Olympic and world champions start their VNL 2025 campaigns in Quebec

The Canadian city of Quebec is set to stage exciting matches in the opening week of the Men’s Volleyball Nations League 2025, as both reigning Olympic champions France and current world champions Italy will be in action at the Centre Vidéotron between Wednesday and Sunday.

Besides the European powerhouses, will also be part of the tournament’s Pool 1 the national teams of hosts Canada, Argentina, Bulgaria and Germany.

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France, who are also the reigning VNL champions after they won the tournament for the second time in 2024, are set to play their first official matches since they triumphed at their home Olympics, in Paris, winning the gold medals for a second straight time.

Head coach Andrea Giani has decided to take a young roster to compete this week in Canada, and only six of the 14 players called up have already appeared in the VNL. Topping the list are Olympic champions Trévor Clévenot (outside hitter) and Théo Faure (opposite) – middle blockers François Huetz and Moussé Gueye, outside hitter Antoine Pothron and libero Benjamin Diez are the others.

“We have a very young team this week and for most of the players it’s going to be their first international experience,” Clévenot remarked. “We want to improve every day and see what we can do. We are focused on keeping our identity and perfecting our system. The most important thing is improving our level every day, and the results will be a consequence.”

The French will play their first match in Quebec on Wednesday, when they face Argentina at 16:30 local time (20:30 GMT). After having the Thursday off, the Olympic champions will play against Italy on Friday, Canada on Saturday and Germany on Sunday.

Giannelli highlights Italian squad in Quebec

Italy, which are still chasing their first VNL medal, will also keep some of their stars at home in the first week of this year’s event, but will have five players who took the team to the top of the podium at the 2022 World Championship available for head coach Ferdinando De Giorgi.

Team captain and star setter Simone Giannelli is one of them. Besides the Rio 2016 Olympic medalist, the Italians will also count on opposite Yuri Romanò, outside hitters Mattia Bottolo and Francesco Recine and middle blocker Simone Anzani to overcome their opponents in Quebec.

“We’re a young team, so in this first week of the VNL we want to play to get better, but we also want to give our younger players the opportunity to play at the international level,” Giannelli said. “They’re used to the Italian League, which is very good, but the national team level is different. You need to learn to raise your level to compete with these teams. But we also want to win as many matches as possible because we want to qualify for the Finals.”

The Italians will play in the first match of the week in Quebec, facing Bulgaria, at 11:00 local time (15:00 GMT), on Wednesday. Their schedule for the opening week also includes duels with Germany on Thursday, France on Friday and Argentina on Sunday.

VNL 2025 – Match Schedule & Results

Having a new coach in former national team libero Daniel Lewis in 2025, the Canadians also revamped their squad this season, bringing several new faces into it. This week, setter Luke Herr, opposite Ryan Sclater and middle blocker Fynn McCarthy will be the most seasoned athletes to represent the home team.

“There are a lot of new players on the team with the start of the quad, so you’re going to see a great mix of young talent with some older players,” Lewis said. “The first thing I noticed during our preparation was the focus and the dedication of everyone. There’s some new stuff we’re asking them to do, and this is really key for the growth of our younger guys. We have good leadership with some experienced players, and that helps. I’m very excited for this group.”

For Bulgaria, the hopes of strong performances in the opening week of the VNL and beyond heavily rely on their star brother duo formed by setter Simeon Nikolov and outside hitter Aleksandar Nikolov. In Quebec, the two will get valuable help from veteran outside hitter Martin Atanasov, who is back with the national team after not playing in 2024.

Germany will head to Canada with just two players who took them to the quarterfinals of last year’s Paris Olympics – setter Jan Zimmermann and middle blocker Lukas Maase – as head coach Michał Winiarski intends to give the country’s young prospects an opportunity to play at the highest level.

Argentina, who also competed in Paris last year, will miss the faces of their national teams for more than a decade in setter Luciano De Cecco and outside hitter Facundo Conte, but are bringing many of the players who represented the country at the Paris Games back, such as opposite Bruno Lima, middle blocker Agustín Loser and outside hitter Luciano Palonsky.

Presenting a new format in 2025, the VNL will feature 18 national teams. In each of the three weeks of the Preliminary Phase, they will be split into three pools of six and will play four matches each. At the end of the Preliminary Phase, the seven best-ranked teams and hosts China will secure a spot in the Finals, which are going to be held in Ningbo from July 30 to August 3.

The VNL 2025 opening week for the men has two other pools, with hosts China, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Serbia and Türkiye playing in Xi’an and hosts Brazil, Cuba, Iran, Slovenia, Ukraine and the United States getting on the court in Rio de Janeiro.

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