China set to welcome this week’s men’s VNL Finals in Ningbo

It is the men’s turn to crown their Volleyball Nations League 2026 champions this week as the Finals take place from Wednesday to Sunday in Ningbo Beilun, China. Eight teams will enter the quarterfinals, three of them will get on the podium, but only one will triumph with the VNL 2026 title in the end.

• Watch the Volleyball Nations League 2026 on VBTV

The first two of the four quarterfinals will take place on Wednesday, July 29. The next two – on the following day. The semifinals will be played on Saturday and the two medal matches – on Sunday. On each competition day, the match times are the same – 15:00 and 19:30 local time (07:00 and 11:30 UTC).

Slovenia and Turkiye will get the action started in Wednesday’s first quarterfinal.

Slovenia finished third in the final Preliminary Phase standings on a 10-2 win-loss record and 26 points. They are currently the number five team in the FIVB World Ranking. They are looking to advance to the VNL semifinals for the fourth time. However, they have never made it to the podium and have three fourth-place finishes on their record, including the two in the previous two seasons – 2024 and 2025.

By qualifying for the 2026 Finals, Turkiye have already celebrated a historic VNL achievement. At their previous two appearances, they took 16^th and 17^th place in the final standings. This year, they rose to sixth place on 8-4 and 22, earning the right to compete in the quarterfinals for the first time in the team’s history. They also climbed to as high as number eight in the World Ranking.

Slovenia are on a seven-game winning streak in official head-to-head matches against Turkiye. That run includes the three encounters the two teams have had in the VNL. When they last met – in Belgrade earlier this month, on July 18 – Slovenia claimed a four-set victory. The last time Turkiye beat Slovenia was in a CEV European League match back in 2018.

The second quarterfinal on Wednesday will feature an Asian classic between the teams of Japan and hosts China.

Japan are the only undefeated team in this year’s VNL. They topped the Preliminary Phase on 12-0 and 30. They also rose to number four in the World Ranking. Japan have collected two medals in the VNL so far – a 2023 bronze and a 2024 silver. Last year, they failed to get past the quarterfinals, where they were stopped by champions-to-be Poland.

China qualified for the Finals as the host nation. They finished the Preliminary Phase at the bottom of the table, in 18^th place on 1-11 and 4. In the World Ranking, they stand in number 35. In their first appearance in the VNL Finals last year, China also qualified as the home team and took eighth place in the final standings after being eliminated by Brazil in the quarterfinals.

Japan lead the all-time VNL head-to-head record against China by 5-1 in wins, with China emerging with the victory only in their first VNL meeting back in 2018. That was their last success against Japan in a world-level competition. China and Japan last met on June 13 of this year in Linyi, China, when the visitors put together a 3-1 victory. China’s three most recent wins over Japan were achieved at Asian continental tournaments.

Thursday’s quarterfinal program will open with a duel between Italy and the United States.

Italy are the reigning world champions and the World Ranking’s number two team. Last year they finished VNL runners-up and took silver, their first-ever medal in the competition, after two fourth-place finishes in 2022 and 2023. The Italians progressed to the Finals as the fourth-placed team in the league round, on 8-4 and 26.

Just a point behind, USA took fifth place on 8-4 and 25. The Americans have never won the VNL either, but they have picked up three silvers (2019, 2022, 2023) and a bronze (2018). Last year they did not make it to the Finals and finished in 12^th place. Their last podium at a world-level event was achieved at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, where they earned bronze, shutting out Italy in the third-place match.

That was actually USA’s last win over Italy. The European side outplayed the Americans in the next two matches, in VNL 2025 and in VNL 2026. This year’s clash, in Ottawa on June 15, produced a five-set battle, which eventually went the Italians’ way. Italy and the United States have met 60 times at major world level-tournaments and the head-to-head record stands at 32-28 in favor of Italy. In the VNL alone, they are tied at 4-4.

The quarterfinal round will conclude with a match between Poland and Ukraine on Thursday evening.

Poland are the defending VNL champions and the world’s number one team. They have won the VNL twice – in 2023 and in 2025. In 2021, they took silver. They also have three bronze medals in their collection – from 2019, 2022 and 2024. So, they have made the podiums at all of the six most recent (out of a total of seven) VNL editions. Poland are also silver medalists of the last Olympic Games and bronze medalists of the last World Championship. They took second place in this year’s Preliminary Phase, on 10-2 and 29.

Ukraine are already enjoying a historic VNL campaign. Just a year after their debut in the competition in 2025, when they took 10^th place, they advanced to the Finals for the first time, after finishing the league round in seventh place on 7-5 and 23.

Representing neighboring countries, the teams of Poland and Ukraine have met in many friendly games, as well as some CEV European Championship fixtures. However, their first encounter at a world-level tournament occurred this year in the VNL. On June 14 in China, Poland battled their way back from two sets down to overcome Ukraine’s resistance in the tie-breaker.

VNL 2026 schedule and results
VNL 2026 ticket information

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