2021 FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League

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 swept Slovenia in three sets and grabbed the bronze medal. Both Wallace de Souza from Brazil and Bartosz Kurek from Poland named as MVPs of the tournament.

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.

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.

Pool standing procedure

 * 1) Total number of victories (matches won, matches lost)
 * 2) 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:
 * 3) *Match won 3–0 or 3–1: 3 points for the winner, 0 points for the loser
 * 4) *Match won 3–2: 2 points for the winner, 1 point for the loser
 * 5) *Match forfeited: 3 points for the winner, 0 points (0–25, 0–25, 0–25) for the loser
 * 6) 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:
 * 7) *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.
 * 8) *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.
 * 9) *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.

Squads
The 16 national teams involved in the tournament were required to register a squad of 25 players, which every week's 14-player roster must be selected from. Each country must declare its 14-player roster two days before the start of each week's round-robin competition.

Preliminary round

 * All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).

Ranking


Final round

 * All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).



Final standing
Source: VNL 2021 final standings

Awards

 * Most Valuable Players
 * 🇧🇷 Wallace de Souza (BRA)
 * 🇵🇱 Bartosz Kurek (POL)
 * Best setter
 * 🇵🇱 Fabian Drzyzga (POL)
 * Best outside spikers
 * 🇧🇷 Yoandy Leal (BRA)
 * 🇵🇱 Michał Kubiak (POL)
 * Best middle blockers
 * 🇧🇷 Maurício Souza (BRA)
 * 🇵🇱 Mateusz Bieniek (POL)
 * Best opposite spikers
 * 🇧🇷 Wallace de Souza (BRA)
 * 🇵🇱 Bartosz Kurek (POL)
 * Best libero
 * 🇧🇷 Thales Hoss (BRA)

Preliminary round
Statistics leaders correct at the end of preliminary round.

Final round
Statistics leaders correct at the end of final round.

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.