VNL off to a great start, with record-breaking attendance and plenty of surprises

The first competition week of the women’s 2026 Volleyball Nations League (VNL) is now over, after giving the new season a flying start full of exciting matches, surprising results and even a record-breaking crowd at one of the games.

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The new attendance record for a VNL match was set at an amazing 17,816 spectators. This is how many volleyball fans flocked to the Nanjing Olympic Youth Sports Park Gymnasium on Saturday to see host China beat Serbia in straight sets.

Brazil and Japan were the two teams that managed to go through their first four matches undefeated and topped the current Preliminary Phase standings on a 4-0 win-loss record and 11 points each, with the South Americans edging slightly ahead on point ratios.

Playing at home in the capital Brasilia, Brazil put together three-point victories over the Netherlands, the Dominican Republic and Bulgaria, and finished their first week off with a spectacular 3-2 win over reigning world and Olympic champions and defending VNL crown-bearers Italy. This way, the longest undefeated run ever registered in international volleyball came to an end for the southern European team at 39 consecutive victories, piled up over a period of just over two years.

Meanwhile, playing in the pool in Quebec City, Japan’s results line followed a similar curve, with three three-pointers – against France, Ukraine and Germany – followed by a successful five-set battle – against hosts Canada.

After the unexpected setback against Brazil, Italy complete the current top three, standing on 3-1 and 10. Also on a 3-1 win-loss record each, Czechia, USA, China and Poland follow in the places from fourth to seventh. Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium and Turkiye are next on 2-2 each. Serbia, Germany, France, Ukraine and Bulgaria have one win each, while winless Thailand and Dominican Republic trail bottom of the table.

With that one win – a five-setter over Germany in Quebec on Thursday – VNL rookies Ukraine wrote history, registering their first victory in the competition.

In fact, as many as 11 of the 36 matches played during week one were pushed to five sets. In addition to the above-mentioned, Poland won two of those, against Belgium and Serbia, Belgium also won two, against Thailand and Serbia, Turkiye beat the Dominican Republic, China took the all-Asian duel with Thailand, USA beat France, while France beat Ukraine in the tie-breakers.

It wouldn’t be right to talk about sensational upsets this early into the season, but last year’s rookies Czechia sweeping their game against their hosts China in straight sets, the Netherlands shutting out Turkiye, and Canada taking the North American derby with the United States by 3-0 are certainly among the most surprising results of the first competition week.

2023 VNL champions Turkiye, number three in the FIVB World Ranking before the start of the 2026 edition, registered two losses in Brasilia and that cost them two spots in the chart, as they were surpassed by both Poland and Japan, who are now the world’s third and fourth ranked teams. In another high-end movement, Canada overtook Germany and the Dominican Republic to climb into the top 10.

Two Belgians emerged as leaders of the individual best scorers ranking - Pauline Martin with a whopping 95 points across the four matches played (including 40 in the game against Thailand) and Britt Herbots with 81. They were joined by Canada’s Kiera Van Ryk, also with 81 points, in the top three. Brazil’s Julia Kudiess raised an amazing 22 kill blocks to take a wide lead in the blocking department, while Poland’s Julia Szczurowska led the servers with eight aces.

The second competition week in the women’s VNL will offer another 36 matches, split among Passig City in the Philippines (Czechia, Dominican Republic, Italy, Japan, Serbia and USA), Bangkok in Thailand (Bulgaria, Canada, Netherlands, Poland, Thailand and Ukraine) and Ankara in Turkiye (Belgium, Brazil, China, France, Germany and Turkiye) from June 17 to 21.

VNL 2026 schedule and results
VNL 2026 ticket information

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