FIVB Volleyball Men's Nations League


The FIVB Volleyball Men's Nations League is an international volleyball competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball, 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, FIVB announced that USA would host the next three editions of the Men’s Volleyball Nations League Finals, from 2019–2021‌. but it got cancelled due to a clash with the U.S. Independence Day. So FIVB confirmed Turin, Italy, is the new host of Final stage of 2020 VNL, but on March 13, 2020 FIVB decided to postpone the Nations League until after the 2020 Summer Olympics caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Finally FIVB Cancelled 2020 Edition and confirmed Italy, is the host of Final stage of 2021 VNL.
The creation of the tournament was announced in October 2017 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 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 of 16 national teams.
In October 2017, 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 revolutionise 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, maximising 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. The VNL brand lives where the game takes place: The identity and graphic system are inspired by the court’s colors and its grid lines. The VNL’s brand expression and language stem directly from the game itself. Using innovative digital technology, Landor created a unique logotype and typography where the shape of each letter was created with motion capture, tracking the trajectory of the ball passing from player to player. Landor partnered with award-winning motion design studio ManvsMachine to bring this typography to life in 3D, conveying the emotions experienced by players and fans in the stadium during a match. 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

, 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 FIVB, the prize money is equal to men's and women's VNL as FIVB gender equality policy. At the Preliminary round, the winning team is awarded USD$9,000 for every win and the losing team is awarded USD$4,000. The winner of the whole competition will receive USD$1,000,000. The runner up will have USD$500,000. The prize money to third place is UDS$300,000. The players who selected into Dream Team will receive UDS10,000 each while the MVP will be given USD$30,000.

Market Performance

FIVB announced that The 2019 Volleyball Nations League attracted a cumulative global audience of more than 1.5 billion. This number was an increase of 200 million from the 2018 VNL. Total more than 600,000 tickets were sold in 2019 VNL.

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 al 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.

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 five teams from the five continental confederations as follows:
ConfederationSlots
AVC 0 or 1
CAVB 1
CSV 0 or 1
CEV 2
NORCECA 1
Total6

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.
The FIVB Challenger Cup will be held before the FIVB Volleyball Nations League Finals and the winners will qualify for the next year's VNL as a challenger team.

Hosts

List of hosts by number of final round championships hosted.
Times hostedHostsYear
22019, 2022
12018
12021

Appearance

Medals summary

MVP">Most valuable player">MVP by edition