The 2018 FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League was the inaugural edition of the FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League, a new annual international men's volleyball tournament contested by 16 national teams that replaced the former World League in the international calendar. The competition was held between May and July 2018, and the final round took place in the Stade Pierre-Mauroy, Villeneuve-d'Ascq, Lille metropolitan area, France.
South Korea were the last placed challenger team after the preliminary round and were replaced by 2018 Challenger Cup winners Portugal in the 2019 edition.
Russia won the inaugural edition, defeating the home team in straight sets in the final. Both teams contesting the final had previously won the World League – Russia on three opportunities and France on two. United States, which also had won the World League twice, defeated the reigning Olympic champions and 9-time World League winners Brazil in straight sets for the bronze medal. Maxim Mikhaylov from Russia, who was the World League MVP in 2011, was elected the Most valuable player.
Teams Qualification Sixteen teams qualified for the competition. Twelve of them qualified as core teams which cannot face relegation. Other four teams were selected as challenger teams which could be relegated from the tournament.
CountryConfederationDesignationPrevious appearancesPrevious best performanceTotalFirstLastCSVCore team0NoneDebutAVCChallenger team0NoneDebutCSVCore team0NoneDebutCEVChallenger team0NoneDebutNORCECAChallenger team0NoneDebutAVCCore team0NoneDebutCEVCore team0NoneDebutCEVCore team0NoneDebutAVCCore team0NoneDebutCEVCore team0NoneDebutAVCCore team0NoneDebutCEVCore team0NoneDebutCEVCore team0NoneDebutCEVCore team0NoneDebutAVCChallenger team0NoneDebutNORCECACore team0NoneDebut
Squads
Format Preliminary round The 16 teams compete in a round-robin format with every core team hosting a pool at least once. The teams are divided into 4 pools of 4 teams at each week and compete five weeks long, for 120 matches. The top five teams after the preliminary round join the hosts of the final round to compete in the final round. The relegation takes into consideration only the 4 challenger teams. The last ranked challenger team will be excluded from the 2019 Nations League. The winners of the 2018 Challenger Cup will qualify for the next edition as a challenger team.
Final round The six qualified teams play in 2 pools of 3 teams in round-robin. The top 2 teams of each pool qualify for the semifinals. The pool winners play against the runners-up in this round. The semifinals winners advance to compete for the Nations League title. The losers face each other in the third place match.
Pools composition The overview of pools was released on February 16, 2018.
Preliminary round Week 1Pool 1FrancePool 2ChinaPool 3PolandPool 4SerbiaWeek 2Pool 5BulgariaPool 6BrazilPool 7ArgentinaPool 8PolandWeek 3Pool 9CanadaPool 10JapanPool 11RussiaPool 12FranceWeek 4Pool 13South KoreaPool 14GermanyPool 15United StatesPool 16BulgariaWeek 5Pool 17AustraliaPool 18ChinaPool 19IranPool 20Italy
Final round Pool APool B (Hosts) (Preliminary Round 3rd) (Preliminary Round 4th) (Preliminary Round 1st) (Preliminary Round 2nd) (Preliminary Round 5th)
Venues The list of host cities and venues was announced on 16 February 2018.
Preliminary round Week 1Pool 1Pool 2Pool 3Pool 4Rouen, FranceNingbo, ChinaKatowice (25 May) /Kraków (26–27 May), PolandKraljevo, SerbiaKindarenaBeilun GymnasiumSpodek / Tauron Arena KrakówKraljevo Sports HallCapacity: 5,700Capacity: 8,000Capacity: 11,500 / 15,000Capacity: 3,331 Week 2Pool 5Pool 6Pool 7Pool 8Sofia, BulgariaGoiânia, BrazilSan Juan, ArgentinaŁódź, PolandArmeets ArenaGoiânia ArenaEstadio Aldo CantoniAtlas ArenaCapacity: 12,373Capacity: 11,333Capacity: 8,000Capacity: 13,805Week 3Pool 9Pool 10Pool 11Pool 12Ottawa, CanadaOsaka, JapanUfa, RussiaAix-en-Provence, FranceTD Place ArenaOsaka Municipal Central GymnasiumUfa ArenaAréna du Pays d'AixCapacity: 9,500Capacity: 10,000Capacity: 8,250Capacity: 6,004Week 4Pool 13Pool 14Pool 15Pool 16Seoul, South KoreaLudwigsburg, GermanyHoffman Estates, United StatesVarna, BulgariaJangchung ArenaArena LudwigsburgSears Centre ArenaPalace of Culture and SportsCapacity: 4,507Capacity: 5,325Capacity: 10,000Capacity: 6,000Week 5Pool 17Pool 18Pool 19Pool 20Melbourne, AustraliaJiangmen, ChinaTehran, IranModena, ItalyHisense ArenaJiangmen Sports Center GymnasiumAzadi Indoor StadiumPalaPaniniCapacity: 10,500Capacity: 8,500 Capacity: 12,000Capacity: 4,968
Final round All matchesVilleneuve-d'Ascq, FranceStade Pierre-MauroyCapacity: 28,010
Competition schedule ●Preliminary round●Final round
Week 125–27 MayWeek 21–3 JunWeek 38–10 JunWeek 415–17 JunWeek 522–24 JunWeek 6Rest WeekWeek 74–8 Jul24 matches24 matches24 matches24 matches24 matches10 matches
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.
Preliminary round Ranking
Week 1
Pool 1 All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).
Pool 2 All times are China Standard Time (UTC+08:00).
Pool 3 All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).
Pool 4 All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).
Week 2
Pool 5 All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+03:00).
Pool 6 All times are Brasília Time (UTC−03:00).
Pool 7 All times are Argentina Time (UTC−03:00).
Pool 8 All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).
Week 3
Pool 9 All times are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−04:00).
Pool 10 All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+09:00).
Pool 11 All times are Yekaterinburg Time (UTC+05:00).
Pool 12 All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).
Week 4
Pool 13 All times are Korea Standard Time (UTC+09:00).
Pool 14 All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).
Pool 15 All times are Central Daylight Time (UTC−05:00).
Pool 16 All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+03:00).
Week 5
Pool 17 All times are Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC+10:00).
Pool 18 All times are China Standard Time (UTC+08:00).
Pool 19 All times are Iran Daylight Time (UTC+04:30).
Pool 20 All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).
Final round All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).
Pool play
Pool A
Pool B
Final four
Semi-finals
Third place match
Final
Final standing
RankTeam4578910111213141516
14-man roster Ilya Vlasov, Dmitry Kovalyov, Artem Volvich, Anton Karpukhov, Dmitry Volkov (c), Aleksandr Sokolov, Igor Filippov, Dmitry Muserskiy, Viktor Poletaev, Maxim Mikhaylov, Egor Kliuka, Romanas Shkulyavichus, Igor Kobzar, Aleksey KabeshovHead coachSergey Shlyapnikov
Awards
Most valuable player
Best setter
Best outside spikers
Best middle blockers
Best opposite spiker
Best libero
Statistics leaders Preliminary round Statistics leaders correct at the end of preliminary round.
Best ScorersPlayerSpikesBlocksServesTotal1 Jiang Chuan24219132742 Wallace de Souza18119162163 Milad Ebadipour16613141934 Yūji Nishida1676141875 Dmitry Muserskiy1462514185
Best AttackersPlayerSpikesFaultsShots1 Dmitry Muserskiy146156222365.472 Jiang Chuan2429110744055.003 Matt Anderson136447225253.974 Dražen Luburić136378625952.515 Christian Fromm133428325952.51
Best BlockersPlayerFaultsRebounds1 Svetoslav Gotsev3469801830.572 Agustín Loser3280922040.563 Ilya Vlasov2779601660.544 Rao Shuhan2954331160.545 Jakub Kochanowski2645501210.51
Best ServersPlayerAcesFaultsHits1 Earvin N'Gapeth1734741250.312 Jan Zimmermann18251301730.313 Matt Anderson1744981590.304 Wallace de Souza16181391730.295 Graham Vigrass15171581900.28
Best SettersPlayerFaults1 Maximiliano Cavanna9955285128517.462 Saeid Marouf83011323116414.073 Igor Kobzar669914882613.384 TJ Sanders679730098612.815 Micah Christenson69444474212.39
Best DiggersPlayerDigsFaultsReceptions1 Luke Perry7301362091.302 Maximiliano Cavanna6801041721.193 Micah Christenson650351001.164 Jenia Grebennikov600891491.115 Paweł Zatorski5412711371.06
Best ReceiversPlayerExcellentsFaults1 Paweł Zatorski59913720524.392 Filippo Lanza611214421722.583 Tatsuya Fukuzawa821521531221.474 Tomás López63919026220.615 Santiago Danani911626036720.44
Final round Statistics leaders correct at the end of final round.
Best ScorersPlayerSpikesBlocksServesTotal1 Stéphen Boyer6483752 Earvin N'Gapeth5845673 Maxim Mikhaylov5355634 Wallace de Souza5920615 Matt Anderson461451
Best AttackersPlayerSpikesFaultsShots1 Bartosz Kurek21573363.642 Stéphen Boyer64172610759.813 Maxim Mikhaylov5310268959.554 Wallace de Souza59202210158.425 Marko Ivović15662755.56
Best BlockersPlayerFaultsRebounds1 Lucas Saatkamp111627540.792 Egor Kliuka973190.693 Maurício Souza91812390.644 Kévin Le Roux92212430.565 Dmitry Volkov71010270.54
Best ServersPlayerAcesFaultsHits1 Egor Kliuka6638500.462 Thibault Rossard71030470.443 Dmitry Volkov51335530.384 Maxim Mikhaylov51040550.385 Srećko Lisinac2410160.33
Best SettersPlayerFaults1 Bruno Rezende2523425918.002 Dmitry Kovalyov2265223317.383 Benjamin Toniutti2761027717.254 Micah Christenson2381224117.005 Nikola Jovović95019615.83
Best DiggersPlayerDigsFaultsReceptions1 Paweł Zatorski14016302.002 Thales Hoss26029551.863 Dmitry Volkov18012301.384 Earvin N'Gapeth20011311.255 Aleksey Kabeshov16016321.23
Best ReceiversPlayerExcellentsFaults1 Thales Hoss244477526.672 Lucas Lóh205457021.433 Taylor Sander194497220.834 Jenia Grebennikov132617614.475 Earvin N'Gapeth184779914.14
See also 2018 FIVB Men's Volleyball Challenger Cup
References
External links