| Competition: | FIVB Volleyball Women's U21 World Championship |
| Continent: | World |
| Gender: | women |
| Type: | 21 |
| Year: | 2023 |
| Size: | 280 |
| Dates: | 17–26 August 2023 |
| Teams: | 16 |
| Confederations: | 5 |
| City: | León Aguascalientes |
| Venues: | 2 |
| Cities: | 2 |
| Champions: | CHN |
| Title Number: | 4 |
| Second: | ITA |
| Third: | BRA |
| Fourth: | JPN |
| Mvp: | Zhuang Yushan |
| Outside Spikers: | Zhuang Yushan Stella Nervini |
| Middle Blockers: | Wan Ziyue Luzia Nezzo |
| Matches: | 64 |
| Website: | FIVB Women's U21 World Championship |
| Last: | 2021 FIVB Volleyball Women's U20 World Championship |
| Next: | 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women's U21 World Championship |
The 2023 FIVB Volleyball Women's U21 World Championship was the 22nd edition of the FIVB Volleyball Women's U21 World Championship, contested by the women's national teams under the age of 20 of the members of the French: [[Fédération Internationale de Volleyball]] (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. It was held in Mexico from 17 to 26 August 2023.[1]
This was the first edition with under-21 national teams after FIVB decided, in March 2022, to move the age category of the women's U20 championship to U21 in order to align it with the Men's U21 World Championship.[2] [3]
Italy were the defending champions but failed to defend their title. China claimed their fourth title of U21 World Championship by defeating Italy 3–2 in the final match.
On 2 June 2022, FIVB opened the bidding process for member associations whose countries were interested in hosting one of the four Age Group World Championships in 2023 (i.e., U19 Boys' and Girls' World Championships and U21 Men's and Women's World Championships).[4] The expression of interest of the member associations had to be submitted to FIVB by 29 July 2022, 18:00 CEST (UTC+2).[5]
FIVB announced the hosts for its four Age Group World Championship on 24 January 2023,[1] with Mexico being selected to host the 2023 Women's U21 World Championship.[6] This will be the fifth time that Mexico hosts the FIVB Women's U21 World Championship having previously done so in 1981, 2009, 2017 and 2019.[7]
A total of 16 national teams qualified for the final tournament.[5] In addition to Mexico who qualified automatically as the host, 10 other teams qualified through five separate continental competitions which were required to be held by 31 December 2022 at the latest. The remaining 5 teams entered via the Women's U21 FIVB World Ranking among the teams not yet qualified.
The slot allocation was setted as follow:[5]
| Confederation | Qualifying tournament | Team qualified | Appearances | Previous best performance | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | First | Last | ||||
| AVC | 2022 Asian Women's U20 Championship | 18th | 1977 | 2019 | (2019) | |
| 21st | 1977 | 2019 | (1995, 2013, 2017) | |||
| Women's U21 FIVB World Ranking | 7th | 1995 | 2021 | (2007) | ||
| CAVB | 2022 Women's U21 African Nations Championship | 9th | 2005 | 2021 | (2005) | |
| 3rd | 1995 | 2011 | (1995) | |||
| CEV | 2022 Women's U19 European Championship | 17th | 1985 | 2021 | (2011, 2021) | |
| 10th | 1997 | 2021 | (2005, 2021) | |||
| Women's U21 FIVB World Ranking | 5th | 1995 | 2021 | (2003, 2021) | ||
| 12th | 1991 | 2021 | (2003) | |||
| 11th | 1999 | 2021 | (2017, 2019) | |||
| CSV | 2022 Women's U21 South American Championship | 22nd (all) | 1977 | 2021 | (1987, 1989, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007) | |
| 13th | 1977 | 2021 | (2001) | |||
| NORCECA | 2022 Women's Junior Pan-American Cup | 12th | 1977 | 2021 | (2007, 2011) | |
| 15th | 1981 | 2019 | (1985, 1993) | |||
| Host nation | 12th | 1977 | 2019 | (1981) | ||
| Women's U21 FIVB World Ranking | 13th | 1995 | 2021 | (2015) |
Teams will play round-robin in each pool. The top two teams from each pool will advance to round-robin pools E and F of the second phase, while the rest will move to pools G and H to continue the battles for classification from 9th to 16th. The winners and runners-up of pools E and F will progress to the semifinals and eventually determine the medallists.[8]
| width=40 | Rank | width=180 | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
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| 12–woman Roster | |
| Zhuang Yushan (C), Zhu Xingchen, Zhao Yalun, Wang Yifan, Wan Ziyue, Zeng Jieya, Tang Xin, Yin Xiaolan, Wang Yindi, Yang Jia, Xie Shengyan. Shan Linqian | |
| Head coach | |
| Qi Kuang |
Zhuang Yushan
Valentina Bartolucci
Zhuang Yushan
Stella Nervini
Wan Ziyue
Luzia Nezzo
Anna Adelusi
Zhu Xingchen