Four European powerhouses to fight for title in the 2025 FIVB Men's Nations League

Four European teams are still in the mix to win the title in the 2025 FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League, after the preliminary round concluded two weeks ago, with the final round to take place between 30 July and 3 August in Ningbo, People’s Republic of China.

The top seven teams in the final standings of the preliminary round progressed to the next phase of the competition, plus the hosts, China, which finished on the 17th place, with three wins and nine losses in the 12 matches played.

Brazil are currently the team with the best record in the competition, having won 11 out of the 12 matches played, dropping 11 sets so far, in what has proven to be a tough and well-balanced competition.

Italy and France finished on the podium, with the reigning champions winning eight out of the 12 matches played, while Italy have delivered 10 wins in 12 matches. Yet the Italian side will be coming in Ningbo red hot, with a five-match winning streak, as their last loss came against Brazil, 1:2.

Italy will be favoured against Cuba in the quarter-finals, a team they did not play against so far in this edition, as Cuba won six and lost six matches so far, the same record as two European sides, debutants Ukraine and Bulgaria, but had two points over Ukraine and three points over Bulgaria.

There will surely be an European side in the semi-finals, still fighting for the title. Provided they win against Cuba, Italy will face the winner of the match between France and Slovenia, a truly titans battle.

In the last two years, the two sides have met four times, with Slovenia taking three wins, as opposed to France’s one. However, the last meeting between the two sides, which took place in the preliminary round of the 2025 FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League, was won by France in straight sets, 3:0 (25:23; 29:27; 25:23).

The last European side to qualify for the quarter-finals is Poland, the team which won the largest number of medals so far in the competition, five, finishing on the podium in each of the last five editions of the FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League, including the title in 2023.

Poland finished fifth in the standings, with eight wins and four losses in the preliminary round, the same record as Japan, the same number of points, but with a lower set ratio than the Asian side.

The first two quarter-finals, Brazil vs China and Japan vs Poland, will take place on 30 July, with the other two quarter-finals set to be played on 31 July. 

The two semi-finals will take place on 2 August, while the medal matches, including the grand final, on 3 August.