From December 15 to 20, 2026, Poland hosts the FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship for the third time in history. The cities of Krakow, Lodz and Opole welcomed the competition in 2017, while Czestochowa, Plock and Rzeszow did so in 2018. The 2026 edition of the annual tournament takes place in three Polish cities again – Czestochowa, Katowice and Sosnowiec – all of them situated in the host region of the Silesian Voivodeship. Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie, the club hosting the Club World Championship, is also from the same region.

Silesian Voivodeship

Silesian Voivodeship is an administrative province in southern Poland. With over 4.2 million residents and an area of 12,300 square kilometers, it is the second most populous, and the most densely populated and most urbanized region of Poland. The climate is temperate, ocean-moderated humid continental with daily mean temperatures of about 0°C in December.

The region has a diversified geography. The Beskid Mountains cover most of the southern part of the voivodeship, with the highest peak of Pilsko on the Polish–Slovak border reaching 1,534 meters above sea level. Silesian Upland dominates the central part of the region, while the hilly, limestone Polish Jura closes it from the northeast. The Silesian Voivodeship borders both Czechia and Slovakia to the south. Both the northern and the southern parts of the voivodeship are surrounded by a green belt. The Beskid Mountains are popular with winter sports fans.

There are numerous castles and palaces in the voivodeship, and some of the best preserved ones are in one of the 2026 FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship host cities – Sosnowiec. With its more than two centuries of industrial history, the region has many technical heritage memorials. These include narrow and standard gauge railways, coal and silver mines, and shafts and their equipment from the 19^th and the 20^th centuries. The historic coal mine complex in Zabrze is listed as a Historic Monument of Poland, and the Historic Silver Mine in Tarnowskie Gory is listed as both a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Historic Monument of Poland. In the southwestern part of the voivodeship there are parks and old monasteries.

Volleyball is among the sports that enjoy the largest following in the voivodeship.

Czestochowa

Czestochowa hosts the final phase of the 2026 FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship – the semifinals and the medal matches. They are played at the Czestochowa sports hall – a multifunctional sports venue that can accommodate 7,100 spectators. It was officially opened in 2012. The hall has hosted various events, including matches of the city’s major volleyball clubs – Norwid Czestochowa and AZS Czestochowa.

Czestochowa, a city of over 200 thousand inhabitants, is situated on the Warta river in the Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest economic, cultural and administrative hub in the northern part of the voivodeship.

Czestochowa is one of the main tourist attractions of the area. The city is known for the famous Jasna Gora Monastery, attracting millions of pilgrims from all over the world every year. The city excavated an ancient site of the Lusatian culture, with a museum devoted to it. The ruins of a medieval Royal Castle stand in Olsztyn, approximately 25 kilometers from the city center. Through the centuries, many buildings have been erected, and many of them now have the status of tourist attractions and historical monuments. Among those attractions are old townhouses and the urban core of the city center.

The main representative artery in the city center is the Najswietszej Maryi Panny Avenue (“The Holy Virgin Mary Avenue”). It was first built in the beginning of the 19th century. The most characteristic feature of the avenue is its layout, whereby the lanes are separated by the pedestrianized boulevard. The Avenue perform trade, service, financial and cultural functions. The housing consists mostly of classicist and late-classicist houses, rarely eclectic.

Jasna Gora Parks are two city parks located in the city center, on the slope of Jasna Gora Hill. The parks were established in 1843 and are a popular leisure place and a spot for those enjoying short walks. In Staszic Park, one can find an astronomical observatory, which was opened in 1909. The parks also accommodate the Iron Ore Museum.

Katowice

Katowice welcomes matches of the pool phase of the 2026 FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship. They are played at the indoor hall of Arena Katowice, home ground of the GKS Katowice volleyball team. The arena holds a capacity of 3,002 seats.

Katowice is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship and the central city of the Katowice urban area. Katowice has a population of about 300 thousand inhabitants. The Katowice metropolitan area has a population of 2.5 million. It is the second most populous urban area in Poland after Warsaw, and is part of a larger Katowice–Ostrava metropolitan area that extends into Czechia and has a population of around five million people.

Katowice is a center of commerce, business, transportation, education and culture in southern Poland. The city is a member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network and has been recognized as a City of Music. It hosts important cultural institutions such as the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra.

The main tourist attractions in Katowice include the market square and adjacent streets, including a cobblestone pedestrian zone with many historic buildings – the so-called "Great Market Square of Katowice" or "Old town of Katowice", the historical settlement of Nikiszowiec, the Cathedral of Christ the King, Saint Mary's Church, Church of Saint Michael Archangel – the oldest church in the city built in 1510, Drapacz Chmur – one of the first skyscrapers in Europe, the Silesian Parliament, the Silesian Insurgents Monument – the largest and heaviest monument in Poland, the Silesian Theater, the Rialto Cinetheater, the Silesian Museum, the old train station of Katowice, the Goldstein Palace, the Zaleze Palace, the Parachute Tower – the only one in Poland, and the flying-saucer-shaped multipurpose arena Spodek, which hosted matches of the 2014 and the 2022 FIVB Men's Volleyball World Championships, the FIVB Volleyball World League and many other major sporting events.

Vibrant and progressive artistic communities, particularly around musical arts, make Katowice one of the leading cultural spots in Poland. The city has established a strategy to redevelop the post-industrial areas using culture – the pinnacle of which was a massive development on the site of a former coal mine known as Strefa Kultury ("Zone of Culture"), where numerous cultural and convention institutions are located.

Located approximately 30 km north of the city center, Katowice Airport is the main airport serving Katowice and the Silesian Voivodeship, and the largest leisure travel airport in Poland. The airport is accessed through a metropolitan express bus line, running every 30 minutes during the day and every hour at night. Katowice is also within an hour drive from Krakow Airport, which offers additional destinations and airlines and can be accessed through scheduled buses leaving from Katowice bus station every 30-60 minutes.

Sosnowiec

Sosnowiec hosts matches of the pool phase of the 2026 FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship. They are played at the Arena Sosnowiec, with 3,052 seats, opened in 2023 within the Zaglebiowski Sports Park. The Arena Sosnowiec usually serves as home venue for Club World Championship hosts Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie’s playoff games in the Polish PlusLiga.

Sosnowiec is an industrial city county in the Silesian Voivodeship. Located in the eastern part of the Upper Silesian Industrial Region, Sosnowiec is one of the cities of the Katowice urban area. The population of the city is about 200 thousand inhabitants.

Sosnowiec is characterized by its urban dynamics, economic activity, cultural heritage, and natural environment. As points of interest, there are many relics of the industrial era, especially residences of industrialists. Most of them are located outside the strict city center, on the Czarna Przemsza river bank. One of the oldest is a 17^th-century castle, known as the Sielecki Castle. Other main tourist attractions include the Dietel Palace, the Ernst Schon Palace and museum, the Franz Schon Palace, the Wilhelm Schon Palace, the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and a few other churches, the two railway stations, the old Jewish cemetery, the Three Emperors' Corner, etc.

Sosnowiec has an extensive system of urban green spaces, such as parks, garden squares, protection zones, forests or riverfront promenades.