Everything you need to know about the men’s VNL Finals

The seventh edition of the men’s Volleyball Nations League is about to peak this week with the Finals from July 30 to August 3 in Ningbo, where eight teams – Brazil, hosts China, Cuba, France, Italy, Japan, Poland and Slovenia – will battle it out for the 2025 VNL crown, going through three stages – the quarterfinals on Wednesday and Thursday, the semifinals on Saturday, and the two medal matches on Sunday. Two matches will be played on each of the four competition days in Ningbo, always serving off at 15:00 and 19:00 local time (07:00 and 11:00 UTC).

And it will all be streamed live and on demand on VBTV!

• Watch the Volleyball Nations League on VBTV

China will host the men’s VNL Finals for the first time in the history of the competition, and Ningbo is the first Asian city to do so. The event will take place at the 4,000-seater Beilun Gymnasium, which also hosted the FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix Finals back in 2010 and 2012.

Quarterfinal 1: Italy v Cuba

Action will get underway on Wednesday with the first quarterfinal between Italy and Cuba. Neither of the two teams has ever medaled in the VL. However, Italy reached the semifinals twice, in 2022 and in 2023. The two sides did not meet head to head during the Preliminary Phase of this edition, but they did during the previous two editions of the VNL and, in both cases, the European side achieved four-set victories. In between, they also met at an Olympic qualification tournament in the fall of 2023, when Cuba put together a four-set win over Italy.

Reigning world champions Italy qualified for the Finals in Ningbo as Preliminary Phase runners-up on a 10-2 win-loss record and 28 points. They are also the number two team in the men’s FIVB Volleyball World Ranking. Outside hitter Alessandro Michieletto was their leading scorer during the first stage of VNL 2025. He put away a total of 117 points in eight matches played.

It is the first time Cuba will take part in the VNL Finals. They earned it by finishing seventh in the Preliminary Phase standings on 6-6 and 20. The number nine team in the World Ranking features a number of top-caliber stars on its squad, including the best scorer and the best attacker of the competition so far – outside Marlon Yant, who has 237 points to his name and is the only one to have hit the 200 successful spikes milestone so far.

Quarterfinal 2: Brazil v China

Wednesday’s second quarterfinal will feature the teams of Brazil and China. Previously, they have met five times in VNL fixtures and Brazil have won four of these five encounters, including a 3-0 (25-22, 25-16, 25-23) shutout about a month ago in Chicago. The last time China beat Brazil in the VNL was back in 2022.

Conducted by the best setter of the Preliminary Phase Fernando Kreling (Cachopa), Brazil topped the standings on 11-1 and 32, and assumed the role of clear favorites in this quarterfinal clash with China. The squad also features the best digger of the tournament so far – libero Maique Nascimento. Arriving in Ningbo as the world’s number four team, Brazil will be looking for their second VNL podium. The 2021 gold was their only previous medal in the competition. They also reached the semifinals in 2018 and in 2019.

China finished the Preliminary Phase second from the bottom, in 17^th place on 3-9 and 9, but qualified for the Finals as event hosts. Opposite and captain Jiang Chuan was the team’s leading scorer with 98 points. It will be China’s first appearance at the VNL Finals. They will rely heavily on inspiration from the stands to overcome the underdog status and reach beyond the quarterfinal game against Brazil. China stand in position 25 in the World Ranking.

Quarterfinal 3: France v Slovenia

Thursday’s opening quarterfinal will offer a clash between two European teams – France and Slovenia. When they met in Burgas a month ago, France mastered a 3-0 (25-23, 29-27, 25-23) victory, but the overall head-to-head record between these two teams in the VNL stands at 3-2 Slovenia’s way. Slovenia also achieved five-set victories over France at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games last summer and at the CEV European Championship in 2023.

France are reigning Olympic champions with titles from Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024. They are also the defending VNL champions. Last year they picked up their second gold (after 2022) and fourth overall medal in the history of the VNL. They reached this year’s Finals as the third-placed team in the Preliminary Phase on 8-4 and 24, and currently stand third in the World Ranking as well. Last year’s Most Valuable Player, playmaker Antoine Brizard, is one of the highlights on France’s stellar squad at the upcoming Finals. However, two-time Olympic MVP and VNL 2022 MVP Earvin Ngapeth will not be part of the team in Ningbo. Opposite Theo Faure enters the tournament in China as the second best scorer (225 points), the second best attacker (194 spike kills) and the second best server (21 aces) of the Preliminary Phase.

Outside hitter Rok Mozic was Slovenia’s most prolific scorer in the VNL so far this season, with 155 points to his name. The team grabbed the very last available ticket to the Finals after a dramatic tie-breaker win over Serbia in the last match of the Preliminary Phase, which placed them sixth on 7-5 and 19. In the World Ranking, Slovenia occupies seventh place.

Quarterfinal 4: Japan v Poland

The quarterfinal round will conclude with what is probably the most unpredictable clash of the four – between Japan and Poland, who finished the Preliminary Phase in fourth and fifth place, respectively, on an 8-4 win-loss record and 23 points each, separated only on set ratios. However, Japan has never managed to beat Poland in the previous seven meetings between the two sides in the VNL. On the way to Ningbo, last month the European team produced a hard-fought 3-1 (27-25, 25-22, 18-25, 39-37) victory over the Asian rival in another Chinese city, Xi’an.

Silver medalists of the most recent editions of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship and the Olympic Games and reigning European champions, Poland are currently the world’s number one team, according to the ranking. They have been on the podium at every single edition of the VNL, except for the first one in 2018, and claimed the title in 2023. The two VNL MVPs Poland has had in history – experienced Pawel Zatorski and Bartosz Kurek – will not be part of the team in Ningbo, but the squad will be spearheaded by EuroVolley 2023 MVP Wilfredo Leon, who powered Poland during the third competition week of the Preliminary Phase, as well as by opposite Kewin Sasak, the team’s best scorer so far with a total of 133 points.

Opposite Kento Miyaura was Japan’s top scorer of the Preliminary Phase with 184 points to his name. The stellar presence of outside hitters Ran Takahashi and captain Yuki Ishikawa was also felt during the last competition week and the team will clearly rely a lot on these three in the upcoming battles in Ningbo, hoping to keep the upward VNL trend that started with the 2023 bronze and the 2024 silver. The reigning Asian champions are currently the number five team in the world.

Volleyball Nations League 2025: full schedule and results

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