VNL 2026

Serbia and France score wins as race for VNL Finals tickets heats up

Five spots in Ningbo still up for grabs

Published 03:55, 17 Jul 2026

Serbia (SRB) vs. Ukraine (UKR) - Pool 7 - Preliminary Phase #115073706

Serbia beat Ukraine in Belgrade

With Thursday’s matches now over, two teams – Japan and the United States – have already booked the first tickets to the men’s Volleyball Nations League Finals in China, but the race for the remaining five seems to be getting hotter and hotter, with Serbia and France’s victories on the second competition day of the deciding third week of action contributing to the consolidation of teams in the zone around the cut-off line in the current VNL standings.

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In front of the home fans in Belgrade, Serbia bounced back from their loss to Turkiye the previous day with a 3-1 (22-25, 25-17, 25-21, 25-23) victory over Ukraine, one of the main candidates for the spots in the Finals. This way, the southern Europeans stayed well within reach of the quarterfinal berths, climbing to ninth place on 5-5 and 15, two positions below the red line. Meanwhile, Ukraine dropped sixth place on 6-4 and 19. Opposite Veljko Masulovic was on fire, contributing a match-high 26 points to Serbia’s win. He spiked at a 58% success rate, raised three kill blocks and fired two aces. Outside hitters Pavle Peric and Lazar Marinovic added 14 and 12 points, respectively. Middle blocker Aleksandar Nedeljkovic finished with 10. Opposite Vasyl Tupchii was Ukraine’s leading scorer with 15 points, including three aces.

Reigning two-time back-to-back Olympic champions France also made sure they did not fall too far behind in the race to qualify for the Finals and swept their game against Finals hosts China in Chicago, improving to 5-5 and 13 and rising to 11^th place in the table. Opposite Stephen Boyer and 21-year-old outside Mathis Henno led the way with 16 and 15 points, respectively, all in swings, towards France’s 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-20) victory. Middle Francois Huetz put up four kill blocks and reached the double digits with a total of 10 points. Outside Wang Bin put away a team-high 14 points for China.

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In one of the day’s two five-setters, Iran battled it out for a rollercoaster 3-2 (25-22, 26-28, 18-25, 25-20, 15-12) win over Germany in Belgrade. Iran ascended to 13^th place on 3-7 and 11, out of contention for the Finals. Germany, placed 12^th on 4-6 and 13, may still have a distant mathematical shot. Iranian opposite Ali Hajipour (Haji) was the best scorer of the match with 23 points. He registered a 60% success rate in attack and produced three aces and two kill blocks towards the victory. Outside hitters Ali Haghparast and captain Morteza Sharifi chipped in with 16 and 13 points, respectively, while their counterpart Erik Rohrs was Germany’s most prolific player with 18 points to his name.

In another five-setter earlier in the day, Japan reverse-swept their match with Canada in Osaka, after Italy shut out Belgium. In the last match of the day in Chicago, USA beat Brazil in straight sets.

After the end of Thursday’s matches, Japan top the table undefeated on a 10-0 win-loss record and 24 points, followed by USA on 8-2 and 25. Third-placed Poland, on 7-2 and 20, and fourth-placed Slovenia, on 7-2 and 17, are the next closest candidates to make reservations for Ningbo. The next three teams currently above the cut-off are Italy on 6-4 and 20, Ukraine on 6-4 and 19, and Turkiye on 6-3 and 17. The teams that are still well in contention for the Finals are Brazil on 6-4 and 16, Serbia on 5-5 and 15, Bulgaria on 5-4 and 14, and France on 5-5 and 13, while Germany and Argentina also hold mathematical chances of making it to China.

Friday’s VNL program serves off shortly, at 04:00 UTC, and offers matches between Cuba and Argentina and between Japan and Belgium in Osaka, between Turkiye and Ukraine and between Iran and Slovenia in Belgrade, and between China and Bulgaria and between Brazil and Poland in Chicago.