Double delight for Slovenia, with Paris 2024 spot sealed and first place in the 2024 FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League secured

The conclusion of the preliminary round of the 2024 FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League brought two definitive answers – the teams qualified for the final round, due to take place in the Atlas Arena, Łódź, Poland, and the five teams which made it to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games through the world ranking qualification pathway.

Three European sides – Italy, Serbia and Slovenia – made it through to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, alongside Egypt and Argentina. That takes the total of European teams in the competition to six, as hosts France, European champions Poland plus Germany were already qualified.

Slovenia were the big winners of the last weeks, as they also finished first in the preliminary round of the 2024 FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League, and will make their debut at the Olympic Games, securing their spot by finishing the qualification period among the four best national teams in the FIVB World Ranking not yet qualified.

The European powerhouse, one of the most consistent teams in recent history at the CEV EuroVolley Men, finished the preliminary round of the 2024 FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League with a fantastic record of 11 wins and only one loss.

They hosted Pool 5 in the final week of the preliminary round and swept their opponents, starting with a 3:0 win (25:23; 25:22; 29:27) against Argentina and following up with wins over Cuba, 3:2 (25:22; 20:25; 25:21; 29:31; 15:8), and Italy, 3:0 (25:19; 25:21 and 25:19).

In the last match played in Ljubljana, on their home court, Slovenia delivered a hard-fought 3:2 win against Serbia, 25:13; 25:27; 25:14; 22:25 and 15:12), as top scorer Tonček Štern scored 22 points.

Already qualified to Paris 2024, the top team in the FIVB World Ranking, Poland, finished second in the preliminary round of the 2024 FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League, with 10 wins and two losses. They secured four wins in four matches in the last week, including straight sets wins against Italy, Cuba and Argentina and a hard-fought 3:2 win against Serbia.

The podium was 100% European, completed by Italy, which finished with nine wins and three losses, splitting their wins and losses in the last week, where they beat Bulgaria (3:0) and Türkiye (3:1). 

Four out of the eight qualified teams for the final round, due to take place in Poland, are European, with the reigning Olympic champions, France, finishing sixth, with eight wins and four losses, as Serbia (5-7), Germany (5-7), the Netherlands (3-9), Bulgaria (3-9) and Türkiye (1-11) were eliminated.

Serbia were the last team to make the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, appearing among the best four teams in the FIVB World Ranking not yet qualified, as they return to the competition for the first time in 12 years.

The final round will take place in the Atlas Arena, Łódź, Poland between 27 and 30 June, with at least one European side in the semi-finals, as Italy and France will face off in a fiery quarter-final.

Slovenia will play once again against Argentina, while Poland face Brazil in another quarter-final, with two European-South American clashes on the card. In the other quarter-final, Japan face Canada.

Between the qualified European teams, only Poland, the reigning champions, and France, the 2022 winners, have secured the title in the FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League.