In the Chinese city of Linyi, the Challenger Cup concluded with a victory for the hosts. The Chinese team won and secured a ticket to the Nations League in 2025. The Ukrainians took 4th place, but will compete in the commercial tournament next season. This is also due to the fact that the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) expanded the number of participants in the Nations League to 18 teams. In addition to the winner of the tournament in China, a team that is highest in the world ranking, from those who are not yet playing in the Nations League, is added. By this metric, Ukraine wins, being the highest ranked.
In May, a scandal erupted in Ukrainian volleyball. Almost all the leaders of the national team unanimously decided to skip the season, citing various reasons. These were mainly health problems, fatigue after the club season, and a desire to be with their families. According to insiders, the real reasons were disagreements with the local federation, with the former head coach Ugis Krastins, unfair distribution of prize money, and poor organization of training camps.

Oleg Plotnytskyi, Vasyl Tupchii, Yan Yeroshchenko, Dmytro Teremenko, Horden Brova, Vitaliy Shchitkov, Illya Kovalev, and Tymofii Poluian did not come to the camp. That is, almost everyone, thanks to whom remarkable successes were achieved in major tournaments in recent years - reaching the quarterfinals of the 2022 World Cup and Euro 2023. The federation called this sabotage and promised to punish the volleyball players most severely with disqualifications and transfer bans.

Meanwhile, the team's new head coach Raul Lozano received an entirely new team. "The federation gave me a list of names, many of which I saw for the first time in my life. Some guys didn't even have statistics. That was the hardest part. So, in the first weeks, I gave everyone a chance to prove themselves," said the Argentinian coach.
The Ukrainians entered the season with a rating of 197.6. Belgium had 182.2. These teams were the main contenders for access to the Nations League according to the world ranking. It seemed that the revamped Ukrainian team would lose its lead, but with its second squad, it sensationally won the EuroLeague, defeating Croatia (3:1) in the final. The hero of the "Final Four" in Osijek, Croatia, was 29-year-old Yevhen Kisilyuk, who received the Most Valuable Player award.

The EuroLeague finalists traditionally received tickets to the Challenger Cup. The Ukrainians went there without four EuroLeague winners. This time, Yuriy Semenyuk, Dmytro Yanchuk, Mykola Rudnytskyi, and Oleksandr Boiko dropped out. "Some went back to university, others ended their national team careers. We have to form a new team again," Lozano explained.

Thanks to their successful performance in the EuroLeague, the Ukrainians increased their lead over Belgium to 20.46 points. This lead would only disappear if the Ukrainians lost to Chile in the quarterfinals and Belgium achieved three victories. But neither happened. The Ukrainians lost (2:3) in the semifinals to Belgium and to Egypt (2:3) in the third-place match, but still retained their 14th place in the world ranking. Thanks to this, they, along with the Challenger Cup winner - China, will play in the Nations League 2025. For women, the Czech Republic reached the Nations League through the Challenger Cup, and Belgium - according to the ranking.
We remind you that the Nations League replaced the World League in 2018. For the tournament, 16 teams were selected on a sporting and commercial basis, and they played each other in a round-robin format in the group stage. The best teams reached the Final Six (2018, 2019) or the Final Four (2021).

When players were dissatisfied with the monstrous summer workload, both due to the abundance of matches and the number of difficult flights across all continents, the tournament format began to change. Since 2022, not everyone plays everyone. In the group stage, teams only have 12 matches - four in each of the three playing weeks. According to their results, the best teams gathered in a "Final Eight."

It seemed that 16 teams were the limit for the tournament, but FIVB officials decided to expand the tournament to 18 teams. From a sporting point of view, this is a huge minus. Almost every year there are outsiders who do not reach the tournament level. In 2022, Australia lost 11 out of 12 matches, and Turkey repeated the same result this year. For several years, Iran and Bulgaria have been struggling at the bottom of the standings. Now Ukraine and China are added, who are unlikely to significantly raise the level of volleyball. By the way, China has never climbed above 13th place. Instead of creating an elite tournament, the International Volleyball Federation is moving towards mass participation. Its motives are clear - this will lead to even more broadcasts, coverage, advertising, and money.
"The expansion is made to ensure that audiences around the world can enjoy first-class international competition, both on TV and live. The goal is to ensure that the Nations League becomes a world-class spectacle by continuously improving the live fan experience around the world," says a statement from the International Volleyball Federation.

The organization reports that the total audience of the commercial tournament has grown by 48% for the year, the value of sponsorship contracts has increased by 27%, and the television audience has grown by 13%.

Of course, increasing the number of participants in the tournament leads to a change in the tournament format. In the 2025 Nations League, there will be three groups of six teams during each of the three playing weeks (previously there were two groups of eight teams). The number of playing days will be reduced from six to five. In addition, after two playing weeks, all teams will have a two-week break. In total, each team will play 12 matches in the group stage - as before. Then the top eight teams will compete for medals in a single-elimination Final Eight.

gazeta.ru

photos:volleyballworld.com