VNL 2023

Reigning VNL champs Italy and France back for more in 2023

What have they been up to since winning the titles in 2022?

Published 10:59, 22 Mar 2023

The French players coming out to the court for the VNL 2022 final against USA

As usual, Volleyball Nations League 2023 will feature 16 women’s and 16 men’s national teams, including the reigning VNL 2022 champions, Italy for women and France for men. Both of these topped a VNL podium for the first time in history and will for the first time face the heavy tasks of defending their crowns.

The other medallists from last year, Brazil and Serbia in the women’s competition, and the United States and Poland in the men’s tournament, will also be back to try and step it up in the 2023 edition.

The 2023 list of participants also includes two aspiring newcomers, the teams that won the Volleyball Challenger Cup in 2022 and earned a promotion to the VNL – the women’s national team of Croatia and the men’s national team of Cuba.

Italy triumph on top of the VNL 2022 women’s podium

The full line-up of women’s teams to take to the courts of VNL 2023 features 16 really strong sides, all of whom are capable of shooting for the title: Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, the Dominican Republic, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Poland, Serbia, Thailand, Turkiye and the United States.

ITALY (Womens)

There has been one major national team competition since Italy triumphed in VNL 2022 and that was the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship in the Netherlands and Poland in the fall of 2022. Led by VNL’s Most Valuable Player Paola Egonu, the Italians ran a really strong campaign, living up to their status of favourites and comfortably flying to the semifinals.

Whether the pressure came too much for the Italians or the Brazilians were simply too strong in that battle for a spot in the World Championship final in Apeldoorn, the mighty South Americans mastered a 3-1 (25-23, 22-25, 26-24, 25-19) victory to put a stop to Italy’s aspirations to back their VNL title with a World Championship crown, despite a 30-point match high from Egonu.

Two days later, the southern European team managed to bounce back with a 3-0 (25-20, 25-15, 27-25) shutout of the United States, with Egonu on fire again with 25 points to her name, in the third place match to claim a spot on the podium. The World Championship podium was, in fact, the same as that in the VNL, only in the opposite order – Serbia with gold, Brazil with silver and Italy with bronze. Italian captain Miriam Sylla was honoured as one of the outside hitters on the World Championship Dream Team. Middle blocker Anna Danesi was also named among the tournament’s all-star seven.

The third place at the World Championship, however, was considered by some a disappointing step down from the VNL triumph, and in a sense, that resulted in Egonu announcing she would take a break from the national team. The Generation O striker is now spending her club season abroad for the first time, as a member of Turkish powerhouse VakifBank Istanbul. They claimed an FIVB Volleyball Women’s Club World Championship silver and are still in the running for defending their trophies from Europe’s CEV Champions League, the Turkish national league and the Turkish national cup.

High-flying Paola Egonu during the World Championship semifinal against Brazil

Most of the other Italian national team stars are competing in Italy’s Lega Pallavolo Serie A1 Femminile.

As a member of Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano, the Best Libero of VNL 2022 Monica De Gennaro won gold at December’s Club World Championship, where she also made the Dream Team of the tournament. They also claimed the national cup and super cup of Italy and have a convincing lead in the league regular season standings.

Miriam Sylla and VNL Dream Team setter Alessia Orro compete for Vero Volley Milan and are looking forward to the playoffs in Italy. So are Anna Danesi and VNL Dream Team outside hitter Caterina Bosetti as players of Igor Gorgonzola Novara.

Caterina Bosetti celebrates during the VNL 2022 final

FRANCE (Mens)

Reigning men’s Olympic champions and VNL crown-bearers France will also try to defend their title in an impressive company of powerful national teams: Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Cuba, Germany, Iran, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia and the United States.

Similar to their female counterparts, France also failed to back up their VNL title with a World Championship trophy in 2022. Starting the tournament in Slovenia with four wins in a row, Tokyo 2020 and VNL MVP Earvin Ngapeth and his teammates reached the quarterfinals, where they had a one-set lead twice in the match, but were eventually downed in five sets, 3-2 (24-26, 25-21, 23-25, 25-22, 15-2), by world champions-to-be Italy to miss out on the final four in Poland.

The French upset by Italy in a World Championship quarterfinal

During the current club season, France’s leader Ngapeth continues playing for Italy’s Valsa Group Modena. They have already reached the final of the CEV Cup and are in the middle of their playoff campaign in Italy’s SuperLega Credem Banca.

VNL 2022 Dream Team opposite Jean Patry is one of the leaders of Italy’s Allianz Milan, a team that also reached the playoffs in the national league, as well as the Coppa Italia semifinals. The other two French VNL Dream Teamers, outside Trevor Clevenot and libero Jenia Grebennikov, compete in top-level national leagues as well. Clevenot is, in fact, one of three French internationals, along with playmaker Benjamin Toniutti and opposite Stephen Boyer, on the squad of Polish powerhouse Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj, who won the Poland Super Cup, reached the final of the Poland Cup, are currently running among the top three of the PlusLiga regular season and look forward to their semifinal matches in the Champions League. Meanwhile, Grebennikov and his team Zenit Saint Petersburg are also currently in third place in the Russian Superliga regular season.