FIVB Volleyball Men's Nations League

The FIVB Volleyball Men's Nations League is an annual international volleyball competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. The first tournament took place between May and July 2018, with the final taking place in Lille, France. Russia won the inaugural edition, defeating France in the final.

In July 2018, the FIVB announced that USA would host the next three editions of the men's Volleyball Nations League Finals, from 2019–2021‌. However, it was canceled due to a clash with the U.S. Independence Day (for USA 2020 Hosting). The FIVB then confirmed Turin, Italy as the new host of the final stage of 2020 VNL, but on March 13, 2020 the FIVB decided to postpone the Nations League until after the 2020 Summer Olympics due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, the FIVB canceled the 2020 edition and confirmed Italy as the host of the final stage of the 2021 VNL.

The creation of the tournament was announced in October 2017 (alongside with the announcement of the Challenger Cup) as a joint project between the FIVB, the IMG and 21 national federations. The Nations League replaced the World League, a former annual men's international event that ran between 1990 and 2017.

A corresponding tournament for women's national teams is the FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League.

History

Adoption

In June 2017, Argentinian website Voley Plus reported that the FIVB would drastically change the format for both the 2018 World League and World Grand Prix. According to the reports, starting from 2018, the World League and the World Grand Prix would have only one Group (no more Groups 1, 2 and 3) of 16 national teams.

In October 2017, the FIVB announced, via a press release, the creation of the men's and women's Volleyball Nations League, confirming the tournaments as a replacement for the World League and World Grand Prix.

According to the press release, the goal of the tournament would be to revolutionize volleyball competitions, making it one of the most important events in the history of the sport, presenting volleyball in a way that has never been experienced before, building on the innovative sports presentation on display at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and bringing the action closer to fans around the world. By pushing the boundaries of technology, innovation and digital broadcasting, spectators at home would witness new and diverse angles, showcasing the world class athleticism of each nation's best players.

For the very first time, the FIVB, in collaboration with the sports marketing company IMG, would take complete control of content production, maximizing quality and promoting a compelling on-court narrative, easier for fans to engage with and understand.

Marketing

The International Volleyball Federation has partnered with global brand strategy and design firm Landor Associates to create the Volleyball Nations League branding. Landor has also contributed with in-stadium and on-screen television graphics, staff uniforms, designs for the World Volleyball app, medals and the winning trophy.

Digital

Microsoft, the multinational technology company, has signed an agreement with the FIVB that the international federation vows will change the way the sport of volleyball is consumed while heightening the fan experience during match days as well as in the digital space. Under the tie-up, the "Microsoft Sports Digital Platform" has been created to create new digital services and deliver personalised content on demand in order to boost the FIVB global audience and improve fan engagement.

Prize money

According to the FIVB, the prize money is equal for both the men's and women's VNL as per the FIVB's gender equality policy. At the preliminary round, the winning team is awarded US$9,000 for every win and the losing team is awarded US$4,000. The winner of the whole competition will receive US$1,000,000. The runner up will receive US$500,000, while the prize money given to third place is US$300,000. The players selected into Dream Team will receive US$10,000 each while the MVP will be given US$30,000.

Market performance

The FIVB announced that the 2019 Volleyball Nations League (both men's and women's) attracted a cumulative global audience of more than 1.5 billion. This number was an increase of 200 million from the 2018 VNL. In total. more than 600,000 tickets were sold in the 2019 VNL.

Format

Previous format

As in the former World League, the competition will be divided in two phases, albeit with changes in the competition formula: a preliminary round, with a system of rotating host cities, and a final round played in a pre-selected host city.

The preliminary round is held over five weeks, versus three in the World League. Each week, the participating teams are organized in pools, and each team plays one match against all other teams in its pool. All games in a pool take place over a weekend in the same city.

When all matches of the preliminary round have been played, the top five teams in the overall standings qualify for the final round, and the remaining ones leave the competition. The host nation automatically qualifies for the final round.

16 national teams will compete in the inaugural edition of the tournament; 12 core teams, which are always qualified, and 4 challenger teams, which can face relegation.

* Preliminary round
The 16 teams compete in round-robin tournament, with every core team hosting a pool at least once. The teams are divided into 4 pools of 4 teams in each week and compete five weeks long, with a total of 120 matches. The top five teams after the round-robin tournament join the hosts in the final round. The relegation will consider the four challenger teams and the last ranked challenger team will be excluded from the next edition. The winners of the Challenger Cup would qualify for the next edition as a challenger team.

* Final round
The six qualified teams play in 2 pools of 3 teams in a round-robin format. The top 2 teams of each pool qualify for the semifinals. The first ranked teams play against the second ranked teams in this round. The winners of the semifinals advance to compete for the Nations League title.

New format

The new format is applied to 2022 edition. The whole competition still be divided into two phases: The pool phase and the Finals.

* Pool phase
The 16 teams will be divided into 2 groups of eight. Each team will play with 12 matches during the three weeks of the preliminary round. Two pools of eight teams will compete in four matches of six days of competition (Tuesday – Sunday). The new competition format allows for a one-week gap between events. The total number of matches in the pool phase will be 96.

* The finals
The Finals will see the eight strongest teams moving directly to the knockout phase which will consist of eight matches in total: four quarterfinals, two semi-finals and the bronze and gold medal matches. The total number of matches in the final phase will be 8.

Challenger Cup

The FIVB Volleyball Challenger Cup will be a competition for national teams which will run in concurrence with the Volleyball Nations League. The Challenger Cup will consist of teams not participating in the current edition of the Volleyball Nations League and will feature one host team and seven teams from the five continental confederations as follows:

The Continental Confederations, responsible for determining the teams that will qualify for the FIVB Challenger Cup, are free to organise their Continental Qualification Tournament or use an existing competition to define the qualified team(s).

The FIVB Challenger Cup will be held before the FIVB Volleyball Nations League Finals (in 2018 and 2019 editions) but changed it in 2022 edition and the winner earns the right to participate in the next year's Nations League as a challenger team.

New VNL qualification system

The lowest ranked Challenger team of the current edition of the VNL will play the Volleyball Challenger Cup (VCC) held after the VNL. The winner of the current edition of the VCC shall be promoted and compete in the next edition of the VNL.

Hosts

List of hosts by number of final round championships hosted.

Appearance

;Legend

*''Table current through the end of 2022 edition''

Results summary

Medals summary

MVP by edition

*2018 –
*2019 –
*2021 – and
* 2022 –

Team performances by season

;Legend
* – Champions
* – Runners-up
* – Third place
* – Fourth place
* – No movement for Challenger teams
* – Promoted to the next year of VNL
* – Relegated for Challenger teams

*''Table current through the end of 2022 edition''

See also

*FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League
*FIVB Volleyball World League
*FIVB Volleyball Men's Challenger Cup
* List of Indoor Volleyball World Medalists

Notes

References

External links

Fédération Internationale de Volleyball
– official website
Volleyball Nations League
– official website

{{FIVB Volleyball World League/Men's Nations League winners

Recurring sporting events established in 2018
International men's volleyball competitions
Annual sporting events