10 European teams at the start of the 2025 FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League

2025 will mark the seventh edition of the annual FIVB Volleyball Nations League, which will also be the first one with an expanded line-up of 18 national teams per gender. Therefore, 10 European teams will line up at the start, including former champions France and Poland, as well as debutants Ukraine.

After the 2021 edition was won by Brazil, the next three editions were clinched by European teams, with France securing the title in 2022 and 2024, while Poland clinched the title in the final week on home soil, in Gdansk, in 2023.

This time around, the knockout phase of the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Nations League will take place in Ningbo, People’s Republic of China, with the hosts already qualified, leaving seven places open in the battle for the title, after three weeks filled with matches in the pool phase.

With the expanded number of participating teams, there will be a new structure of the Preliminary Phase schedule. Each participating team will still play 12 matches spread across three competition weeks. However, now there will be three pools per week played at three different venues with six teams each.

The first week of competition will see matches played in Quebec, Canada, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Xi’an in the People’s Republic of China. The second week will be played in Burgas, Bulgaria, in Hoffman Estates, USA and in Belgrade, Serbia, with the last week having matches scheduled in Gdansk, Poland, in Ljubljana, Slovenia and in Chiba, Japan.

All matches of the final round are scheduled in the Beilun Gymnasium in Ningbo, China.

For the first time in the history of the competition, 10 European teams will line up at the start. Reigning champions France will face tough opponents in the first week, where they play against Argentina, Italy, Canada and Germany, while Poland, another contender for the title, will face the Netherlands, Japan, Türkiye and Serbia.

Slovenia, a perennial contender in the last major international competitions, are also lining up at the start, after finishing fourth in 2024, while Italy, which flirted with the podium in the last three editions, finishing 4th, 4th and 5th respectively, are also eyeing a spot in the final round.

Bulgaria, Germany and Serbia will also make their seventh appearance in the FIVB Men’s Nations League, while the Netherlands and Slovenia are lining up for the fifth time at the start of the competition.

After finishing 16th in the previous edition, when they made their debut, Türkiye will try to improve this time around, while Ukraine are due to make their debut, gaining their place as the top FIVB ranked team.