Saskatoon, Canada, June 23, 2016 - Both China and Portugal will be aiming at ending their FIVB Volleyball World League losing streaks as they meet on the first day of the 2016 Group 2 tournament in Canada.
Head-to-Head
• This will be the first World League meeting between China and Portugal.
• They have met once in a major tournament. In 2002 Portugal won 3-1 at the World Championship.
• China have lost their last three World League matches against CEV teams, since beating Greece in 2015.
• Portugal have won seven and lost nine World League matches against AVC teams.
China
• China have lost their last five World League matches and can lose six in a row for the first time since 2010.
• Their last victory was against Greece on 21 June 2015 (3-2).
• Their last victory by a 3-0 scoreline in the competition was against Mexico on 14 June 2015.
• China will play their 200th World League match. They have won 56 of their previous 199.
Portugal
• Portugal have lost 15 of their last 16 World League matches, only beating Netherlands 3-2 on 20 June 2015.
• The last time they won 3-1 or 3-0 was against Korea on 5 July 2014.
• Only Venezuela (21%) and Korea (22.6%) have a lower winning percentage in the World League than Portugal (23.4%) among teams which have played at least 10 World League matches.