VNL heavyweights to clash in Chicago

With three of the four best-ranked men’s national teams in the Volleyball Nations League 2025 playing in Chicago this week, the matches held in the American city from Wednesday to Sunday are expected to have a major impact on the top of the standings.

Besides first-placed Poland, third-placed Brazil and fourth-placed Italy, the NOW Arena will also welcome sixth-placed Canada and eighth-placed China, which are both inside the qualification zone for the Finals, as well as host the United States, which are 11^th.

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The only team still undefeated in the VNL 2025, Poland were nearly perfect in the opening week of the tournament, defeating the Netherlands, Japan, Türkiye and Serbia in Xi’an and collecting all 12 points in play in the Chinese city. With 57 points scored, opposite Kewin Sasak was of great help for the team, which will count on the additions of outside hitters Kamil Semeniuk and Aleksander Śliwka and opposite Marcin Komenda this week – the Polish, however, lost outside hitter Rafał Szymura, who sustained a knee injury.

“I think the ambition of the younger players played a big role in our start,” Semeniuk said. “They want to show they can also perform at the international level in the VNL, and that, combined with our strategy and the strength of our squad, helped us get those wins.”

Third-placed Brazil were at home in Rio de Janeiro in the opening week and used the homecourt advantage to start their campaign with victories over Iran, Ukraine and Slovenia, which earned them nine points. The Brazilians, who had middle blocker Judson Nunes, with 46 points, as their most productive player, could have the return of Olympic champion outside hitter Ricardo Lucarelli, who missed the first week as he recovered from a shoulder injury, in Chicago.

“I thought we played really well in Rio, but we lacked some consistency at times,” the outside hitter reflected. “That’s normal when you think it’s the first week of the VNL and there are many new players coming into the team, but we want to improve on that this week. The team showed great resilience and that’s very important because we need to fight until the end when things aren’t going our way.”

Despite using mostly a young lineup, reigning world champions Italy also got the job done in Quebec, taking down Bulgaria, Germany and Argentina to secure eight points. Young outside hitter Luca Porro was one of the team’s stars with 59 points scored and this week head coach Ferdinando De Giorgi will bring back many of the team’s pillars, such as outside hitters Alessandro Michieletto and Daniele Lavia, middle blocker Gianluca Galassi and libero Fabio Balaso.

“We had a generational change about two years ago, so the core of our group is still the same,” Galassi explained. “All four opponents here in Chicago will be really tough ones. Poland, Brazil and the United States will be really interesting matches for us. We want to leave a good impression here.”

Canada, which were also in Quebec, managed to secure two victories in front of their home fans, beating Germany in their first match and Bulgaria in their last one – they collected seven points over the week. Outside hitter Brodie Hofer was excellent for the North Americans, registering 69 points, the third-highest mark in the VNL 2025 opening week.

“He had an incredible home crowd two weeks ago, and that was awesome,” outside hitter Jesse Elser reacted. “We’re a young team and have huge shoes to fill from the team from the last quad, but I think that we have the guys, the coach and the motivation to do it. I’m really excited to see what we can accomplish.”

Already qualified for the Finals as the host country, China managed to get into the qualification zone in the first week after securing victories over Serbia and the Netherlands in front of their home fans in Xi’an, collecting six points. With 41 points, outside hitter Yuantai Yu was their most productive player.

“Getting those wins in the first week was really important for us,” outside hitter Ji Daoshuai said. “Every time we play these top teams is an opportunity for us to learn from them. And this week we want to take a few more victories.”

Using a very young squad in Rio, the United States had somewhat of a promising start, getting victories over Iran and Cuba to earn five points – outside hitter Cooper Robinson scored 54 points and was one of the team’s standouts. This week, coach Karch Kiraly will be able to count on three Olympians – libero Erik Shoji, opposite Kyle Ensing and setter Micah Ma’a – to add some experience to the team.

“We’re a pretty young team, with a lot of new guys, and on the first day of practice, I probably met ten of 15 players for the first time,” Shoji remarked. “It’s just about a lot of communication and trying to jell on the court together and see how we can play. We’re learning each other on the court and I think we’ve done a pretty job with that in the one month we’ve been together.”

First matches on Wednesday

The action will begin in Chicago on Wednesday with a big match, having Italy against Poland at 12:30 local time (17:30 GMT). After that, Canada will play Brazil at 16:00 (21:00 GMT) and the United States will face China at 19:30 (00:30 GMT, Thursday).

The next three days will have matches beginning at 16:00 (21:00 GMT) and 19:30 (00:30 GMT). Brazil and China will play first on Thursday, followed by Canada and the USA. On Thursday, China and Italy meet first, with Canada and Poland following. Saturday’s schedule begins with Brazil vs. Italy and ends with USA vs. Poland.

Sunday is going to be a full day, with China and Canada battling at 12:30 (17:30 GMT), Brazil and Poland dueling at 16:00 (21:00 GMT), and USA and Italy completing the schedule at 19:30 (00:30 GMT, Monday).

VNL 2025 – Match Schedule & Results

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.

In the second week of the VNL, matches will also take place in Burgas, where hosts Bulgaria, France, Ukraine, Japan, Türkiye and Slovenia will compete, and Belgrade, where hosts Serbia, Argentina, Cuba, Germany, Iran and the Netherlands will be in action.

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