FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League

The FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League is an international volleyball competition[1] contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. The first tournament took place between May and July 2018, with the final taking place in Nanjing, China. United States won the inaugural edition, defeating Turkey in the final.

FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League
Current season, competition or edition:
2021 FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League
VNL
SportVolleyball
Founded2017 (2017)
Inaugural season2018
CEO Ary Graça
No. of teams16
ContinentInternational (FIVB)
Most recent
champion(s)		 United States (2nd title)
Most titles United States (2 titles)
Official websiteFIVB Nations League

The creation of the tournament was announced in October 2017 as a joint project between the FIVB, the IMG and 21 national federations.[2] The Nations League replaced the World Grand Prix, a former annual women's international event that ran between 1993 and 2017.

A corresponding tournament for men's national teams is the FIVB Volleyball Men'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 (no more Groups 1, 2 and 3) of 16 national teams.[3][4]

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.[2]

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 (known as 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.[5]

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.[5]

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.[5] 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.[6][7]

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.[5]

Challenger Cup
Main article: FIVB Volleyball Women's 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:[6]

Confederation Slots
AVC (Asia)1
CAVB (Africa)0 or 1 (intercontinental playoff with CSV representative)
CSV (South America)0 or 1 (intercontinental playoff with CAVB representative)
CEV (Europe)2
NORCECA (North America)1
Total6 (5+H)

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 and the winners will qualify for the next year's VNL as a challenger team.[6]

Hosts

List of hosts by number of final round championships hosted.

Times hosted Hosts Year(s)
3 China2018, 2019, 2021

Appearance
Team League Round Final Round
App. First Last App. First Last
 Argentina120182018–––
 Belgium320182021–––
 Brazil320182021220182019
 Bulgaria120192019–––
 Canada120212021–––
 China320182021220182019
 Dominican Republic320182021–––
 Germany320182021–––
 Italy320182021120192019
 Japan320182021–––
 Netherlands320182021120182018
 Poland320182021120192019
 Russia320182021–––
 Serbia320182021120182018
 South Korea320182021–––
 Thailand320182021–––
 Turkey320182021220182019
 United States320182021220182019

Results summary
Main article: FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League statistics
Year Final host Final 3rd place match Teams
PR / FR
Champions Score Runners-up 3rd place Score 4th place
2018
Nanjing
United States		 3–2
Turkey
China		 3–0
Brazil		 16 / 6
2019
Nanjing
United States		 3–2
Brazil
China		 3–1
Turkey		 16 / 6
2020 Originally to be hosted by China, Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic.
2021
TBD		 – – 16 / 6

Medals summary
RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 United States2002
2 Brazil0101
 Turkey0101
4 China0022
Totals (4 nations)2226

MVP by edition

Team performances by season
  • 1st – Champions
  • 2nd – Runners-up
  • 3rd – Third place
  • 4th – Fourth place
  • – No movement for Challenger teams
  • – Relegated for Challenger teams
Team 2018 2019 2021
G FR RK G FR RK G FR RK
 AustraliaVCC21VCC•VCC
 ArgentinaCH L16VCC19VCC
 BelgiumCH L13CH L7CH
 BrazilCF4CF2C
 BulgariaVCC 17CH L16VCC
 CanadaVCC•VCC 17CH
 Czech RepublicVCC•VCC18VCC
 ChinaCF3CF3CF
 Chinese TaipeiVCC•VCC21VCC
 ColombiaVCC18VCC•VCC
 CroatiaVCC•VCC20VCC
 Dominican RepublicCH L14CH L8CH
 GermanyCL11CL10C
 HungaryVCC21VCC•VCC
 ItalyCL7CF5C
 JapanCL10CL9C
 NetherlandsCF5CL11C
 PeruVCC20VCC21VCC
 PolandCH L9CH F5CH
 Puerto RicoVCC19VCC•VCC
 RussiaCL8CL14C
 SerbiaCF5CL13C
 South KoreaCL12CL15C
 ThailandCL15CL12C
 TurkeyCF2CF4C
 United StatesCF1CF1C

See also

References
  1. Renato Marques (11 March 2020). "Women's Volleyball going ahead but FIVB does not rule out changes". Macau Daily Times. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  2. "FIVB announces the Volleyball Nations League". FIVB.org. 12 October 2017. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  3. "FIVB drastically changes format for 2018 World League and Grand Prix, Italy remain member of elite!". WorldofVolley. 19 June 2018. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  4. "¡Qué bombazo!: La World League y el Grand Prix van a cambiar y Argentina será beneficiada" (in Spanish). Voley Plus. 16 June 2018. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  5. "Pools overview released for thrilling inaugural season of VNL". FIVB.org. 16 February 2018. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  6. "Volleyball Challenger Cup battle begins in Peru for one ticket to 2019 Women's VNL". FIVB.org. 19 June 2018. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  7. Events: Fivb Volleyball Nations League | Sears Centre Arena
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