European nations win 3 medals at the FIVB Volleyball Nations League 2021

FIVB’s Volleyball Nations League returned with a bang this summer as some of the world’s strongest volleyball nations assembled in Rimini, Italy for approximately 5 weeks of volleyball at the highest level.

Despite having to adapt to the rigours of the current circumstances and ensure a safe bubble for all participating teams and personnel, the 2021 VNL proved to be yet another success story for the FIVB and in the eyes of volleyball fans everywhere.

Going into the competition, Europe was very well represented in both genders, giving half of the participants in the women’s competition (8 out of 16) and the majority of participants in the men’s competition (9 out of 16).

Participating European Nations

Women: Turkey, Netherlands, Russia, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Italy, Serbia

Men: Poland, Slovenia, France, Russia, Serbia, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Bulgaria

The Preliminary Round

Following a competitive system where every team faces all other teams once in the preliminary round, the VNL is quite challenging for all participating nations who know that every match can push them in either direction of the standings as they battle to reach the Final Four of the competition.

The preliminary round on the women’s side was dominated by non-European teams, with the only nation that managed to join the Final Four being Turkey who narrowly edged China for the 4^th spot to claim a semifinal berth alongside USA, Brazil and Japan.

On the men’s side, European teams were dominant with no less than 5 teams being in the top 5 and 3 out of the 4 teams heading into the Final Four of the competition, with Poland, Slovenia and France joining preliminary round leaders Brazil.

The Final Four

The Final Round of the women’s VNL saw Turkey go up against USA in the semis and losing in straight sets following a convincing performance by the North Americans. However, Turkey was still in with a chance of winning bronze as they faced Japan, who had lost to Brazil in the second semifinal and they took advantage of that opportunity in style, winning in straight sets following a masterful performance.

The VNL women’s champions are the USA who overcame the challenge set out by Brazil and confirmed their status as one of the favorites to win Gold.

On the men’s side, the semifinal pairings that saw Brazil facing France and Poland facing Slovenia meant that there was a chance for European nations to take both spots in the Final, but Brazil proved to be too strong for the French who had to concede defeat in straight sets in the first semifinal and were left to fight for the bronze medal. In the second all-European semifinal, Poland was the better team, winning in straight sets against a Slovenian side who had an incredible preliminary round that had filled them with confidence going into this match.

The VNL Final saw Poland take on Brazil and it couldn’t have started any better for Poland winning the first set (25-22) following confident plays and good decision making. After the first set however it was all about Brazil who slowly but surely took command of the Final winning narrowly the second set (25-23) but dominating the remaining sets on their path to VNL gold (25-16/ 25-14).

The Bronze medal match between France and Slovenia proved to be dominated by the French, lead by Earvin Ngapeth and Stephen Boyer who won again in straight sets.

Given that this year’s VNL coincides with a crucial preparation period for nations that will take part in the Tokyo Olympics later this summer, coaches and players were very much aware of the significance of the tournament and getting the best out of themselves and getting in the best shape possible before boarding the flight to Japan.

Fans can now look forward to an increasingly busy summer of volleyball that will be brought to an even higher level by the CEV EuroVolley events taking place toward the end of summer.