Lausanne, Switzerland, July 18, 2017 - Defending champions Brazil host Belgium Thursday in Cuiaba to open Week 3 of the 2017 FIVB World Grand Prix. Brazil lost back-to-back games last weekend for for the first time since 2007, but Belgium remain the only winless team of Group 1. Moreover, Brazil have never lost to Belgium the seven times the two sides have come head-to-head in official competitions.
Head-to-Head• Brazil have won each of their seven major encounters with Belgium. The first of those took place at the 1956 World Championship, the last six in the World Grand Prix from 2014 to 2017.
• On 7 July, they met in a World Grand Prix encounter in Ankara, Turkey. Brazil won in straight sets.
• Belgium have never managed to win more than one set in a match against Brazil.
Brazil• Brazil have lost their last two World Grand Prix matches, against Thailand and Japan. This is their first losing streak in the competition since 2007, when they dropped four in a row.
• They have also lost three of their last five in the competition. Before this, they scattered three defeats over a string of 17 World Grand Prix matches.
• They have won each of their last 12 World Grand Prix matches in Brazil, following a 3-1 defeat against United States in São Paulo on 17 June 2012.
Belgium• Belgium is the only team in Group 1 that is still awaiting its first World Grand Prix victory of the season. Combined with last season, there have been eight successive defeats.
• Belgium have won only one of their last 15 World Grand Prix matches, a 3-1 triumph over Turkey on 24 June of last year.
• Belgium have lost all three of their matches at world level in Brazil. These were all World Grand Prix matches in the 2015 season.