The FIVB World Rankings is a ranking system for men's and women's national teams in volleyball. The teams of the member nations of FIVB, volleyball's world governing body, are ranked based on their competitions results with the most successful teams being ranked highest. A point system is used, with points being awarded based on the importance of each FIVB International competitions and Continental competitions also. Under the existing system, rankings are based on a team's performance, with more recent results and more significant competitions being more heavily weighted to help reflect the current competitive state of a team. As of August 13, 2012 the top 4 women's teams represent the 4 biggest continents in the world, World's No. 1 United States for North America, World's No. 2 Brazil for South America, World's No. 3 Japan for Asia and World's No. 4 Italy for Europe.
The ranking system was most recently revamped after the 2006 World League (for men) and 2006 Grand Prix (for women).
The rankings are used in international competitions to define the seeded teams and arrange them in pools. Specific procedures for seeding and pooling are established by the FIVB in each competition's formula, but the method usually employed is the serpentine system.
