matches. At the 1998 FIVB World Championship, Canada began the tournament finishing 3rd in their group in the first round. In the second group round, Canada finished 5th in their group, failing to make it to the semi-finals. Canada finished the tournament in 12th place, losing to Ukraine and Argentina in the classification matches.

Canada returned to World League in 1999 for the first time since 1992, finishing in 8th place. At the NORCECA Championship, Canada finished with bronze, beating Mexico in the bronze medal match in five sets. Canada also won bronze in the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, beating Argentina in their final match.

In the 2000 World League season, Canada finished in 11th place. The next year, at the 2001 NORCECA Championship, they finished with bronze, beating Dominicana in their final match. At the 2002 FIVB World Championship, Canada finished 3rd in the first group stage but did not advance to the second group round. They finished 17th overall in the tournament. In 2003, Canada finished with a silver medal at the NORCECA Championship, losing to the United States in the final, and in 2005 they finished with a bronze medal in the same tournament. In 2006, Canada competed in the FIVB World Championship held in Japan. They began the tournament finishing 3rd in their group, advancing past the preliminaries to the main round. There, they placed 6th in their group, knocking them out of medal contention. In the classification matches, Canada lost to the United States in 5 sets but beat Puerto Rico in 4 sets to place 11th overall in the competition. The following year, Canada placed 13th in World League, after finishing bottom of their group with two wins in 12 matches. In the 2007 and 2009 editions of the NORCECA Championship, Canada were held off of the podium for the first time since 1975, finishing in 4th place both years.

At the 2010 FIVB World Championship, Canada finished tied for 19th, losing out in the first group round. The following year Canada competed in World League again, placing 12th overall. The same year, Canada won bronze at the NORCECA Championship, beating Puerto Rico in the deciding match. Canada finished 5th overall in the 2013 World League season, and later that year Canada finished with silver in the NORCECA Championship, losing to the United States in the final.

In 2014, Canada competed in the FIVB World Championship in Poland. Canada opened the tournament with a loss in straight sets to Russia before beating Bulgaria in five sets. Canada then went on to beat the remaining teams in the group all in straight sets to claim the second-ranked spot in the group, advancing to the second round. Canada started the second round off well, beating Cuba in 5 sets before defeating Finland in three straight. However, following two straight-set losses to Brazil and Germany, Canada finished fourth in the group and did not advance to the third round. Canada's finished the world championship in 7th place, a record for the national team.

In 2015, Canada hosted the Pan American Games. At the tournament, Canada finished top of their group, advancing to the semifinals. There they faced Argentina, and lost in four sets, sending Canada to the bronze medal match to face Puerto Rico. They were successful and defeated them in four sets, winning Canada's 3rd Pan-American bronze medal.

In the 2016 World League season, Canada finished top of Group 2, advancing to the Final Round. In the Final Round, they beat Turkey in the semifinals in three sets, and defeated Portugal in the final in three straight. This win qualified Canada for Group 1 in the 2017 World League for the first time. Following the successful World League campaign, Canada competed in the Olympic Qualifiers. Canada began the tournament with two five-set losses to Poland and Iran, before beating Australia in five sets. Canada then went on to beat Venezuela before falling to France in straight sets. They then closed out the tournament with back-to-back wins over Japan and China, in four and five sets respectively. This was good enough for a 4th place finish in the tournament, qualifying Canada for their first Olympics in 24 years.

At the 2016 Summer Olympics, Canada started out strongly, beating USA in three straight sets. However, they failed to defeat the host Brazil, falling to them in four sets, while following that match up with a straight-set loss to France in their 3rd group match. In their 4th match, Canada defeated Mexico in four sets, setting up a must-win final group stage match against Italy. Canada beat Italy in four sets, led by Gavin Schmitt's match-high 23 points. This result placed Canada 2nd in their group and set up a quarterfinal matchup against Russia. However, they were unable to advance past the Russians, losing in three straight sets. Canada finished the tournament in 5th place, their highest Olympic finish since 1984.

Following Glenn Hoag's retirement as head coach, Stephane Antiga was hired as Hoag's successor.[5] At the 2017 World League, Canada played with a much younger team than was on display at the Olympics the previous year. With the retirements of many leaders within the squad, Antiga looked to younger talent such as Ryley Barnes and Sharone Vernon-Evans to step up and contribute. Canada began their 2017 World League with a strong first week, beating both Belgium and the reigning Olympic Bronze medalists USA in five sets, while losing to Serbia. In week two, Canada won three points against Bulgaria, while losing their other two matches in four sets. In the final week, Canada beat Belgium and Italy, gaining 5 out of a possible 9 points for the week, which was enough for them to finish in 5th place and qualify for the final round.

Canada lost their first match of the final round to the host Brazilians, before defeating the Russians in straight sets, sending Canada to the semi-finals. There they met France and lost in four sets. In the bronze medal match, Canada faced USA, and after losing the first set Canada went on to win three straight and claim their first-ever World League medal. At the conclusion of the tournament, both Graham Vigrass and Blair Bann were selected as tournament all-stars.

  Champions    Second place    Third place

Summer Olympics record
Year	Round	Position	GP	MW	ML	SW	SL
1964	did not qualify
1968
1972
1976	Preliminary Round	9th	4	0	4	0	12
1980	Boycott
1984	Semifinals	4th	6	3	3	10	9
1988	did not qualify
1992	9th–10th places	10th	6	1	5	11	15
1996	did not qualify
2000
2004
2008
2012
2016	Quarterfinals	5th	6	3	3	10	10
2020	Quarterfinals	8th	6	2	4	9	12
2024	Qualified
Total	0 Titles	5/15	28	9	19	40	58

  Champions    Second place    Third place

World Championship record
Year	Round	Position	GP	MW	ML	SW	SL
1949	did not participate
1952
1956
1960
1962
1966	did not qualify
1970
1974	19th–24th places	20th	10	5	5	18	20
1978	17th–20th places	20th	9	3	6	12	18
1982	9th–12th places	11th	9	4	5	16	18
1986	did not qualify
1990	9th–12th places	12th	6	1	5	3	16
1994	Final Round	9th	4	1	3	5	9
1998	9th–12th places	12th	12	4	8	15	28
2002	First Round	17th	3	1	2	4	7
2006	9th–12th places	11th	11	5	6	18	24
2010	First Round	19th	3	1	2	3	7
2014	Second Round	7th	9	6	3	18	13
2018	Second Round	9th	8	5	3	18	14
2022	First Round	17th	3	1	2	3	6
2025	Qualified
Total	0 Titles	13/21	87	37	50	133	180

  Champions    Second place    Third place

World Cup record
Year	Round	Position	GP	MW	ML	SW	SL
1965	did not participate
1969
1977	Final Group	12th	5	0	5	3	15
1981	did not participate
1985
1989
1991
1995	Round Robin	9th	11	3	8	11	27
1999	Round Robin	8th	11	5	6	17	24
2003	Round Robin	7th	11	5	6	18	23
2007	did not participate
2011
2015	Round Robin	7th	11	5	6	18	22
2019	Round Robin	9th	11	4	7	19	28
Total	0 Titles	6/14	60	22	38	86	139

  Champions    Second place    Third place

Nations League record
Year	Round	Position	GP	MW	ML	SW	SL	Squad
2018	Preliminary round	7th	15	8	7	29	24	Squad
2019	Preliminary round	9th	15	8	7	29	29	Squad
2021	Preliminary round	8th	15	7	8	27	26	Squad
2022	Preliminary round	15th	12	2	10	10	33	Squad
2023	Preliminary round	12th	12	3	9	15	31	Squad
Total	0 Titles	5/5	69	28	41	110	143	—

¹ players during all matches of intercontinental round

The following is the Canadian roster for the 2022 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship.[6]

Head coach: Benjamin Josephson

No.	Name	Date of birth	Height	Spike	Block	2022–23 club
3	Derek Epp	15 June 1998	2.01 m (6 ft 7 in)	345 cm (136 in)	320 cm (130 in)	Arago de Sète
4	Nicholas Hoag (C)	19 August 1992	2.00 m (6 ft 7 in)	350 cm (140 in)	323 cm (127 in)	Arkas Spor
7	Stephen Maar	6 December 1994	2.02 m (6 ft 8 in)	358 cm (141 in)	329 cm (130 in)	Vero Volley Milano
8	Brett Walsh	19 February 1994	1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)	347 cm (137 in)	315 cm (124 in)	PAOK Thessaloniki
10	Ryan Sclater	10 February 1994	2.00 m (6 ft 7 in)	353 cm (139 in)	320 cm (130 in)	Al Jazira
11	Pearson Eshenko	16 October 1997	2.04 m (6 ft 8 in)	363 cm (143 in)	340 cm (130 in)	SVG Lüneburg
12	Lucas Van Berkel	29 November 1991	2.10 m (6 ft 11 in)	350 cm (140 in)	326 cm (128 in)	Tourcoing Lille
17	Ryley Barnes	11 October 1993	2.00 m (6 ft 7 in)	352 cm (139 in)	325 cm (128 in)	Tourcoing Lille
19	Brodie Hofer	27 April 2000	2.00 m (6 ft 7 in)	358 cm (141 in)	330 cm (130 in)	Trinity Western Spartans
20	Arthur Szwarc	30 March 1995	2.09 m (6 ft 10 in)	360 cm (140 in)	337 cm (133 in)	Vero Volley Milano
21	Jackson Howe	16 June 1998	1.98 m (6 ft 6 in)	356 cm (140 in)	335 cm (132 in)	Stade Poitevin
22	Steven Marshall	23 November 1989	1.94 m (6 ft 4 in)	350 cm (140 in)	322 cm (127 in)	Nice Volley-Ball
24	Mathias Elser	3 June 2001	1.98 m (6 ft 6 in)	353 cm (139 in)	325 cm (128 in)	Trinity Western Spartans
80	Eric Loeppky	1 August 1998	1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)	355 cm (140 in)	325 cm (128 in)	Gioiella Prisma Taranto

Primary sponsors include: main sponsors like Inter Pipeline other sponsors: Lululemon Athletica, Wilson Sporting Goods and UNIGLOBE Travel International.