The Volleyball Nations League has a new competition formula this year. For the first time, it will feature 18 national teams per gender. Other changes are streamlining the competition schedule and adding more recovery and preparation time for teams. For the first time, participants won’t be divided into core and challenger teams. The expanded format with more teams battling for the title is likely to make this one of the most exciting editions of the VNL.
Preliminary phase
In this phase, all participating teams will play 12 matches. The matches will be spread across the three weeks of the competition. Three pools per week will play at three different venues with six teams each. There will be five instead of six competition days a week. A total of 216 matches will take place during the Preliminary Phase.
The men’s teams will start the preliminary phase on June 11, and the first week’s pools will be hosted in China, Canada, and Brazil. The second competition week will take place from June 25 to 29, and the participating teams will be split between Bulgaria, Serbia, and the USA. From July 15 to 20, the pools will be hosted by Japan, Poland, and Slovenia.
The Italian women’s team won the 2024 VNL and will play in Brazil in the first week, which starts on June 4. The other hosts of pools in the first week are China and Canada. The second week, from June 18 to 22, will take place in China, Türkiye, and Serbia. The third week, from July 9 to 13, will be in Japan, the Netherlands, and the USA.
Thousands of fans are likely to watch the games from around the world and in the United States. The U.S. men’s team has won three silvers and a bronze medal, and the women’s team are three-time VNL champions. Sports bettors in the USA can place their sports bets legally at Gun Lake online sportsbook in Michigan.
New and returning teams
Teams playing for the first time are the women’s team from Czechia and the men’s team from Ukraine. Belgium and China make their return after their strong performances in the world rankings and the Challenger Cup.
Final phase
There have been no changes to the Final phase.
Quarterfinals
The top eight teams will progress to the Final phase, where they will face off against each other in the quarterfinals. The national team hosting the event will have a guaranteed birth.
There will be four quarterfinals. The first-ranked team will play against the team ranked eighth. The second-ranked team against the team ranked seventh, and so on. The teams that don’t win in the quarterfinals will be ranked from 5th to 8th in the Final Standing.
Semi-finals
The winner of the first quarter-final will play a semi-final match against the winner of the fourth quarter-final. The winner of the second quarter-final will play a semi-final against the winner of the third quarter-final.
There will be a total of 232 games, including the quarterfinals, semi-finals, and medal matches in both genders.
For tournaments like these, the volleyball players must wear the right shoes. Adidas, Nike, Mizuno, and Asics are some of the best brands for volleyball shoes. Japanese volleyball player Yuji Nishida wears Asics and Matthew Anderson of the USA team wears Nike Hyperset.
VLN Championship title
Winners of the semi-finals will play for the VNL Champion title. The teams that don’t win will play for 3rd place in the competition.
The Men’s Finals will take place in Ningbo, China, on August 3. Peak viewership in China for the VLN last year reached 3.6 million. This is an indication of volleyball’s popularity in China.
The Women’s Finals will take place in Łódź, Poland, at the Atlas Arena on July 27. Poland has a strong history in international volleyball and hosted the Men’s Final of the VLN last year.
