Matches to watch in Week 1

The elite of international volleyball is reunited in Rimini, Italy, where the 2021 edition of the FIVB Volleyball Nations League is set to start on May 28 for the men.

Between that day and June 27, 16 of the best teams in the world will bring a lot of volleyball action to fans worldwide with as many as 124 matches set to take place in the third edition of the tournament.

All matches of the tournament will be live-streamed on Volleyball TV – sign up and don’t miss any of the action!

Each day of competition in the Preliminary Round will feature as many as eight matches and here are a few suggestions of ones to watch as international volleyball returns.

Matches to watch in week 1

Games you don’t want to miss at the start of the tournament

Who? Poland vs. Italy - Men

When? Friday, May 28, 17:30 GMT

Why? Both teams have been in some of the most important finals of the last decade with the Polish winning the 2014 and the 2018 FIVB World Championships, while the Italians took silver at the Rio 2016 Olympics. This also has the potential to be one of the most explosive matches in the entire tournament due to Poland’s strong trio of Bartosz Kurek, Wilfredo Leon and Michal Kubiak meeting Italy’s young and tall duo of opposite Gabriele Nelli (2.10m) and outside hitter Alessandro Michieletto (2.05m).

Who? USA vs. Brazil - Men

When? Saturday, May 29, 19:00 GMT

Why? As with the women, any time USA and Brazil clash there’s a lot of history and tradition involved. Ranked third and first in the world respectively, these teams have won three of the last four Olympics and feature some of the top players in the world, like setters Micah Christenson and Bruno Rezende and outside hitters Ricardo Lucarelli and Matt Anderson. Brazil are the reigning Olympic champions while the Americans medalled in both editions of the VNL, taking silver in 2019 and bronze in 2018.

Who? Russia vs. Japan - Men

When? Sunday, May 30, 13:00 GMT

Why? The back-to-back VNL champions are certainly a team everyone is going to be watching and their match against Japan will provide an interesting opportunity to do so. With the Asians hosting the Olympics in just a couple of months, they will take every chance they have to play against the top teams in the world and in that regard, they couldn’t get better opponents than the Russians, who rank fourth in the world and have some of the sport’s biggest stars in Dmitry Muserskiy, Maxim Mikhaylov and outside hitter Dmitry Volkov.

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