Nine European teams to challenge for the title in the 2024 FIVB Volleyball Men's Nations League
Preview
Nine European sides, including the last two champions, France and Poland, will line up at the start of the 2024 FIVB Volleyball Men's Nations League, which will throw off on Tuesday, 21 May, in Antalya, Türkiye and in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Reigning champions Poland are already qualified for the final round, which they will host in the Atlas Arena in Łódź, with seven other sides trying to secure their tickets, as European sides will aim to secure the fifth title for the continent in six editions.
Türkiye are the only side to make their debut in the competition, after winning the 2023 FIVB Volleyball Men's Challenger Cup in Doha, and will be the hosts of Pool 1 in Antalya in the first week, with seven other teams joining, including Bulgaria, France, the Netherlands, Slovenia and reigning champions Poland.
In the other pool, Germany, Serbia and Italy are the three European teams which will face Argentina, Brazil, Japan, Cuba and the Islamic Republic of Iran, in the Ginásio do Maracanãzinho in Rio de Janeiro.
The reigning European champions, Poland, will be one of the favourites at the start, having a star-studded line-up, including Bartosz Bednorz, Aleksander Śliwka or Kamil Semeniuk, but without the MVP of last year’s CEV EuroVolley 2023 Men, Wilfredo Leon.
Italy will also try to secure their maiden medal in the competition, after finishing fourth in 2022 and 2023 and will aim to ride the superb form of four of their players, who won the CEV Champions League Men with Trentino Itas three weeks ago.
Riccardo Sbertoli, Daniele Lavia, Alessandro Michieletto and Riccardo Sbertogli form the core of the Italy side, which also has strong players like Yuri Romanò for the first week in Brazil, where the runners-up from the CEV EuroVolley 2023 will play against Germany, Iran, Japan and hosts Brazil.
France, which finished second in 2018, third in 2021 and won the competition in 2022 will also aim to deliver some good performances, while perennial contenders Slovenia are also high on the favourites list.
The first two pools will take place between 21 and 26 May, while the second week sees the 16 teams play between 4 and 9 June in Fukuoka, Japan and Ottawa, Canada. The third week is scheduled for 18-23 June in Ljubljana, Slovenia and Manila, Philippines, as the competition concludes between 27 and 30 June in Łódź.