Contents

2023 FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League

2023 FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League

Tournament details
Host nation	Poland
City	Gdańsk (final round)
Dates	6 June – 23 July 2023
Teams	16 (from 4 confederations)
Venue(s)	7 (in 7 host cities)
Champions	Poland (1st title)
Runners-up	United States
Third place	Japan
Fourth place	Italy
Tournament awards
MVP	Paweł Zatorski
Best Setter	Micah Christenson
Best OH	Aleksander Śliwka Yūki Ishikawa
Best MB	Jakub Kochanowski David Smith
Best OPP	Łukasz Kaczmarek
Best Libero	Paweł Zatorski
Tournament statistics
Matches played	104
Attendance	318,294 (3,061 per match)
Official website
Volleyball Nations League
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The 2023 FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League was the fifth edition of the FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League, an annual men's international volleyball tournament. The competition was held from 6 June to 23 July 2023, with the final round taking place at the Ergo Arena, Gdańsk, Poland.^[1][2]

Following the results of 2022 Nations League and 2022 Challenger Cup, Australia were replaced by debutants Cuba in this edition.^[3]

Finals host and home team Poland won their first VNL title after defeating the United States in four sets.^[4] It was the United States' third silver medal. Japan defeated Italy in a tie-breaker match and claimed the bronze medal.^[5] Paweł Zatorski from Poland was named the MVP of the tournament.^[6]

Qualification[edit]

Sixteen teams qualified for the competition. Ten of them qualified as core teams which cannot face relegation. Other six teams were selected as challenger teams which could be relegated from the tournament.^[7][8] Cuba replaced Australia after winning the 2022 Challenger Cup.^[3]

Country	Confederation	Designation	Previous appearances			Previous best performance
			Total	First	Last
Argentina	CSV	Core team	4	2018	2022	7th place (2019)
Brazil	CSV	Core team	4	2018	2022	Champions (2021)
Bulgaria	CEV	Challenger team	4	2018	2022	11th place (2018)
Canada	NORCECA	Challenger team	4	2018	2022	7th place (2018)
China	AVC	Challenger team	3	2018	2022	13th place (2022)
Cuba	NORCECA	Challenger team	0	None		None
France	CEV	Core team	4	2018	2022	Champions (2022)
Germany	CEV	Core team	4	2018	2022	9th place (2018)
Iran	AVC	Core team	4	2018	2022	5th place (2019)
Italy	CEV	Core team	4	2018	2022	4th place (2022)
Japan	AVC	Core team	4	2018	2022	5th place (2022)
Netherlands	CEV	Challenger team	2	2021	2022	8th place (2022)
Poland	CEV	Core team	4	2018	2022	Runners-up (2021)
Serbia	CEV	Core team	4	2018	2022	5th place (2018)
Slovenia	CEV	Challenger team	2	2021	2022	4th place (2021)
United States	NORCECA	Core team	4	2018	2022	Runners-up (2019, 2022)

Format[edit]

Preliminary round[edit]

The format of play is the same as edition 2022. The new format will see 16 men's teams competing in pools of 8 teams during the pool phase. Each team plays 12 matches during the pool stage. Eight teams will then move into the final knockout phase of the competition.^[8]

Final round[edit]

The VNL Finals will see the top eight teams moving directly to the knockout phase which will consist of eight matches in total: four quarterfinals, two semi-finals and the bronze and gold medal matches.^[8]

Final 8 direct elimination formula:

• The first ranked team will play a quarterfinal match against the eighth ranked team, the second ranked team will play a quarterfinal match against the seventh ranked team, the third ranked team will play a quarterfinal match against the sixth ranked team, the fourth ranked team will play a quarterfinal match against the fifth ranked team.
• The national team of the hosting territory of the event will have a guaranteed berth for the Final round. If the host nation does not finish in the top eight in Preliminary round, they will replace the eighth place team and play as the eighth seed.

Pool composition[edit]

The overview of pools was released on 11 November 2022.^[1][9]

Venues[edit]

Preliminary round[edit]

Week 1
Pool 1	Pool 2
Ottawa, Canada	Nagoya, Japan
TD Place Arena	Nippon Gaishi Hall
Capacity: 9,500	Capacity: 10,000
Week 2
Pool 3	Pool 4
Rotterdam, Netherlands	Orléans, France
Rotterdam Ahoy	CO'MET Arena
Capacity: 16,426	Capacity: 10,000
Week 3
Pool 5	Pool 6
Anaheim, United States	Pasay, Philippines
Anaheim Convention Center	SM Mall of Asia Arena
Capacity: 7,500	Capacity: 15,000

Final round[edit]

All matches
Gdańsk, Poland
Ergo Arena
Capacity: 11,409

Competition schedule[edit]

Pool standing procedure[edit]

1. Total number of victories (matches won, matches lost)
2. In the event of a tie, the following first tiebreaker will apply: The teams will be ranked by the most points gained per match as follows:
   • Match won 3–0 or 3–1: 3 points for the winner, 0 points for the loser
   • Match won 3–2: 2 points for the winner, 1 point for the loser
   • Match forfeited: 3 points for the winner, 0 points (0–25, 0–25, 0–25) for the loser
3. If teams are still tied after examining the number of victories and points gained, then the FIVB will examine the results in order to break the tie in the following order:
   • Sets quotient: if two or more teams are tied on the number of points gained, they will be ranked by the quotient resulting from the division of the number of all sets won by the number of all sets lost.
   • Points quotient: if the tie persists based on the sets quotient, the teams will be ranked by the quotient resulting from the division of all points scored by the total of points lost during all sets.
   • If the tie persists based on the points quotient, the tie will be broken based on the team that won the match of the Round Robin Phase between the tied teams. When the tie in points quotient is between three or more teams, these teams ranked taking into consideration only the matches involving the teams in question.

Squads[edit]

Preliminary round[edit]

Ranking[edit]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	Pts	SW	SL	SR	SPW	SPL	SPR	Qualification or relegation
1	United States	12	10	2	31	33	7	4.714	986	871	1.132	Final round
2	Japan	12	10	2	27	31	16	1.938	1109	1034	1.073
3	Poland[a]	12	10	2	25	30	19	1.579	1108	1057	1.048	Final round
4	Italy	12	9	3	26	28	15	1.867	1016	906	1.121	Final round
5	Argentina	12	9	3	26	32	18	1.778	1184	1092	1.084
6	Brazil	12	8	4	25	30	18	1.667	1108	1033	1.073
7	Slovenia	12	8	4	25	27	17	1.588	1036	997	1.039
8	France	12	6	6	18	23	21	1.095	1046	1007	1.039
9	Serbia	12	6	6	16	23	23	1.000	1045	1056	0.990
10	Netherlands	12	5	7	17	22	24	0.917	1028	1054	0.975
11	Germany	12	3	9	10	16	28	0.571	963	1036	0.930
12	Canada	12	3	9	9	15	31	0.484	983	1074	0.915
13	Cuba	12	3	9	8	15	33	0.455	1023	1119	0.914
14	Iran	12	2	10	11	16	31	0.516	995	1073	0.927
15	Bulgaria	12	2	10	8	13	32	0.406	957	1045	0.916
16	China	12	2	10	6	12	33	0.364	941	1074	0.876	2023 Challenger Cup

Week 1[edit]

Pool 1[edit]

• All times are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−04:00).

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
6 Jun	16:30	Italy	0–3	Argentina	22–25	23–25	18–25			63–75	P2 Report
6 Jun	20:00	Canada	3–2	Cuba	25–21	26–28	25–21	22–25	15–13	113–108	P2 Report
7 Jun	16:30	United States	3–0	Netherlands	25–19	25–23	25–21			75–63	P2 Report
7 Jun	20:00	Brazil	3–1	Germany	26–24	25–16	19–25	25–15		95–80	P2 Report
8 Jun	11:00	Netherlands	3–0	Cuba	28–26	25–23	25–18			78–67	P2 Report
8 Jun	16:30	Italy	0–3	United States	15–25	18–25	19–25			52–75	P2 Report
8 Jun	20:00	Argentina	2–3	Brazil	25–19	19–25	25–23	23–25	13–15	105–107	P2 Report
9 Jun	11:00	Netherlands	3–0	Germany	25–20	33–31	25–21			83–72	P2 Report
9 Jun	16:30	Italy	3–1	Cuba	25–20	25–19	20–25	25–18		95–82	P2 Report
9 Jun	20:00	Canada	1–3	Argentina	21–25	25–21	21–25	16–25		83–96	P2 Report
10 Jun	13:00	Germany	1–3	Italy	23–25	18–25	27–25	19–25		87–100	P2 Report
10 Jun	16:30	Brazil	2–3	Cuba	16–25	25–22	29–27	22–25	18–20	110–119	P2 Report
10 Jun	20:00	Canada	0–3	United States	22–25	20–25	20–25			62–75	P2 Report
11 Jun	11:00	Argentina	3–2	Netherlands	34–36	25–20	25–17	20–25	15–10	119–108	P2 Report
11 Jun	14:30	United States	1–3	Brazil	19–25	25–21	15–25	21–25		80–96	P2 Report
11 Jun	18:00	Canada	1–3	Germany	25–20	17–25	21–25	21–25		84–95	P2 Report

Pool 2[edit]

• All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+09:00).

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
6 Jun	16:10	Bulgaria	2–3	China	20–25	25–21	21–25	25–20	9–15	100–106	P2 Report
6 Jun	19:40	Japan	3–0	Iran	25–16	25–22	25–19			75–57	P2 Report
7 Jun	15:00	Slovenia	3–1	Serbia	31–29	19–25	25–20	25–21		100–95	P2 Report
7 Jun	18:00	Poland	3–1	France	25–23	18–25	35–33	25–15		103–96	P2 Report
8 Jun	12:00	Slovenia	0–3	Bulgaria	24–26	23–25	17–25			64–76	P2 Report
8 Jun	15:00	Serbia	3–0	China	34–32	25–16	25–20			84–68	P2 Report
8 Jun	18:00	Poland	3–2	Iran	23–25	23–25	25–21	25–15	15–13	111–99	P2 Report
9 Jun	13:10	China	1–3	France	20–25	25–23	16–25	17–25		78–98	P2 Report
9 Jun	16:10	Poland	3–2	Bulgaria	25–27	25–19	22–25	25–22	15–11	112–104	P2 Report
9 Jun	19:40	Japan	3–1	Serbia	22–25	25–21	25–23	25–20		97–89	P2 Report
10 Jun	12:40	France	1–3	Slovenia	23–25	18–25	25–21	22–25		88–96	P2 Report
10 Jun	15:40	Iran	3–1	China	23–25	25–15	25–20	25–14		98–74	P2 Report
10 Jun	19:10	Japan	3–0	Bulgaria	25–22	25–21	26–24			76–67	P2 Report
11 Jun	12:40	Slovenia	3–0	Iran	25–19	25–23	25–23			75–65	P2 Report
11 Jun	15:40	Serbia	3–0	Poland	25–21	25–19	25–14			75–54	P2 Report
11 Jun	19:10	Japan	3–1	France	25–27	25–22	25–21	25–20		100–90	P2 Report

Week 2[edit]

Pool 3[edit]

• All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
20 Jun	13:00	Iran	3–0	Germany	25–23	26–24	25–16			76–63	P2 Report
20 Jun	16:30	United States	3–1	Serbia	22–25	25–19	25–19	25–21		97–84	P2 Report
20 Jun	20:00	Netherlands	3–0	China	25–19	25–22	25–21			75–62	P2 Report
21 Jun	13:00	Iran	0–3	Italy	19–25	16–25	24–26			59–76	P2 Report
21 Jun	16:30	United States	3–0	China	28–26	25–22	25–18			78–66	P2 Report
21 Jun	20:00	Germany	2–3	Poland	21–25	25–22	14–25	25–17	10–15	95–104	P2 Report
22 Jun	13:00	China	0–3	Italy	13–25	19–25	24–26			56–76	P2 Report
22 Jun	16:30	Serbia	3–1	Germany	25–21	20–25	25–23	25–23		95–92	P2 Report
22 Jun	20:00	Netherlands	2–3	Poland	25–22	18–25	25–18	22–25	11–15	101–105	P2 Report
23 Jun	16:30	Iran	0–3	United States	22–25	18–25	23–25			63–75	P2 Report
23 Jun	20:00	Serbia	0–3	Italy	11–25	21–25	20–25			52–75	P2 Report
24 Jun	13:00	Poland	0–3	United States	22–25	18–25	19–25			59–75	P2 Report
24 Jun	17:00	Netherlands	3–2	Iran	16–25	25–16	21–25	25–17	15–10	102–93	P2 Report
24 Jun	20:30	China	3–1	Germany	23–25	25–18	25–19	25–21		98–83	P2 Report
25 Jun	12:30	Italy	1–3	Poland	19–25	26–28	25–18	20–25		90–96	P2 Report
25 Jun	16:00	Netherlands	2–3	Serbia	25–22	21–25	25–21	33–35	9–15	113–118	P2 Report

Pool 4[edit]

• All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
20 Jun	13:00	Japan	3–1	Canada	25–22	25–17	24–26	25–14		99–79	P2 Report
20 Jun	17:00	Argentina	1–3	Slovenia	25–21	21–25	21–25	21–25		88–96	P2 Report
20 Jun	20:30	Brazil	3–0	Bulgaria	25–22	25–17	25–15			75–54	P2 Report
21 Jun	13:00	Japan	3–0	Cuba	25–21	25–16	25–21			75–58	P2 Report
21 Jun	17:00	Slovenia	3–0	Canada	25–23	25–22	25–14			75–59	P2 Report
21 Jun	20:30	Argentina	3–1	France	22–25	26–24	25–21	25–20		98–90	P2 Report
22 Jun	13:00	Japan	3–2	Brazil	25–23	25–21	18–25	22–25	18–16	108–110	P2 Report
22 Jun	17:00	Canada	3–1	Bulgaria	22–25	25–23	25–22	25–20		97–90	P2 Report
22 Jun	20:30	Slovenia	3–1	Cuba	22–25	25–15	25–16	25–19		97–75	P2 Report
23 Jun	16:30	Argentina	3–0	Bulgaria	25–18	25–21	25–22			75–61	P2 Report
23 Jun	20:30	France	3–0	Cuba	25–18	25–20	25–20			75–58	P2 Report
24 Jun	13:00	Japan	3–2	Argentina	25–18	25–22	31–33	22–25	15–12	118–110	P2 Report
24 Jun	17:00	Brazil	3–1	Slovenia	23–25	25–21	26–24	25–21		99–91	P2 Report
24 Jun	20:30	Canada	0–3	France	17–25	21–25	21–25			59–75	P2 Report
25 Jun	13:00	Bulgaria	2–3	Cuba	25–23	19–25	20–25	25–16	16–18	105–107	P2 Report
25 Jun	17:00	Brazil	3–1	France	25–20	26–24	19–25	25–23		95–92	P2 Report

Week 3[edit]

Pool 5[edit]

• All times are Pacific Daylight Time (UTC−07:00).

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
4 Jul	13:00	Argentina	3–1	Serbia	19–25	25–16	25–19	25–18		94–78	P2 Report
4 Jul	16:30	Iran	0–3	France	18–25	22–25	19–25			59–75	P2 Report
5 Jul	17:00	Germany	3–0	Bulgaria	25–22	25–18	25–22			75–62	P2 Report
5 Jul	20:30	United States	3–0	Cuba	27–25	25–17	25–15			77–57	P2 Report
6 Jul	13:30	Argentina	3–0	Germany	25–23	25–18	25–17			75–58	P2 Report
6 Jul	17:00	Serbia	3–2	Cuba	19–25	25–23	25–21	22–25	15–11	106–105	P2 Report
6 Jul	20:30	Bulgaria	3–2	Iran	21–25	25–21	22–25	25–22	15–11	108–104	P2 Report
7 Jul	13:30	Serbia	1–3	France	25–20	23–25	20–25	26–28		94–98	P2 Report
7 Jul	17:00	Cuba	0–3	Germany	23–25	23–25	22–25			68–75	P2 Report
7 Jul	20:30	United States	2–3	Argentina	18–25	25–23	25–23	41–43	12–15	121–129	P2 Report
8 Jul	13:30	Bulgaria	0–3	Serbia	19–25	22–25	22–25			63–75	P2 Report
8 Jul	17:00	Argentina	3–2	Iran	25–19	28–30	27–29	25–20	15–11	120–109	P2 Report
8 Jul	20:30	United States	3–0	France	25–23	27–25	27–25			79–73	P2 Report
9 Jul	13:30	Cuba	3–2	Iran	25–22	26–28	25–23	28–30	15–10	119–113	P2 Report
9 Jul	17:00	France	3–1	Germany	21–25	25–20	25–22	25–21		96–88	P2 Report
9 Jul	20:30	United States	3–0	Bulgaria	29–27	25–19	25–21			79–67	P2 Report

Pool 6[edit]

• All times are Philippine Standard Time (UTC+08:00).

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
4 Jul	15:00	Brazil	1–3	Italy	25–23	20–25	15–25	21–25		81–98	P2 Report
4 Jul	19:00	Japan	3–2	China	24–26	25–23	21–25	25–23	15–12	110–109	P2 Report
5 Jul	15:00	Canada	1–3	Netherlands	22–25	22–25	25–17	18–25		87–92	P2 Report
5 Jul	19:00	Poland	3–2	Slovenia	29–31	21–25	25–20	25–20	15–13	115–109	P2 Report
6 Jul	11:00	Brazil	3–0	Netherlands	25–21	25–15	25–20			75–56	P2 Report
6 Jul	15:00	Canada	2–3	Italy	14–25	25–23	20–25	25–23	9–15	93–111	P2 Report
6 Jul	19:00	China	1–3	Slovenia	21–25	20–25	26–24	23–25		90–99	P2 Report
7 Jul	11:00	Poland	3–1	Brazil	25–23	22–25	25–21	25–21		97–90	P2 Report
7 Jul	15:00	Slovenia	0–3	Italy	13–25	22–25	17–25			52–75	P2 Report
7 Jul	19:00	Japan	3–1	Netherlands	25–19	26–24	23–25	25–17		99–85	P2 Report
8 Jul	11:00	Brazil	3–0	China	25–19	25–17	25–17			75–53	P2 Report
8 Jul	15:00	Poland	3–0	Canada	25–21	25–23	27–25			77–69	P2 Report
8 Jul	19:00	Japan	1–3	Italy	27–29	26–28	25–23	20–25		98–105	P2 Report
9 Jul	11:00	China	1–3	Canada	25–23	21–25	17–25	18–25		81–98	P2 Report
9 Jul	15:00	Slovenia	3–0	Netherlands	25–20	32–30	25–22			82–72	P2 Report
9 Jul	19:00	Japan	0–3	Poland	17–25	19–25	18–25			54–75	P2 Report

Final round[edit]

• All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2:00).

	Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Final
	19 July
	United States	3
					22 July
	France	2
					United States	3
	19 July
					Italy	0
	Italy	3
									23 July
	Argentina	0
									United States	1
	20 July
									Poland	3
	Japan	3
					22 July
	Slovenia	0
					Japan	1
	20 July
					Poland	3			3rd place match
	Poland	3
									23 July
	Brazil	0
									Italy	2
									Japan	3

Quarterfinals[edit]

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
19 Jul	17:00	United States	3–2	France	25–21	25–18	17–25	24–26	15–9	106–99	P2 Report
19 Jul	20:00	Italy	3–0	Argentina	25–17	25–13	25–14			75–44	P2 Report
20 Jul	17:00	Japan	3–0	Slovenia	26–24	25–18	25–22			76–64	P2 Report
20 Jul	20:00	Poland	3–0	Brazil	26–24	25–21	25–20			76–65	P2 Report

Semifinals[edit]

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
22 Jul	17:00	Japan	1–3	Poland	25–19	26–28	17–25	21–25		89–97	P2 Report
22 Jul	20:00	United States	3–0	Italy	25–19	25–18	25–19			75–56	P2 Report

3rd place match[edit]

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
23 Jul	17:00	Japan	3–2	Italy	25–18	25–23	17–25	17–25	15–9	99–100	P2 Report

Final[edit]

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
23 Jul	20:00	Poland	3–1	United States	25–23	24–26	25–18	25–18		99–85	P2 Report

Final standing[edit]

Rank Team  Poland  United States  Japan 4  Italy 5  Argentina 6  Brazil 7  Slovenia 8  France 9  Serbia 10  Netherlands 11  Germany 12  Canada 13  Cuba 14  Iran 15  Bulgaria 16  China Source: VNL 2023 final standings

2023 Men's Nations League champions  Poland First title 14–man roster Jakub Popiwczak, Łukasz Kaczmarek, Bartosz Kurek (c), Wilfredo León, Bartosz Bednorz, Aleksander Śliwka, Grzegorz Łomacz, Jakub Kochanowski, Kamil Semeniuk, Paweł Zatorski, Marcin Janusz, Mateusz Bieniek, Tomasz Fornal, Norbert Huber Head coach Nikola Grbić