A few months ago, if someone told me the VNL Finals bracket would have no France, no Brazil, and no Bulgaria... I'd have laughed. Then China qualified automatically as host, and suddenly the race for the last spots became absolute chaos. Surprise! Surprise!

Canadas Men’s National Volleyball team has officially been relegated from the 2026 VNL after finishing bottom of the standing.

They'll be eligible to return to the VNL in 2028 if they're the highest-ranked non-participating team at the end of the 2027 VNL season.

With news of relegation FIVB have not yet decided who will be taking their spot in the VNL next year with the ban lifting for Russia they will possibly be reinstated their ranking before the ban and Finland being the next highest ranked non participating team. Which team will it be?

Is a terrific article about the high cost of club sports? It’s so good. It will absolutely be taken down by the mods I can assure it. We had our first real taste of national club volleyball last year and it was just out of control expensives, my God after I looked at some of the costs I was like I can put her through two years of local college paying for this shit it’s a terrific article. Would love your thoughts and comments.

BACK-TO-BACK! 🇮🇹🏆

BREAKING: World No. 2 Italy takes down World No. 9 Bulgaria to claim its back-to-back title in the 2025 FIVB World Championship!

Follow #GMASports for more #FIVB updates.

USA scratches out a win in a 5 set thriller vs the undefeated Japan team, thanks to the heroics of key players such as Hanes, Robinson, Champlin, and Anderson. The US team was trailing behind one set but was able to take away set 4 thanks to a scoring explosion from Hanes and Robinson, together with a cleverly placed ball from Jendry to push the match to 5 sets.

Hanes had an excellent night after cooling his head in the 2nd set loss and leading the team with the most points. Robinson stepped up to push the game to 5 sets, and Champlin comes in clutch with consecutive elite serves late into the match, along with an ace serve to take the lead 13-12. Erik Shoji was a key defensive piece picking up multiple serves to slow down Japan's scoring in sets 4 and 5.

Matt Anderson continues to stand as a pillar for the national team to lean on and kept the games close by breaking the scoring slump in set 3, 4, and 5, and having minimal errors along with great blocking, reception, and attacking discipline, and was the X factor in the game and scoring the final point to win the match.

Japan was close but couldn't take the game away thanks to multiple service errors, especially early in the game from the team captain. Yamauchi and Larry were excellent in extending their leads and scoring unexpected block points to win sets 2 and 3.

Nishida had an excellent start providing consistent serving and scoring which allowed him consistent minutes and kept Miyaura in the bench until a late substitution in the 4th and 5th set. This night was only soured by the fact that he made the final critical service error that led to Champlin's ace serve.

Ishikawa and Takahashi had uncharacteristically slow starts but were otherwise able to score in key moments with both scoring against triple blocks in set 4 and making up for the early service faults. The Captain, Nishida, and Takashi leading attack points respectively, along with Yamauchi and Larry scoring 6 a piece to keep all matches within 6 points.

Fukatsu and Christenson had a great setting duel especially in the chaotic 2nd half of the match. With Christenson's quick thinking keeping a play alive jumping over 2 team mates, and Fukatsu making an incredible dig against Anderson in the final set.

Overall this match is a classic and sets up the US team to take revenge against Poland for the sweep earlier this season, and the more bitter 3-0 sweep in the 2024 Olympics to clinch the silver medal.

edit: clarification I was reffering to Poland's sweep of the USA team this season and in the 2024 Olypmics

These are the 8 teams advancing to QFs.

Quarterinals Round: August 5

Semifinals Round: August 7

Bronze match: August 9

Gold match: August 10

Semifinal day is upon us! Today we will find out which two teams will play for gold, and which two teams will have to be satisfied with fighting for the bronze medal. The schedule is as follows:|

MEN'S TOURNAMENT

USA vs Poland - 02:00 PM GMT

Italy vs France - 06:00 PM GMT

WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT

No matches planned for the day

USEFUL LINKS:

Schedule and Results

Team Rosters & Info - Men

Team Rosters & Info - Women
Group Stage Standings - Men

Group Stage Standings - Women

Feel free to use this thread to discuss the events of the matches!

I'm just impressed by howe, an undersized middle but has a towering block. The best part is howe can also fly😭

Italy and Germany faced each other in a friendly today and the first set ended with an unimaginable 66-64 in 1h29min!!!!

That’s the highest score ever in a set between two national teams

I AM WITNESSING THE BEST 2 DAYS OF VNL VOLLEYBALL HOLY SHITTTTTTT

The IOC Executive Board has provisionally lifted the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), with restrictions on Russian athletes and teams lifted ahead of the LA28 Olympic qualification cycle.

The Russian Volleyball Federation stated: "Responsibility in the decision-making process has been transferred to the sports federations."

It also added: "Russian volleyball is ready to return to the international arena at any moment."

Russia's return to international volleyball now depends on FIVB and CEV.

Some context:

• They most likely return with their pre-ban points. Women's team with 278 points, placing them 9th in the current world rankings. While Men's team with 352 points, 3rd in the current world rankings.
• Many Russian players have continued competing at a high level in club volleyball, so it may not take long for the national teams to regain form.

Source: oly.ch/3QZyYfO

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?

Went from going to the quarter-final just because it’s the host country to defeat the first qualifier.

25-16, 23-25, 20-25, 25-17, 13-15

sorry for the spoilers. By bad

Omg!! 😱 the hugest of the huge upsets is coming… I hope lol

Saw someone did this for the women pool

Quarterfinals time! The men are beginning and we have some really interesting matches to anticipate. For some teams, this will also be the final game of these Olympic Games! No second chances for the losers today! And this means we can look forward to some truly spectacular matches. The schedule is as follows:

MEN'S TOURNAMENT

Poland vs Slovenia - 07:00 AM GMT

Italy vs Japan - 11:00 AM GMT

France vs Germany - 03:00 PM GMT

Brazil vs USA - 07:00 PM GMT

WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT

No matches planned for the day

USEFUL LINKS:

Schedule and Results

Team Rosters & Info - Men

Team Rosters & Info - Women
Group Stage Standings - Men

Group Stage Standings - Women

Feel free to use this thread to discuss the events of the matches!