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.[1] Teams already qualified for the event were not eligible to play in the following qualification tournaments.
| width=25% | Means of qualification | width=27% | Date! | width=20% | Venue! | width=6% | Vacancies! | width=22% | Qualified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Host Country | 1 | ||||||||
| 2015 World Cup | 22 August – 6 September 2015 | 2 | |||||||
| European Qualifier | 4–9 January 2016 |  Ankara | 1 | ||||||
| South American Qualifier | 6–10 January 2016 |  Bariloche | 1 | ||||||
| North American Qualifier | 7–9 January 2016 |  Lincoln | 1 | ||||||
| African Qualifier | 12–16 February 2016 |  Yaoundé | 1 | ||||||
| Asian Qualifier | 14–22 May 2016 |  Tokyo | 1 | ||||||
| 1st World Qualifier | 3 | ||||||||
| 2nd World Qualifier | 20–22 May 2016 | San Juan | 1 | ||||||
| Total | 12 | ||||||||
| width=10px bgcolor=#ccffcc | Qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics | ||
| width=10px bgcolor=#fffccc | Qualified for the 2016 World Olympics Qualification Tournament |
For all qualification tournaments
Match won 3–0 or 3–1: 3 match points for the winner, 0 match points for the loser
Match won 3–2: 2 match points for the winner, 1 match point for the loserFor North American qualification tournament only
Match won 3–0: 5 match points for the winner, 0 match points for the loser
Match won 3–1: 4 match points for the winner, 1 match point for the loser
Match won 3–2: 3 match points for the winner, 2 match points for the loser
FIVB reserved a vacancy for the Olympics host country to participate in the tournament.
The winners and runners-up from 2015 FIVB Volleyball World Cup qualified for the Olympics.
See main article: article and 2015 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup.
| width=40 | Rank | width=180 | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | |||
| 5 | |||
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| 7 | |||
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| 9 | |||
| 10 | |||
| 11 | |||
| 12 |
African Olympic Qualification Tournament
The winners qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games. The second and third teams would play in World Olympic Qualification Tournament.
See main article: article and Volleyball at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's African qualification.
Yaoundé Multipurpose Sports Complex, Yaoundé, Cameroon| width=40 | Rank | width=180 | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |||
| 2 | |||
| 3 | |||
| 4 | |||
| 5 | |||
| 6 | |||
| 7 |
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.
European Olympic Qualification Tournament
The winners qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games. The second and third teams would play in World Olympic Qualification Tournament.
See main article: article and Volleyball at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's European qualification.
Başkent Volleyball Hall, Ankara, Turkey| width=40 | Rank | width=180 | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |||
| 2 | |||
| 3 | |||
| 4 | |||
| 5 | |||
| 6 | |||
| 7 | |||
| 8 |
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.
Pinnacle Bank Arena, Lincoln, Nebraska, United StatesSouth American Olympic Qualification Tournament
The winners qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games. The second and third teams would play in World Olympic Qualification Tournament.
Bomberos Voluntarios Stadium, Bariloche, ArgentinaThere 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.[2]
| 1st tournament | 2nd tournament | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=15% | Qualification! | width=17% | Qualifier! | width=17% | Qualification! | width=17% | Qualifier! | width=17% | Qualification! | width=17% | Qualifier |
| Host country | European QT | African QT | |||||||||
| World Ranking for Asian teams | |||||||||||
| North American QT 2nd | North American QT 3rd | ||||||||||
| South American QT 2nd | South American QT 3rd | ||||||||||
Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, Tokyo, Japan