Beach Major Company - a joint venture between Hannes Jagerhofer and Red Bull - is aimed at making beach volleyball "one of the world's most dynamic forms of sport entertainment", with Red Bull bringing its marketing, event management and media experience to three Major Series events and the Beach Volleyball Season Final as part of the FIVB World Tour.

Meanwhile, Swatch will be the title sponsor for the Major Series as part of the FIVB World Tour ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

"This new partnership is the next step in the FIVB's mission to ensure that volleyball is the world's leading family sport entertainment through engagement, innovation and universality," FIVB President Ary S Graça said.

"Like the FIVB and volleyball, Red Bull is a dynamic, global brand and I look forward to working together to ensure that the FIVB's beach volleyball events are a memorable spectacle for fans around the world.

"Red Bull is unrivalled in its marketing expertise.

"In combination with the Red Bull Media House with its outstanding network and knowledge of content production and distribution - this makes them an ideal partner for the FIVB."

Copacabana Beach will be the stage for beach volleyball at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games ©Getty Images


Graça added: "We are also delighted to be working closely with Hannes Jagerhofer - a renowned promoter who has set the benchmark for staging world-class volleyball events for many years.

"Finally, today we are announcing the renewal of the relationship between beach volleyball and one of the most respected sponsors in sport - Swatch.

"These are all incredibly prestigious partners for the FIVB and I look forward to working closely together to ensure that volleyball continues to lead through innovation as the number one family sport entertainment in the world."

Beach Major Company chief executive Jagerhofer added that the new partnership will "push beach volleyball to an entirely new level and position it on the world's stage of top global sports".

This year's FIVB World Tour forms part of the second qualification process, alongside the Continental Cup, for beach volleyball at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, where it will be staged on Copacabana Beach.

There will be three Beach Volleyball Major Series in Poreč in Croatia, Stavanger in Norway and Gstaad in Switzerland, and five FIVB Grand Slams in Russia's capital Moscow, Yokohama in Japan, St Petersburg and Long Beach in the United States and Olsztyn in Poland, before the top-ranked eight teams and two wildcards compete at the Beach Volleyball Season Final in Fort Lauderdale, US in October.

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