The 2023 FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League was the fifth edition of the
FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League
The FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League is an annual international volleyball competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. The first tournament took place between ...
, an annual men's international volleyball tournament. The competition was held from 6 June to 23 July 2023, with the final round took place at the
Ergo Arena
Ergo Arena (Hala Gdańsk-Sopot) is a multi-purpose indoor arena that was opened in 2010. The boundary between two cities – Sopot and Gdańsk – runs through the very middle of the hall. The arena has a capacity of 11,409 people for sports eve ...
,
Gdańsk
Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...
, Poland.
Following the results of
2022 Nations League and
2022 Challenger Cup,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
were replaced by debutants
Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
in this edition.
Finals host and home team
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 ...
won their first VNL title after defeating the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
in four sets. It was the United States' third silver medal.
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
defeated
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
in a tie-breaker match and claimed the bronze medal.
Paweł Zatorski
Paweł Zatorski (born 21 June 1990) is a Polish professional volleyball player who plays as a libero for Asseco Resovia and the Poland national team. Zatorski took part in 3 Olympic Games (Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024, winning a silver ...
from Poland was named the
MVP
MVP most commonly refers to:
* Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition
* Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering
MVP may also refer to:
...
of the tournament.
Qualification
Sixteen teams qualified for the competition. Ten of them qualified as core teams which cannot face relegation. Other six teams were selected as challenger teams which could be relegated from the tournament.
Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
replaced
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
after winning the
2022 Challenger Cup.
Format
Preliminary round
The format of play is the same as edition 2022. The new format will see 16 men's teams competing in pools of 8 teams during the pool phase. Each team plays 12 matches during the pool stage. Eight teams will then move into the final knockout phase of the competition.
Final round
The VNL Finals will see the top eight 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.
Final 8 direct elimination formula:
* The first ranked team will play a quarterfinal match against the eighth ranked team, the second ranked team will play a quarterfinal match against the seventh ranked team, the third ranked team will play a quarterfinal match against the sixth ranked team, the fourth ranked team will play a quarterfinal match against the fifth ranked team.
* The national team of the hosting territory of the event will have a guaranteed berth for the Final round. If the host nation does not finish in the top eight in Preliminary round, they will replace the eighth place team and play as the eighth seed.
Pool composition
The overview of pools was released on 11 November 2022.
Venues
Preliminary round
Final round
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
Preliminary round
Ranking
Week 1
Pool 1
*All times are
Eastern Daylight Time
The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, and the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico.
* Eastern Standard Time (EST) is five hours behin ...
(
UTC−04:00).
Pool 2
*All times are
Japan Standard Time
, or , is the standard time zone in Japan, 9 hours ahead of UTC (UTC+09:00). Japan does not observe daylight saving time, though its introduction has been debated on several occasions. During World War II, the time zone was often referred to a ...
(
UTC+09:00).
Week 2
Pool 3
*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).
Pool 4
*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).
Week 3
Pool 5
*All times are
Pacific Daylight Time
The Pacific Time Zone (PT) is a time zone encompassing parts of western Canada, the western United States, and western Mexico. Places in this zone observe standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC−08:00). ...
(
UTC−07:00).
Pool 6
*All times are
Philippine Standard Time
Philippine Standard Time (PST or PhST; ), also known as Philippine Time (PHT), is the official name for the time zone used in the Philippines. The country only uses a single time zone, at an UTC offset, offset of UTC+08:00, but has used dayligh ...
(
UTC+08:00).
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+2:00).
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
3rd place match
Final
Final standing
''Source
VNL 2023 final standings
'
Awards
*Most valuable player
*:
*Best setter
*:
*Best outside spikers
*:
*:
*Best middle blockers
*:
*:
*Best opposite spiker
*:
*Best libero
*:
*Fair play team award
*:
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 ...
.''
Controversies
Iran team's visa issues in the United States
After the announcement of the host venues and the games schedule, the president of the
Iranian Volleyball Federation sent a letter to the
FIVB expressing their concerns about the fact that the Iranian team is scheduled to play their games on the third week of the VNL in the USA territory. They stated that five members of the
Iranian national team required further examination and additional documentation for visa issuance. The Iranian authorities also expressed their desire to host the USA's leg instead, or they might boycott the leg by not sending anyone to the USA.
The passports of the Iranian national team members were resubmitted to the US Embassy in
Ankara
Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...
, Turkey for a visa issuance. After necessary checks, visas were issued for the 12 players, with only four days left until the start of Week 3 of the VNL. However, five players including
Amin Esmaeilnezhad were not granted visas. This situation also happened with the coach of the Iranian national team,
Behrouz Ataei, who presented an incomplete documentation. After the second week round in
Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...
, Netherlands, the rejected five players had to return to
Tehran
Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...
.
After failed negotiations with the American authorities, the FIVB Executive Committee specifically examined the question of the visas for the Iranian team and approved an unprecedented decision. If the United States government does not issue the visas to the key members of the Iranian team, the points of Iran and its opponents in the third week of the games would not be accounted for on the world rankings, but the results of these games would count exclusively for the tournament.
See also
*
2023 FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League
*
2023 FIVB Volleyball Women's Challenger Cup
The 2023 FIVB Women's Volleyball Challenger Cup was the fourth edition of the FIVB Volleyball Women's Challenger Cup, an annual women's international volleyball tournament contested by eight national teams that acts as a qualifier for the FIVB ...
*
2023 FIVB Volleyball Men's Challenger Cup
Notes
References
External links
Fédération Internationale de Volleyball– official website
FIVB Volleyball Nations League 2023– official competition website
Brackets
{{DEFAULTSORT:Volleyball, Nations League, Men, 2023
2023
Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...
2023 in men's volleyball
2023 in Polish sport
2023 in volleyball
International volleyball competitions hosted by Poland
June 2023 sports events in Canada
June 2023 sports events in France
June 2023 sports events in Japan
June 2023 sports events in the Netherlands
July 2023 sports events in Poland
July 2023 sports events in the Philippines
July 2023 sports events in the United States
Sports competitions in Gdańsk