The 2023 FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League was the fifth edition of the FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League, an annual men's international volleyball tournament. The competition was held from 6 June to 23 July 2023, with the final round taking place at the Ergo Arena, Gdańsk, Poland.[1][2]
Finals host and home team Poland won their first VNL title after defeating the United States in four sets.[4] It was the United States' third silver medal. Japan defeated Italy in a tie-breaker match and claimed the bronze medal.[5]Paweł Zatorski from Poland was named the MVP of the tournament.[6]
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.[7][8]Cuba replaced Australia after winning the 2022 Challenger Cup.[3]
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.[8]
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.[8]
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.[1][9]
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.
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.[12]
The passports of the Iranian national team members were resubmitted to the US Embassy in Ankara, 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, Netherlands, the rejected five players had to return to Tehran.[13]
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.[14]
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