The 2021 FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League was the third edition of the
FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League, an annual men's international volleyball tournament. The 2021 version of VNL was scheduled to start earlier than
the previous edition due to the
2020 Summer Olympics
The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...
in July. The competition was held between May and June 2021, and the final round took place in
Rimini Fiera,
Rimini
Rimini ( , ; or ; ) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy.
Sprawling along the Adriatic Sea, Rimini is situated at a strategically-important north-south passage along the coast at the southern tip of the Po Valley. It is ...
, Italy.
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
claimed their first VNL title after beating
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
in four sets.
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
swept
Slovenia
Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...
in three sets and grabbed the bronze medal. Both
Wallace de Souza from Brazil and
Bartosz Kurek
Bartosz Kamil Kurek (born 29 August 1988) is a Polish professional volleyball player who plays as an opposite spiker for ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle and captains the Poland national team. Kurek took part in 4 Olympic Games (London 2012, Rio 2016 ...
from Poland named as
MVPs of the tournament.
Qualification
In the 2019 edition sixteen teams qualified for the competition. Twelve of them qualified as core teams which could not face relegation. Other four teams were selected as challenger teams which could be relegated from the tournament.
Slovenia
Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...
as winner of
2019 Challenger Cup earned the right to participate in this tournament replacing
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
, the last placed challenger team after the
2019 edition. This year there won’t be any promotion or relegation and the 16 participants will also compete in the 2022 edition.
Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
replaced
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
after the decision of the
Chinese Volleyball Association
Chinese Volleyball Association (中国排球协会) is a national non-governmental, nonprofit sports organization in the People's Republic of China. It represents China in the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball and the Asian Volleyball Con ...
to withdraw its national men's team due to financial limitations and travel restrictions caused by the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
.
Format
Preliminary round
The 16 teams compete in a
round-robin format. The teams play 3 matches each week and compete five weeks long, for 120 matches. The top four teams after the preliminary round compete in the final round.
[
]
Final round
The four qualified teams play knock-out round. The semifinals winners advance to compete for the Nations League title. The losers face each other in the third place match.
Secure bubble
As to ensure athletes were able to compete and the games were conducted safely, the 2021 VNL was played under a secure bubble. After the game, a total of 2,250 PCR and 7,920 antigen tests were performed and only one registered COVID-19 case was found.
Venue
Competition schedule
Pool standing procedure
# Total number of victories (matches won, matches lost)
# In the event of a tie, the following first tiebreaker will apply: The teams will be ranked by the most points gained per match as follows:
#*Match won 3–0 or 3–1: 3 points for the winner, 0 points for the loser
#*Match won 3–2: 2 points for the winner, 1 point for the loser
#*Match forfeited: 3 points for the winner, 0 points (0–25, 0–25, 0–25) for the loser
# If teams are still tied after examining the number of victories and points gained, then the FIVB will examine the results in order to break the tie in the following order:
#*Sets quotient: if two or more teams are tied on the number of points gained, they will be ranked by the quotient resulting from the division of the number of all sets won by the number of all sets lost.
#*Points quotient: if the tie persists based on the sets quotient, the teams will be ranked by the quotient resulting from the division of all points scored by the total of points lost during all sets.
#*If the tie persists based on the points quotient, the tie will be broken based on the team that won the match of the Round Robin Phase between the tied teams. When the tie in points quotient is between three or more teams, these teams ranked taking into consideration only the matches involving the teams in question.
Squads
The 16 national teams involved in the tournament were required to register a squad of 25 players, which every week's 14-player roster must be selected from. Each country must declare its 14-player roster two days before the start of each week's round-robin competition.
Preliminary round
*All times are Central European Summer Time
Central European Summer Time (CEST, UTC+02:00), sometimes referred to as Central European Daylight Time (CEDT), is the standard clock time observed during the period of summer daylight-saving in those European countries which observe Central E ...
( UTC+02:00).
Ranking
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Final round
*All times are Central European Summer Time
Central European Summer Time (CEST, UTC+02:00), sometimes referred to as Central European Daylight Time (CEDT), is the standard clock time observed during the period of summer daylight-saving in those European countries which observe Central E ...
( UTC+02:00).
Semifinals
Third place match
Final
Final standing
''Source
VNL 2021 final standings
'
Awards
*Most Valuable Players
*:
*:
*Best setter
*:
*Best outside spikers
*:
*:
*Best middle blockers
*:
*:
*Best opposite spikers
*:
*:
*Best libero
*:
Statistics leaders
Preliminary round
''Statistics leaders correct at the end of preliminary round
A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:
# One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...
.''
Final round
''Statistics leaders correct at the end of final round
A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...
.''
COVID related
Because of COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
restrictions, the games were played without spectators. A total of 10,170 COVID-19 tests (including women's side) were conducted to players, referees, officials and staff every four days.
See also
*2021 FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League
The 2021 FIVB Women's Volleyball Nations League was the third edition of the FIVB Women's Volleyball Nations League, an annual women's international volleyball tournament. The 2021 version of VNL was scheduled to start earlier than the previous ...
* 2019 FIVB Volleyball Men's Challenger Cup
* 2019 FIVB Volleyball Women's Challenger Cup
*Volleyball at the 2020 Summer Olympics
The volleyball tournaments at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo were played between 24 July and 8 August 2021. 24 volleyball teams and 48 beach volleyball teams participated in the tournament. The indoor volleyball competition took place at Ari ...
Notes
References
External links
Fédération Internationale de Volleyball
FIVB
FIVB Volleyball Nations League 2021
– official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Volleyball, Nations League, Men, 2021
2021
Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...
FIVB
FIVB Volleyball Men's Nations League
FIVB
FIVB
FIVB
International men's volleyball competitions hosted by Italy