VNL 2025 expands format to 36 teams

(Photo courtesy of Volleyball World)

The seventh edition of the annual Volleyball Nations League offers an expanded line-up of 18 national teams per gender this year.

VNL 2025 begins at the start of the national team season, with the first games scheduled for June 4 and the last on August 3.

None of the teams from the 2024 edition were relegated, the report said. In addition, the winners of the 2024 Volleyball Challenger Cup and the world’s highest-ranking team in men’s and women’s volleyball earned the right to join VNL 2025, expanding this year’s number of teams. 

Here are this year’s competing teams for VNL 2025 Women’s:

• Czech Republic (2024 Volleyball Challenger Cup winner) 
• Belgium (FIVB World Ranked No. 1)
• United States of America 
• Italy
• Türkiye
• Japan
• Poland
• Brazil
• China
• Serbia
• Bulgaria
• Canada
• Dominican Republic
• France 
• Germany
• Korea
• Netherlands
• Thailand

The host city for the women’s final round is yet to be announced and will be played from July 27 to 23.

(Photo courtesy of FIVB)

Here are this year’s competing teams for VNL 2025 Men’s:

• China (2024 Volleyball Challenger Cup winner) 
• Ukraine (rookie appearance) 
• France
• Poland
• Brazil
• United States of America
• Japan
• Italy
• Argentina
• Bulgaria
• Canada
• Cuba
• Germany
• Iran
• Netherlands 
• Serbia
• Slovenia
• Türkiye

The Final Round will be held from July 30 to August 3, while the host city is yet to be announced. 

(Photo courtesy of FIVB)

The 18th place in this year’s final standings will be relegated since the participants are no longer divided into core and challenger teams for the first time. 

VNL 2025 also introduces a new structure of the Preliminary Phase. All competing teams will still play 12 matches in a span of three competition weeks. 

However, each week will now have three pools with six teams each played at three different venues simultaneously. The number of playing days will also be reduced from six to five per week in this edition. 

With this new format, 216 matches are scheduled in the Preliminary Phase, with a total number of 232 number of games this season, which includes the quarterfinals, the semifinals, and the medal matches in men’s and women’s.