The Cuban women's volleyball team now knows its opponents in the 2027 Women's Volleyball World Cup: Poland, Germany, and Slovenia, according to the global draw held this Monday by the FIVB via a live broadcast.
The Antilleans are part of the Group E, which will compete in their group stage from August 20 to August 25, 2027, at the Centre Bell in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, a venue with a capacity of nearly 21,000 spectators.
Cuba enters the draw as the 26th ranked team in the FIVB world ranking, while its group rivals hold higher positions: Poland is fifth, Germany twelfth, and Slovenia eighteenth.
The German Volleyball Federation itself described Group E as a "challenging group," and its head coach, Christian Dünnes, did not hold back in his praises for Cuba: "The team has the potential to return to the world elite," he warned, according to the German federation's report this Monday.
The tournament will bring together 32 teams divided into eight groups of four, with matches played across five cities in the United States and Canada.
The top two teams from each group will advance to the Round of 16, where Group E will face one of the top two from Group D, which consists of the United States, Thailand, Mexico, and Greece.
The competition holds significance that goes beyond the title: the top three ranked teams that have not yet secured a spot will earn a ticket to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
The final is scheduled for September 5, 2027 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, the same venue that will host Olympic volleyball in 2028.
Cuba earned its place in the tournament by securing the bronze medal at the 2026 Norceca Women's Continental Championship, where it defeated the Dominican Republic 3-0 this past August.
It was the team's first continental medal in 15 years, since the bronze in 2011, and marked a turning point in the recovery process for a team that finished in 23rd place at the 2025 World Cup.
Behind this resurgence is the Brazilian coach Luizomar de Moura, who took over the coaching position in August 2025 as the first foreign coach to lead the Cuban women's national team, with his salary covered by the FIVB itself.
History supports Cuban aspirations: the "Morenas del Caribe" have won three titles at the FIVB World Cup (1978, 1994, and 1998) and three consecutive Olympic gold medals (Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996, and Sydney 2000), although the last few decades have seen more modest results.
This edition of the tournament will be the first FIVB Women's Volleyball World Cup held in North America, which also represents a special opportunity for the large Cuban community residing in Canada, allowing them to closely follow the matches of the national team in Montreal.
Related videos:
Filed under: