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 in July. The competition was held between May and June 2021, and the final round took place in Rimini Fiera, Rimini, Italy.
Brazil claimed their first VNL title after beating Poland in four sets. France defeated Slovenia in three sets to win the bronze medal. Both Wallace de Souza from Brazil and Bartosz Kurek from Poland were named as MVPs of the tournament.
Teams 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 as winner of 2019 Challenger Cup earned the right to participate in this tournament replacing Portugal, 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 replaced China after the decision of the Chinese Volleyball Association to withdraw its national men's team due to financial limitations and travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
CountryConfederationDesignationPrevious appearancesPrevious best performanceTotalFirstLastCSVCore team2201820197th place (2019)AVCChallenger team22018201913th place (2018, 2019)CSVCore team2201820194th place (2018, 2019)CEVChallenger team22018201911th place (2018)NORCECAChallenger team2201820197th place (2018)AVCCore team22018201915th place (2018)CEVCore team220182019Runners-up (2018)CEVCore team2201820199th place (2018)AVCCore team2201820195th place (2019)CEVCore team2201820198th place (2018, 2019)AVCCore team22018201910th place (2019)CEVChallenger team0NoneDebutCEVCore team220182019Third place (2019)CEVCore team220182019Champions (2018, 2019)CEVCore team2201820195th place (2018)CEVChallenger team0NoneDebutNORCECACore team220182019Runners-up (2019)
Squads
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 All matchesRimini, ItalyRimini FieraCapacity: Unknown
Competition schedule ●Preliminary round●Final round
Week 128–30 MayWeek 23–5 JunWeek 39–11 JunWeek 415–17 JunWeek 521–23 JunWeek 626–27 Jun24 matches24 matches24 matches24 matches24 matches4 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 All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).
Ranking
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Final round All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).
Semi-finals
Third place match
Final
Final standing
RankTeam45678910111213141516
14–man rosterBruno Rezende (c), Maurício Borges Silva, Fernando Kreling, Wallace de Souza, Yoandy Leal, Isac Santos, Maurício Souza, Douglas Souza, Maique Nascimento, Lucas Saatkamp, Thales Hoss, Ricardo Lucarelli, Alan Souza, Flávio GualbertoHead coachCarlos Schwanke
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.
Best ScorersPlayerAttacksBlocksServesTotal1 Nimir Abdel-Aziz21810362642 Klemen Čebulj18317142153 Maksim Mikhaylov16717172014 Marko Ivović15812201905 Alessandro Michieletto1521910181
Best AttackersPlayerSpikesFaultsShots1 Nimir Abdel-Aziz2187711353.434082 Klemen Čebulj2005616847.174243 Maksim Mikhaylov1674511151.703234 Marko Ivović1583511151.973045 Tonček Štern154619749.36312
Best BlockersPlayerFaultsRebounds1 Marko Podraščanin4466512.931612 Petar Krsmanović3263522.131473 Mohammad Mousavi3050282.141084 Nicolas Le Goff2834461.651085 Tobias Krick2843532.00124
Best ServersPlayerAcesFaultsHits1 Nimir Abdel-Aziz3655943.001852 Wilfredo León3236692.461373 Marko Ivović20351681.332234 Dražen Luburić1944621.271255 Ruben Schott18401201.20178
Best SettersPlayerFaults1 Gregor Ropret407680323.9412162 Nikola Jovović315566321.009833 Jan Zimmermann3111084220.7311634 Luciano De Cecco286556419.078555 Bruno Rezende282362416.59909
Best DiggersPlayerDigsFaultsReceptions1 Fabio Balaso161482510.732342 Jani Kovačič1506078.822173 Julian Zenger14158239.402224 Jenia Grebennikov13750199.792065 Luke Perry12939148.60182
Best ReceiversPlayerExcellentsFaults1 Marko Ivović1232316140.073072 Klemen Čebulj1232121833.983623 Julian Zenger1212019036.563314 Ruben Schott1131915040.072825 Jani Kovačič1091816337.59290
Final round Statistics leaders correct at the end of final round.
Best ScorersPlayerAttacksBlocksServesTotal1 Yoandy Leal3412372 Wallace De Souza2942353 Bartosz Kurek2950344 Tonček Štern1833245 Earvin N'Gapeth181423
Best AttackersPlayerSpikesFaultsShots1 Yoandy Leal3452354.84622 Wallace De Souza2991258.00503 Bartosz Kurek2961459.18494 Tine Urnaut2171055.26385 Ricardo Lucarelli1961350.0038
Best BlockersPlayerFaultsRebounds1 Maurício Souza99104.50282 Bartosz Kurek5422.50113 Wallace De Souza43102.00174 Antoine Brizard4032.0075 Nicolas Le Goff4242.0010
Best ServersPlayerAcesFaultsHits1 Earvin N'Gapeth48172.00292 Wilfredo León35211.50293 Fabian Drzyzga34211.50284 Tonček Štern35151.50235 Alen Pajenk36171.5026
Best SettersPlayerFaults1 Bruno Rezende40111120.001522 Fabian Drzyzga40010420.001443 Gregor Ropret3209416.001264 Antoine Brizard2205611.00785 Benjamin Toniutti70303.5037
Best DiggersPlayerDigsFaultsReceptions1 Jani Kovačič18429.00242 Thales Hoss16318.00203 Paweł Zatorski16738.00264 Bruno Rezende15507.50205 Ricardo Lucarelli15737.5025
Best ReceiversPlayerExcellentsFaults1 Klemen Čebulj1722241.46412 Earvin N'Gapeth1332829.55443 Trevor Clevenot1321839.39334 Paweł Zatorski1322532.50405 Thales Hoss1121145.8324
COVID related Because of COVID-19 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 2019 FIVB Volleyball Men's Challenger Cup Volleyball at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Notes
References
External links