The FIVB Women's Volleyball Nations League is an international volleyball competition[1] contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. The first tournament took place between May and July 2018, with the final taking place in Nanjing, China. United States won the inaugural edition, defeating Turkey in the final.
In July 2018, the FIVB announced that China would host the next three editions of the women's Volleyball Nations League Finals, from 2019–2021, but on March 13, 2020, the Federation decided to postpone the Nations League until after the 2020 Summer Olympics due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] Finally, the FIVB canceled the 2020 edition and confirmed Italy as the host of the final stage of the 2021 VNL.
In February 2024, the FIVB announced that the competition will be expanded to 18 teams from the 2025 edition onwards, and that along with this format reform will be the abolition of the core and challenge teams' statuses.
The creation of the tournament was announced in October 2017 (alongside the announcement of the Challenger Cup) as a joint project of the FIVB, the IMG and 21 national federations.[3] The Women's VNL replaced the World Grand Prix, a former annual women's international event that ran between 1993 and 2017.
In June 2017, Argentinian website Voley Plus reported that the FIVB would drastically change the format for both the 2018 World League and World Grand Prix. According to the reports, starting from 2018, the World League and the World Grand Prix would have only one Group (no more Groups 1, 2 and 3) of 16 national teams.[4][5]
In October 2017, the FIVB announced, via a press release, the creation of the men's and women's Volleyball Nations League, confirming the tournaments as a replacement for the World League and World Grand Prix.[3]
Marketing
The International Volleyball Federation has partnered with global brand strategy and design firm Landor Associates to create the Volleyball Nations League branding. Landor has also contributed with in-stadium and on-screen television graphics, staff uniforms, designs for the World Volleyball app, medals and the winning trophy.[6][7]
Digital
Microsoft, the multinational technology company, has signed an agreement with the FIVB that the international federation vows will change the way the sport of volleyball is consumed while heightening the fan experience during match days as well as in the digital space.[8] Under the tie-up, the 'Microsoft Sports Digital Platform' has been created to create new digital services and deliver personalised content on demand in order to boost the FIVB global audience and improve fan engagement.[9]
Prize money
According to the FIVB, the prize money is equal for both the men's and women's VNL as per the FIVB's gender equality policy.[citation needed]
Team awards
At the preliminary round, the winning team is awarded US$9,500 for every win and the losing team is awarded US$4,250.[10]
Prize money allocated to teams based on their final place in the final round:
Champions: US$1,000,000
Runners-up: US$500,000
3rd place: US$300,000
4th place: US$180,000
5th place: US$130,000
6th place: US$85,000
7th place: US$65,000
8th place: US$40,000
Fair Play Award:
Admissions by athletes before the Challenge is thrown will be evaluated to avoid time wasting, a green card will be awarded in this case. The team with the most green cards will receive a cash prize of $30,000. In case of a tie, the best-ranked team will be awarded.
Individual awards
The players selected into Dream Team will receive US$10,000 each while the MVP will be given US$30,000.[11]
Market performance
The FIVB announced that the 2019 Volleyball Nations League (both men's and women's) attracted a cumulative global audience of more than 1.5 billion. This number was an increase of 200 million from the 2018 VNL. In total, more than 600,000 tickets were sold in the 2019 VNL.[12]
Format
First format
As in the former World Grand Prix, the competition will be divided in two phases, albeit with changes in the competition formula: a preliminary round (known as preliminary round), with a system of rotating host cities, and a final round played in a pre-selected host city.
The preliminary round is held over five weeks, versus three in the World Grand Prix. Each week, the participating teams are organized in pools, and each team plays one match against all other teams in its pool. All games in a pool take place over a weekend in the same city.
When all matches of the preliminary round have been played, the top five teams in the overall standings qualify for the final round, and the remaining ones leave the competition. The host nation automatically qualifies for the final round.[13]
16 national teams will compete in the inaugural edition of the tournament; 12 core teams, which are always qualified, and 4 challenger teams, which can face relegation.[13]
Preliminary round
The 16 teams compete in round-robin tournament, with every core team hosting a pool al least once. The teams are divided into 4 pools of 4 teams in each week and compete five weeks long, with a total of 120 matches. The top five teams after the round-robin tournament join the hosts in the final round.[13] The relegation will consider the four challenger teams and the last ranked challenger team will be excluded from next edition. The winners of the Challenger Cup would qualify for next edition as a challenger team.[14][15]
Final round
The six qualified teams play in 2 pools of 3 teams in a round-robin format. The top 2 teams of each pool qualify for the semifinals. The first ranked teams play against the second ranked teams in this round. The winners of the semifinals advance to compete for the Nations League title.[13]
Current format
The current format is applied since the 2022 edition. The whole competition still be divided into two phases: The pool phase and the Finals.[16]
Pool phase
The 16 teams will be divided into 2 groups of eight. Each team will play with 12 matches during the three weeks of the preliminary round. Two pools of eight teams will compete in four matches of six days of competition (Tuesday – Sunday). The new competition format allows for a one-week gap between events. The total number of matches in the pool phase will be 96.
The finals
The Finals will see the eight strongest teams moving directly to the knockout phase which will consist of eight matches in total: four quarterfinals, two semi-finals and the bronze and gold medal matches. The total number of matches in the final phase will be 8.
Third reform from 2025
The VNL will expand to 18 teams from 2025 alongside format changes that will elevate the VNL experience for athletes, fans, and all stakeholders. To facilitate the reform, there will be no relegation for the 2024 participating teams, while the winner of the 2024 Volleyball Challenger Cup, plus the top ranked not-yet-qualified team as per the senior Volleyball World Ranking, will join the participating teams of the 2025 VNL.
As of the 2025 edition, the core team status shall be abolished with the last team in the competition's final standing relegated, and the top team not yet qualified as per the Senior Volleyball World Ranking promoted into the following edition of the VNL.[17]
Until the 2024 edition, the FIVB Volleyball Challenger Cup is a competition for national teams which will run in concurrence with the Volleyball Nations League. The Challenger Cup consist of the best non-participating in the current edition of the Volleyball Nations League and featured feature one host team and five to seven teams from the five continental confederations as follows:[14]
The Continental Confederations, responsible for determining the teams that will qualify for the FIVB Challenger Cup, are free to organise their Continental Qualification Tournament or use an existing competition to define the qualified team(s).
The FIVB Challenger Cup is held before the FIVB Volleyball Nations League Finals (in 2018 and 2019 editions) but changed it in 2022 edition and the winners will qualify for the next year's VNL as a challenger team.[14][18]
New VNL qualification system
Starting in 2025 edition, the lowest ranked Challenger team of the current edition of the VNL will play the Volleyball Challenger Cup (VCC) held after the VNL. The winner of the current edition of the VCC shall be promoted and compete in the next edition of the VNL.[19]
Hosts
List of hosts by number of final round championships hosted.
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