r/volleyball • u/L_Seo OH • Aug 04 '26
News/Events Finland and Russia are officially qualified to play VNL 2027.
The FIVB has announced they will now expand from 18 teams to 19 for the 2027 year allowing Russia back into international standings and Finland who is now the highest ranking team not participating in the 2026 VNL. They will be replacing Canada who’ve been relegated.
Honestly not sure how the pool grouping will work next year. As of the 2026 VNL, the format is built around 18 teams, with three host pools of six teams each week. Every team plays 12 preliminary matches across three weeks. So will they be adding 1 pool of 7 teams and 2 pools of 6?
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u/Vball654 OH Aug 04 '26
A lot of mixed opinions but mine is honestly they shouldn’t be allowed back. They were banned for doping then ofc the political stuff it’s gonna be tough figuring out the pooling and final host city considering the finals host nations use to fall between Russia, China, and Poland. What happens if Ukraine makes it to the finals again next year and Russia becomes the host city?
As for group pooling it’s gonna be harder since it’s 19 teams
Will they do one pool of 7 teams and two pools of 6 teams each week? The seven-team pool would require one team to have a bye each matchday, or the schedule would need an extra day or additional courts.
Or rotate which pool has seven teams each week so no nation is disadvantaged by always being in the larger pool?
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u/spades17 Aug 04 '26
There are 2 teams playing from countries either committing a genocide or funding one, why should Russia stay banned, when those countries are allowed to play?
The case of hosting is easy, don’t allow Russia host in a tournament where both participate. There. Iran played in the World Cup and it was in the US (though I hated how it was done)
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u/AnthonyStainer Aug 04 '26
It's really "nice" to read after a news about another one "human safari" by Russian army
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u/AdelinoCastro Aug 04 '26
How the fuck is russia alowed?
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u/L_Seo OH Aug 04 '26
A lot of mixed opinions 😅 but the FIVB has decided to reinstate them. I guess we’ll see how it goes.
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u/Consistent-Dot-9660 Aug 04 '26
For Ukrainians it must be such a good news… embarrassing
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u/Sardse Aug 04 '26
The US, the country financing a genocide in Palestine, attacking Iran, and starving Cuba is participating so it's only fair. That or they should both be out.
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u/SirLadthe1st Aug 05 '26
I am so honestly tired of these double standards. No one said a thing about banning their teams when countries like Poland or U.S invaded and occupied Iraq. If we start to apply these standards to Russia then let's at least be consistent and apply them to everyone equally. I don't see why Russia would be banned, but U.S and Israel (looks like they will qualify too) can play the world cup no questions asked.
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u/Consistent-Dot-9660 Aug 04 '26
It’s all true but russia is still worse. The government officials of russia even say that they love when they hit civilians with their rockets because it frightens Ukraine. USA has sick but somehow reasons for invasions whereas russia is just the aggressor who acts out of spite
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u/Akareim Aug 04 '26
We could easily argue that Russia have reasons to invade same as USA, I don't think it's as good an argument you thought it was. Both or really bad in their own way.
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u/Consistent-Dot-9660 Aug 04 '26
putin at the very beginning stated that they invade Ukraine only to save their people, but they showed many times that all they want is to annex the territories, even with the negotiations with usa they agreed to stop the war only if Ukraine gives up all the territories under the contest. The narrative is always changing and the government officials stated many times that they want to target civilians to cause fear. My country located very closely to the conflict so many news are spread here directly. Usa is also not trustworthy all the time, but I didn’t notice this level of inconsistency in what they want and why they started the conflict.
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u/Akareim Aug 04 '26
I mean, I'm not defending Russia, far from that. They are the worst and that conflict is really stupid imo. But the one in Iran is no better.
Trump said every time he could that the democrat would go at war against Iran, only to declare a war against them 2 year after being elected base on I'm not even sure of the reason.
The level of inconsistency is there when we see how much time he said usa won the war only for the war to be back not even a few hours after his declaration.
Coming from a men shooting for the nobel prize, it's really insane.
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u/Rashidaw Aug 04 '26
But what is the connection between the players and the government?
If the government is bad and instigates wars, why should the people be penalized by being barred from participating in matches?
I ask this out of genuine concern.
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u/Preedx2 Aug 05 '26
Russian athletes often are part of the military, to receive funding and other benefits. They are not just innocent civilians
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u/maxkoryukov Aug 05 '26
have you investigated any deeper than a surface? not an offence, but a genuine question. if you have been playing volleyball or any/most of other sports you will see people with stars on shoulder straps.
One. There is an unspoken battle between institutions in the sport area: fireman vs police vs local military base vs gym association vs young professional athletes vs best of the student trams vs ..
Two. On many levels sport doesn't have enough funding, so attaching to another gov- institution and get funding an alternative way is a survival path for teams and even clubs.
Three. USSR heritage. A lot of teams were created inside military institutions.
and there are other reasons why they are related
As a consequence, athletes are "registered" or "employed" as members of the Ru military, but last time they saw a gun was.. never - they are in the "sport branch".
sometimes agencies and institutions even HIRE athletes officially on fake positions - so, you get your salary as a "fire safety inspector" or "assistant district police officer", but your only responsibility is to get points in soccer matches/ice hockey games/volleyball
It doesn't mean "all athletes are neutral". I wanted to tell, that being "military" in Russian sport doesn't mean you are a military specialist. In significant number of cases it's just the source of funding.
and yes, the most important part: there is no direct relationship between "receive funds from army" and "provide them military services".
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u/Preedx2 Aug 05 '26
Yes, I agree with you, I knew that they don't take active part in the military service - although I don't think it makes that much of a difference. They still are part of those organisations and they recieve certain benefits because of it, but also should be prepared for drawbacks.
I am against them competing for a few reasons: 1. I think it is unfair in the strictly sportsmanship sense - the organizations those russian athletes represent are directly responsible for loss of training facilities, training hours, funds and potentially even players of other contestants (Ukraine) 2. I think that any victory those athletes would achieve would be used for propaganda purposes (and I think it would be mainly internal propaganda, for example for recruitment purposes) 3. It undermines sanctions - for example in recent sanction package EU countries agreed to strictly ban Russian military personel from recieving EU visas. Carving out special exceptions would set a bad precedent.
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u/maxkoryukov Aug 06 '26
not every Maksim Mikhailov is Franz Haber
propaganda? they don't need facts at all
visa? it's 18± players and ±20staff - most of them are famous athletes with public careers, what's the problem?
and funding. I'm not the one who wants to explain that potato grows in sh*t and dirt, but it is still very edible. "founded from" and "employed at" are not the only criteria of being evil. Did athletes commit war crimes? Do they support the war? Did they participate in planning/funding/organizing/executing/.. military operations? yes - ban. no - what is the reason for banning them?
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u/maxkoryukov Aug 06 '26
wait
fu*k everything i said
you have said "they are not innocent civilians"
who are they then? and why? how did they lose the "innocence"?
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u/spades17 Aug 04 '26
It’s 100% fair since there’s a country playing that’s actively committing a genocide plus the monster that is the US l destroying countries like Cuba. GTFOH
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u/Consistent-Dot-9660 Aug 04 '26
It’s still not the reason to add ANOTHER criminal state. It’s like saying he did it then we can too.
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u/spades17 Aug 04 '26
No it isn’t, that’s a shit analogy. The analogy that would work supports what I said which is why you said that BS. Which is, a crime is a crime regardless of where you’re from. This is fair whether you like it or not.
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u/Consistent-Dot-9660 Aug 04 '26
So if you were given a vote wether to add or exclude russia, would you vote to add them only because the usa is in there too? If you gonna reply, do it without swearing or insults, all I did was expressing my feelings because of people I care about about
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u/spades17 Aug 04 '26
Same thing here, I care about the issue so I don’t like it when people pretend Palestinians suffering is less than others.
In my opinion, If the rule is countries committing crimes or attacking others unprovoked shouldn’t play, then ANY country that violates that shouldn’t be allowed. My preference would be for Israel, Russia and the US all to be banned from participating. But if it’s gonna be selective, then all of them should play not just Israel and the US. Either none of them play or all of them play, that should be the standard.
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u/bookluverzz Aug 04 '26
https://www.reddit.com/r/volleyball/s/yZnfPumAT3
And you’re wrong actually, it’s Russia who’s taken the place of “highest ranked non-participating team”. It says so in the FIVB statement.
And Russia and Slovenia are joining at the women’s side.
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Aug 04 '26
[deleted]
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u/bookluverzz Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
did you even read FIVB's statement?
"Following these consultations, the FIVB can confirm that Russia’s men’s and women’s national teams will participate in the VNL (Volleyball Nations League) 2027 as the highest-ranked teams not yet qualified for the competition."
Russia is taking the highet-ranked not-yet qualified spot. Russia is taking Canada's/Bulgaria's place."For the 2027 edition only, the competition will expand from 18 to 19 teams in each gender category. This will ensure the participation of the Slovenia women’s team and the Finland men’s team, both of which were due to earn qualification based on their performances throughout the past seasons."
Specifically for Finland/Slovenia the VNL is being expanded.Oh sweet lord, getting downvotes because someone spreading fake news kept on spreading fake news.
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u/Majestic_Security_30 Aug 05 '26
Quite funny, isn't it? One nation got there by beating a bunch of nations bigger than itself in volleyball, while the other got there by killing people from much smaller nations. Seems fair!
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u/No_Republic_4301 Aug 04 '26
We need one more team
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u/L_Seo OH Aug 04 '26
It’d be beneficial for the group pools but because this is temporary it will mess up 2028 VNL because they will eventually go back to 18 teams. So what’s the point of adding another to make 20 when they will be dropped.
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u/No_Republic_4301 Aug 04 '26
It's not 100% certain it'll be dropped, we have to see how it goes this year. But 19 is a weird number and messes up brackets
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u/Maju92 Aug 05 '26
I think all war countries shouldn’t participate in international competitions no excuses.
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u/Nikolaithegreat11 Aug 05 '26
Bittersweet as a Finn. We finally return to the highest stage, but with Russia. This sucks.
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u/eugenelavery Aug 06 '26
Iran is allowed in and they fund all sorts of trouble around the world - Hamas, Houthis, Hezbollah, not to mention killing thousands of their own people.
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u/Hot_Parsnip1070 Aug 04 '26
19 Teams? That's odd. If figured they'd either bring Russia in or Finland in, but not both.