Poland throw off 2025 FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League with a bang

The 2025 FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League threw off last week in Quebec, Canada, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and in Xi’an, People’s Republic of China, with 10 European teams at the start. Only one team remained perfect after the first four matches – former winners Poland, which dropped only two sets on their way to the first place in the standings.

Poland featured in Pool 3, in Xi’an, China, and threw off the competition with a 3:1 win (25:22; 22:25; 25:22 and 25:22) against the Netherlands, as Artur Szalpuk and Kewin Sasak each scored 19 points for the reigning European champions.

Despite not having stars like Tomasz Fornal, Wilfredo Leon or Lukasz Kaczmarek in their roster, Poland went on to secure three more wins, dominating Japan (27:25; 25:22; 18:25; 39:37) in a match which spanned for one hour and 58 minutes, and finished off with two wins in straight sets against Türkiye (28:26; 25:23; 25:21) and Serbia (25:21; 25:20; 25:23).

“I feel amazing! For me, it’s a big thing to be here, to be with this group and to represent my country at this tournament. I am happy that we won every game and I think we played really well. This is national-team level, so there are very good players here, but we knew how we could play and we tried to focus on our level of volleyball,” said Sasak, according to the official FIVB website.

Two other European sides finished the first week with three wins and a single loss, perennial contenders Italy and Slovenia, two of the most consistent teams in the last decade on the biggest international stages.

Italy started with a 3:1 win over Bulgaria, then mounted a spirited comeback against Germany, after losing the first two sets and clinching the next three, including the decider, 15:11, then lost against reigning champions France, 1:3, and bounced back against Argentina, with a 3:1 win.

Slovenia took a 3:1 win against Cuba, followed up with a 3:2 win over the Islamic Republic of Iran, secured a 3:1 win against the United States of America, but then were thoroughly dominated by Brazil, in Rio, conceding a 0:3 loss.

Reigning champions France and debutants Ukraine, as well as Bulgaria, are sitting at the same record, with two wins and two losses, while Germany, Türkiye, the Netherlands and Serbia have won only one match from the four played.

The top seven teams in the competition, plus China, the hosts of the final round, will progress to the knockout phase of the competition. The 2025 FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League resumes with three other pools, to be played in Burgas, Bulgaria, the Hoffman Estates in USA and Belgrade, Serbia, between 25 and 29 June.