In June 2017, Argentinian website Voley Plus reported that FIVB would drastically change the format for both the 2018World 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.
Format
As in the former World Grand Prix, 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 Grand Prix. 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 next edition. The winners of the Challenger Cup would qualify for 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.
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:
Confederation
Slots
AVC
1
CAVB
0 or 1
CSV
0 or 1
CEV
2
NORCECA
1
Total
6
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.
