Germany top VNL contenders in friendly tournament

Germany overcame competition from three European rivals that are also set to appear in the Volleyball Nations League 2025 to claim the title of the Silesia Cup friendly tournament, held in the Polish city of Gliwice between Wednesday and Saturday.

With two victories in three matches, the Germans ranked higher than Ukraine, Bulgaria and hosts Poland in the tournament, that served as an important part of the teams’ preparations for the VNL 2025.

• Watch the Volleyball Nations League on VBTV

The victory that gave the Germans the title happened on Saturday, in the last match of the tournament, when they upset Paris Olympic silver medalists Poland, securing a 3-1 (26-24, 25-22, 17-25, 30-28) victory.

Opposite Filip John led the German offense with 17 points (all in kills), followed by outside hitter Theo Mohwinkel, who produced 15 (nine kills, four blocks, two aces). Poland got 15 points (ten kills, three blocks, two aces) from opposite Aliaksei Nasevich and 14 (11 kills, two aces, one block) from outside hitter Michał Gierżot.

Before facing the Polish, the Germans lost to Bulgaria 3-0 (25-20, 27-25, 25-22) on Wednesday and swept (28-26, 25-21, 25-20) Ukraine on Friday.

Ukraine finish second

Set to make their VNL debut in just under two weeks, the Ukrainians finished second after they came back to defeat Poland in the tie-breaker (22-25, 22-25, 37-35, 25-22, 15-7) on Wednesday and topped Bulgaria 3-1 (22-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-18) on Saturday.

Despite losing to Poland 3-2 (19-25, 25-23, 24-26, 25-16, 15-12) on Friday, Bulgaria still ranked higher than the home team and ended up in third place.

The four teams will be split around the world in the first week of the VNL 2025, from June 11-15. Germans and Bulgarians will head to Quebec, where they will compete alongside hosts Canada, Argentina, France and Italy.

Ukraine will make their VNL debut in Rio de Janeiro, where hosts Brazil, the United States, Iran, Slovenia and Cuba will also get on the court. Poland will be in Asia, sharing the courts with hosts China, the Netherlands, Japan, Serbia and Türkiye in Xi’an.

Quick links:
Volleyball Nations League
VBTV
Volleyball World Facebook
Volleyball World X
Volleyball World Instagram
Volleyball World YouTube
Subscribe to Volleyball World's Newsletter