Berlin, Jun 11 (IANS): Beach volleyball kicks off in Germany next week, with the start of the Beach Liga in Dusseldorf, International Federation de Volleyball (FIVB) has said.

Featuring some of Germany's top players including Victoria Bieneck/Isabel Schneider, Kim Behrens/Cinja Tillmann, Karla Borger/Svenja Mueller and Leonie Koertzinger/Sarah Schneider, the 16-team women's competition will start on June 13 with the men's event to kick off on June 20.

All participating teams are going to compete in a league model followed by a Final Four weekend.

FIVB has already announced that there will be no high-level beach volleyball events, three stars or above, before the second half of October this year.

On Monday, FIVB updated the calendar for the beach volleyball events for the rest of the COVID-19 pandemic-interrupted 2019-20 season, with some previously postponed events, originally scheduled for March and May, cancelled. These include the 3-star events in Bandar Abbas, Iran; Gold Coast, Australia and Jurmala, Latvia, as well as a 4-star event in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

"In addition, the official calendar for next season will be communicated to all stakeholders in the upcoming months, with no plans to stage any 3, 4 or 5-star events earlier than the second half of October 2020," FIVB said in a media release.

FIVB will share the further update by August, based on positive updates received from event organisers in consultation with local health authorities amid the coronavirus pandemic which has so far claimed more than 4 lakh lives across the world.