Puerto Rico's men's national volleyball team was confirmed Thursday as one of the qualifiers for the 2027 World Championship in Poland, a tournament that will have a majority of European teams. It marks Puerto Rico's return to the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) World Championship after missing the 2025 edition in the Philippines. The tournament begins September 10, 2027.
Puerto Rico earned its berth through the world ranking, the second and final qualification criterion. The first was the podium at the recently concluded Norceca Championship, where Puerto Rico finished fifth. Puerto Rico currently ranks 26th in the world, which secured one of the last spots available through the rankings.
Denmark (27), Egypt (29) and Estonia (30) also qualified by that route. Of the 32 qualified teams, 17 are European, over 50% of the field. In 2025, Europe had 15 of 32.
The expansion to 32 teams has opened the door to more European teams, up from nine of 24 (37.5%) at Japan 2006, when Puerto Rico, led by Héctor "Picky" Soto, achieved its best-ever World Championship performance. For Poland 2027 the European share rises to 53.1%. Europeans hold seven of the top 10 world ranking spots, and Europe swept the podium at the 2025 World Championship and won gold and silver at the Paris 2024 Olympics.