The 2026 FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League will be the eighth edition of the FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League, an annual men's international volleyball tournament. It will be held from 11 June to 3 August 2026, with the final round to take place at the Beilun Gymnasium in Ningbo, China.[1]
In January 2026, the FIVB announced that China would host both the Men's and Women's VNL Finals. Ningbo was selected to host the Men's Finals for the second consecutive year, following the 2025 edition.[2]
Qualification
The tournament features 18 national teams. Following the 2025 season, the Netherlands were relegated after finishing last among the teams. They are replaced by Belgium, who earned promotion as the highest-ranked non-VNL team in the FIVB World Rankings.[3]
The format of play is generally the same as in the 2022 edition. However, this is the first time that 18 men's teams are competing. Each week, six teams will compete during the pool phase. Each team plays 12 matches during the pool stage. During three weeks, each team plays four times in a table that is set up by an algorithm, with all teams playing 12 times in total at the end of the first phase. The eight best teams advance to the quarter-finals, while the last-placed team loses its place to the highest FIVB-ranked team that did not compete this year. The only country that has already qualified for this phase is China for hosting the finals and if it does not finish the first phase among the top eight, the top seven will qualify with the Chinese team being ranked 8th.[4]
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.[4]
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, and 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 team do not finish in the top eight in the Preliminary round, they will replace the eighth place team and play as the eighth seed.
Pool composition
The overview of pools was released on 28 January 2026.[1]
Total number of victories (matches won, matches lost)
In the event of a tie, the following first tiebreaker will apply, with the teams 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, 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 between the tied teams during the Round Robin Phase. When the tie in points quotient is between three or more teams, these teams will be ranked taking into consideration only the matches involving the teams in question.
↑Shen, Zhiying (29 January 2026). 男排顶级赛事，再次落户宁波北仑[Top-tier men's volleyball returns to Ningbo Beilun]. Sina (in Chinese (China)). Retrieved 29 January 2025.
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Argentina 
Belgium 
Brazil 
Bulgaria 
Canada 
China 
Cuba 
France 
Germany 
Iran 
Italy 
Japan 
Poland 
Serbia 
Slovenia 
Turkey 
Ukraine 
United States 
