Olympic final rematch is the highlight of the week in Gdańsk

A rematch of last year’s Paris Olympics gold medal match involving Poland and France will be the highlight of the third and last week of the Volleyball Nations League 2025 Preliminary Phase in Gdansk.

Besides the European rivals, Bulgaria, China, Cuba and Iran will also play at the popular Ergo Arena from Wednesday to Sunday, when the eight teams that will qualify for the VNL Finals and the one that will be relegated will be determined.

• Watch the Volleyball Nations League on VBTV

The highly anticipated first duel between Polish and French after they met at the South Paris Arena last August will be the last of the 12 matches set to take place over the week in Gdańsk, and is scheduled for Sunday, at 20:30 local time (18:30 GMT). If last year the French benefited from the homecourt advantage to win gold, this time the Poles will be the ones counting on unconditional support coming out of the stands.

VNL action in Gdańsk will begin on Wednesday, with three matches – China and France play the first one at 13:00 (11:00 GMT), followed by Bulgaria and Cuba at 16:30 (14:30 GMT) and Iran and Poland at 20:00 (18:00 GMT).

Volleyball Nations League 2025: full schedule and results

On Thursday, only two matches will be held, with Asian rivals China and Iran playing at 16:30 (14:30 GMT) and Cuba and Poland meeting at 20:00 (18:00 GMT). The start times will repeat for the next two days, with Cuba vs. France starting the day and China vs. Bulgaria ending it on Friday and Bulgaria vs. Poland and Iran vs. France taking place on Saturday.

On Sunday, before Polish and French meet, China and Cuba will battle at 13:30 (11:30 GMT) and Bulgaria and Iran will meet at 17:00 (15:00 GMT).

Poland go for the top spot

One of the two national teams set to play in Gdańsk to start the week inside the qualification zone for the Finals, Poland are in second place in the VNL standings, with six wins and 18 points. The Europeans want not only to secure a spot in the Finals, which are going to be held in Ningbo, Chiba, from July 30-August 3, but also to challenge Brazil (seven wins, 20 points) for the top spot in the standings. Outside hitter Artur Szalpuk is the team’s top scorer in the VNL with 98 points. This week, the Polish will have increased firepower with outside hitters Wilfredo Leon and Tomasz Fornal and middle blocker Jakub Kochanowski joining the team.

"Playing at home is an amazing feeling for us," outside hitter Aleksander Śliwka remarked. "Being in the Polish national team and being able to play in front of fans like the ones we have is a big privilege. The fans are always on our side, and they give us wings. We get more confident in our play, and we see our fans as a seventh player on the court for us."

Defending champions France, which rank fifth with five wins and 15 points, are also in a good spot to qualify for the Finals. Olympic champion opposite Théo Faure is the team’s top scorer, ranking third overall in the VNL with 137 points – he’s also third in aces with 14. Middle blocker François Huetz (second in blocks with 26), setter Amir Tizi-Oualou (the third-best in the position with 200 actions) and libero Benjamin Diez (sixth in passes with 45) are other important players in the French campaign. Setter Benjamin Toniutti, libero Jenia Grebennikov, opposite Jean Patry and middle blocker Nicolas Le Goff will all be with the team in Gdańsk.

Ranking ninth in the standings with four wins and 13 points, Cuba also get to Gdańsk with the goal of making it to the Finals. The Caribbean need star outside hitter Marlon Yant, the second-best scorer in the entire VNL with 149 points, to keep performing at a stellar level to get the results they need to advance. Libero Yonder Garcia, who’s third in both digs (62) and passes (57), is among the best in the tournament in his position. The Cubans will have an important addition to their squad in Gdańsk in star middle blocker Robertlandy Simón.

"We'll have a difficult week here," Simón reflected. "But we'll try to do our best, as usual, and fight until the end. We may win or lose, but we give everything we have when we're on the court. If we have this, we can do it."

Coming right next in tenth place with four victories and 12 points, Iran are also among the contenders to qualify. The Asians have star opposite Amin Esmaeilnezhad as their leading scorer with 100 points registered. Outside hitter Poriya Hossein Khanzadeh is the top server in the VNL, having tallied 15 aces so far.

"This first year with coach (Roberto) Piazza has been very important for us," Amin revealed. "We managed to take several steps forward in our game, and I think he's going to help us a lot over the years. We have young players in our squad and we can play a lot better than we did so far."

The 11^th-best team in the VNL 2025 with four wins and 11 points, Bulgaria are also in the mix for a spot in the Finals, but their task got a little harder to accomplish after star setter Simeon Nikolov went down with an injury in the second week. His older brother, outside hitter Aleksandar Nikolov, is the team’s leading scorer with 132 points.

"We had some good moments in the VNL when we got to play as a team," middle blocker Aleks Grozdanov reacted. "We supported each other and kept a good spirit on the court. But we're a very young team, and sometimes we lose focus, which has been our main problem. Last week, we had a tough match against Türkiye, and after our setter went down injured, we lost our focus entirely, which can't happen."

China are the lowest-ranked team competing in Gdańsk this week, appearing in 15^th place with two wins and seven points, but they are already guaranteed in the Finals as the host country. The Asians want to gain some momentum this week in Poland and have opposites Chuan Jiang and Zihua Wen and outside hitter Yuantai Yu as their leading scorers with 60 points each. Middle blocker Yongzhen Li is third in the VNL in blocks, with 23.

"Playing here this week will serve as great preparation for us," Li said. "We've been using the same roster since the start of the VNL and that has helped our development as we understand each other better on the court. We'll try our best to win all the matches this week."

The third and last week of the VNL Preliminary Phase will also have matches held in Chiba, where hosts Japan, Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Türkiye and the United States will play, and Ljubljana, where Slovenia will share the court with Canada, Italy, the Netherlands, Serbia and Ukraine.

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