Exciting season in store ahead of start of 2019 FIVB Volleyball Women’s Nations League

This year’s renewal will be the second edition of the FIVB Volleyball Women’s Nations League, an annual international women’s volleyball tournament contested by 16 national teams.

It all begins at 17.00 local time on Tuesday at the Monbat Arena in Ruse, Bulgaria with the first whistle of the Belgium v USA fixture. Seven more games will be played on Tuesday and a total of 16 more matches will take place on Wednesday and Thursday, at four different venues across two continents.

USA are the current title-holders after winning the historic inaugural 2018 VNL and despite their coach Karch Kiraly selecting a youthful squad the defending champions are still very much the favourites to progress from Pool 2, where they will also face Japan and hosts Bulgaria. The Japanese however are expected to be a major contender for a spot in the Final Six which means the Japan v USA clash on Wednesday is potentially the most interesting one in the pool. Equally the encounter between two of the challenger teams, Bulgaria and Belgium, on the same day, will be an interesting battle.

Pool 4 also gets underway on Tuesday, where last year’s silver medallists Turkey will take on Korea in the pool opener at 17:00 local time at the Aleksandar Nikolic hall in Belgrade. The Netherlands and reigning world champions Serbia, who shared the fifth place in last year’s VNL standings, are also part of the Belgrade group, but on paper the clash between hosts Serbia and Turkey, which is set to start at 20:00 local time on Thursday, could turn out to be the standout game of the pool.

Thailand and Germany will go head-to-head in the Pool 1 opener in Opole, set to kick off on Tuesday at 17:30 local time at the Stegu Arena. That is followed three hours later when hosts Poland will try to use the momentum from winning the Montreux Volley Masters last week to overcome their first VNL challenge when they face World Championship silver medallists Italy. In addition to their success in Switzerland, the home side will be aware that they are one of the challenger teams in the VNL at risk of relegation so the incentive to stay up will be an additional motivator.

Pool 3 is the only one to take place outside Europe. At the Nilson Nelson Gymnasium in Brazilia, hosts Brazil will entertain China, the Dominican Republic and Russia. On the very first competition night, at 20:00 local time, the clash between the South American powerhouse and reigning Olympic champions China is a remake of last year’s bronze medal game, will be the highlight of this week’s VNL action. Russia, a team that could always play a major role in any competition, and the fourth challenger team, the Dominican Republic, will get things underway in the Brazilian capital at 17:00 local time on Tuesday.