2014 World Cup Bracket: Volleyball’s World Championship Final Four

There was no FIVB volleyball World Cup in 2014. The World Cup editions either side were 2011 and 2015; the men’s and women’s World Championships were held in 2014. FIVB’s competition archive lists them separately.

This guide covers volleyball’s World Championship final-four brackets, not the football World Cup draw. Poland won the men’s title, and the United States won the women’s title. These are indoor volleyball results, with match scores measured in sets—not goals or total rally points.

Men’s 2014 World Championship bracket

The semifinals and medal matches took place in Katowice, Poland, on September 20–21. The two semifinal winners advanced to the final; the losers played for bronze. The archived results record this final-four draw:

Round	Date, 2014	Result, winner listed first	Set scores, winner’s perspective
Semifinal	September 20	Brazil beat France 3–2	25–18, 23–25, 25–23, 22–25, 15–12
Semifinal	September 20	Poland beat Germany 3–1	26–24, 28–26, 23–25, 25–21
Final	September 21	Poland beat Brazil 3–1	18–25, 25–22, 25–23, 25–22
Bronze match	September 21	Germany beat France 3–0	25–21, 26–24, 25–23

Title path: Poland → beat Germany → beat Brazil → gold. Brazil took silver, Germany bronze and France fourth. The men’s tournament record also identifies Katowice’s Spodek as the final-four venue.

Women’s 2014 World Championship bracket

The women’s final four was played at the Mediolanum Forum in Milan, Italy, on October 11–12. The women’s tournament record lists the following matchups and scores:

Round	Date, 2014	Result, winner listed first	Set scores, winner’s perspective
Semifinal	October 11	United States beat Brazil 3–0	25–18, 29–27, 25–20
Semifinal	October 11	China beat Italy 3–1	25–21, 25–20, 20–25, 30–28
Final	October 12	United States beat China 3–1	27–25, 25–20, 16–25, 26–24
Bronze match	October 12	Brazil beat Italy 3–2	25–15, 25–13, 22–25, 22–25, 15–7

Title path: United States → beat Brazil → beat China → gold. China took silver, Brazil bronze and Italy fourth. The CEV/FIVB medal-match report confirms the final and bronze results, including Italy’s comeback from two sets down before Brazil won the deciding set.

Why there are no quarterfinals in these brackets

Neither tournament used a round-of-16-to-quarterfinal knockout draw. Both narrowed the field through three pool rounds before four teams advanced to the semifinals. The six-team third round consisted of two pools of three, with the top two from each pool progressing. See the men’s third-round record and women’s competition format.

That distinction matters when reconstructing the bracket: a third-round pool match was not a quarterfinal, and losing one did not automatically eliminate a team. Brazil’s men, for example, lost to Poland in the third round but still reached the final, as the archived results show.

Reading a 3–1 bracket result

A 3–1 result means three sets won to one—not a three-point-to-one match. Under FIVB indoor scoring, matches are best of five sets. Sets one through four have a 25-point target, the fifth has a 15-point target, and every set requires a two-point margin.

Poland’s semifinal against Germany shows why the headline score alone cannot describe the closeness of a match. Poland won the first two sets 26–24 and 28–26, both beyond the usual target, lost the third 23–25, then won the fourth 25–21. Three of the four sets were decided by just two points, yet the bracket correctly records a 3–1 win.

For the underlying rally-by-rally rules, see how volleyball scoring works. For a different score-reading example from these tournaments, see the 2014 World Championship finals and their total points.