Ningbo braces itself for weekend’s VNL climax

The seventh edition of the men’s Volleyball Nations League is approaching its climax. The 2025 VNL champions and the other medalists will emerge on Sunday, but before that, on Saturday, the two semifinals at the Beilun Gymnasium in Ningbo, China will determine who will battle on for gold and who will have to play for bronze on the last competition day of the VNL season. Italy and Slovenia will go head to head in the first semifinal on Saturday, serving off at 15:00 local time (07:00 UTC), followed by Brazil and Poland at 19:00 (11:00). The bronze medal and the gold medal matches on Sunday will have the same starting times. As usual, all these games will be streamed live and on demand on VBTV!

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Semifinal 1: Italy v Slovenia

Italy and Slovenia will determine the first men’s VNL 2025 finalist as they hit the court in Ningbo on Saturday afternoon. Each of these teams will be playing their third VNL semifinal, but neither of them has ever reached the podium, having two fourth places each as their best results in the history of the competition so far. So, whoever wins this match, will secure their first ever VNL medal. When the two European neighbors met in this year’s VNL Preliminary Phase on July 19 in Ljubljana, Italy produced a 3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-23) victory and edged ahead in the all-time VNL head-to-head record, which now stands at 3-2 in wins. In that match, opposite Kamil Rychlicki and outside hitter Alessandro Michieletto led Italy with 13 and 12 points, respectively, but it was middle blocker Simone Anzani, whose six kill blocks made the biggest difference towards the victory. Outside Rok Mozic was Slovenia’s leading scorer in that game with 10 points.

Reigning world champions and the number two team in the men’s FIVB Volleyball World Ranking Italy qualified for the Finals in Ningbo as Preliminary Phase runners-up on a 10-2 win-loss record and 28 points. In this week’s quarterfinals, they achieved a 3-1 (25-18, 25-19, 20-25, 25-21) victory over Cuba to progress to the semifinals. Michieletto has been their leading scorer so far in the competition with a total of 134 points.

Slovenia grabbed the very last available ticket to the Finals in Ningbo 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. On Thursday, Slovenia delivered the biggest sensation of the quarterfinal round by dethroning last year’s champions France with a 3-1 (25-22, 15-25, 25-19, 25-18) upset of the reigning Olympic champions. That result also lifted them one spot up the World Ranking and they are now in number six. Rok Mozic has been Slovenia’s most prolific scorer in the VNL so far this season, with a total of 163 points to his name.

Semifinal 2: Brazil v Poland

Brazil and Poland will lock horns on Saturday evening in an unpredictable battle for the second ticket to Sunday’s grand final. It will be match number 13 between these two teams in VNL history. The overall head-to-head record stands at a 6-6 tie. They last met on June 29 in Chicago, when the South American side celebrated a 3-1 (25-21, 25-21, 21-25, 28-26) win, with opposite Darlan Souza leading the way with 25 points, while outside Kamil Semeniuk scored a team-high 17 points for Poland.

Conducted by the best setter of this year’s VNL so far Fernando Kreling (Cachopa), Brazil topped the Preliminary Phase standings on 11-1 and 32, and went on to knock out hosts China in Wednesday’s 3-1 (29-31, 25-19, 25-16, 25-21) quarterfinal in Ningbo. With that victory, Brazil surpassed France in the World Ranking and ascended to number three. The South American squad also features the best digger of the tournament so far – libero Maique Nascimento, while Darlan’s big brother, opposite Alan Souza is the team’s top scorer in VNL 2025 with 167 points. Brazil are aiming at 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, but finished in fourth place in both cases.

The world’s number one team Poland finished the Preliminary Phase in fifth place on 8-4 and 23, and in Thursday’s quarterfinal, they hammered out a 3-0 (25-23, 26-24, 25-12) shutout of fourth-placed Japan to book the last vacancy in the semifinals. Poland are silver medalists of the most recent editions of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship and the Olympic Games, and reigning European champions. 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 team’s most prolific player in VNL 2025, opposite Kewin Sasak, has put away a total of 148 points so far in the competition.

Volleyball Nations League 2025: full schedule and results

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