VNL 2025

France and Poland gain the most in women’s World Ranking

How VNL participation affected the teams’ positions in the chart

Published 04:50, 30 Jul 2025

Korea (KOR) vs. France (FRA) women - Pool 9 - Preliminary Phase #51335563

After three competition weeks of Preliminary Phase action, followed by last week’s Finals in Lodz, the women’s Volleyball Nations League 2025 is over. It is time to analyze how the teams’ participation in the competition affected their positions in the women’s FIVB Volleyball World Ranking, which is ever more important as it strongly affects the qualification process for major competitions in the future.

The VNL team that made the highest upward leap was France. Before the start of the season, they were number 19 in the chart. After finishing in their best ever ninth place, just short of making the Finals, the French team are up in 14^th place, which means an upward leap of five positions.

Poland, who defended their bronze medals from the previous two editions, gained three positions in the World Ranking and climbed from number six before the start of VNL 2025 to number three now, just below leaders Italy and second-ranked Brazil.

Poland (POL) vs. Japan (JPN) women - Final 3-4 #53038280

Poland celebrates VNL 2025 bronze

In the process of completing their VNL campaigns, Japan, Germany and Czechia climbed two positions each and are currently ranked number five, number 10 and number 13. Japan finished fourth in the final VNL standings, Germany made it to the quarterfinals and took seventh place, while Czechia had a fantastic rookie season and finished 11^th.

The teams that shifted one spot up the World Ranking each were China, the Netherlands, Serbia and Bulgaria, who now stand in positions four, eight, nine and 19, respectively. Leaders Italy, Brazil and 11^th-ranked Dominican Republic kept their positions from before the start of VNL 2025.

On the negative side, Thailand, who barely survived in the VNL for next season, made the highest drop down the World Ranking, seven spots from number 13 to number 20. USA, Canada and Belgium also lost a lot of ground and descended by four positions each – to number seven, number 12 and number 18, respectively. Turkiye, who finished in sixth place, dropped two spots to number six in the World Ranking. So did relegated Korea, to number 37.

Reigning Olympic champions Italy, who managed to defend their VNL crown without losing a single match in the process were the VNL team that gained the most in terms of World Ranking points. Their score swelled from 437.03 to 474.06, which resulted from a gain of 37.23 points. Italy also widened the gap from second-ranked Brazil by 17.52 points and now stand 47.46 points clear at the top of the chart.

Italy (ITA) vs. Brazil (BRA) women - Final 1-2 #53066051

Italy’s Alessia Orro and Ekaterina Antropova celebrate during the VNL final

France come second in terms of points gained with 35.22, followed by Germany with 30.00, Japan with 23.10, Brazil with 19.71, Czechia with 16.33, Poland with 15.41, and Bulgaria with 9.11.

The remaining 10 VNL participants suffered point losses, with Canada “leading the way” with a net drop of 46.13 points, followed by Thailand with 34.48, USA with 29.51, the Netherlands with 21.24, Serbia with 18.58, Turkiye with 15.01, Dominican Republic with 12.19, Korea with 5.08, Belgium with 2.20, and China with 1.70 points.