How participation in the Nations League affected men’s national teams in the FIVB world rankings.
Brazil and Bulgaria were the two teams in this year’s Men’s Nations League that climbed the highest in the FIVB world rankings from the start to the end of the tournament. Both teams rose by four positions, the biggest progress among all VNL participants.
Before the season began on June 11, Brazil was ranked 7th in the world. After the second week of play, they had already moved up to 4th place, which they maintained at the start of the “Final Eight” in Ningbo. During the final stage, the Brazilians overtook the current Olympic champions and 2024 VNL winners – France – ultimately winning the bronze medal and securing 3rd place in the world rankings.
Bulgaria started the season in 19th place and, after repeating their best-ever VNL result of 11th place, finished the tournament ranked 15th.
Italy, which won the VNL silver medal for the first time in history, rose three positions – from 5th to 2nd, surpassing Slovenia, the USA, and France.
During the VNL, Cuba and Iran also improved their rankings, each moving up two places. Cuba is now 10th, and Iran 13th. The Cubans reached the “Final Eight” for the first time and finished VNL-2025 in 7th place, while Iran narrowly missed the final stage, ending 9th.
Japan and Turkey each rose by one position, now ranking 5th and 16th, respectively. The ranking leaders Poland, as well as Germany (8),Argentina (9),Canada (11),and Ukraine (14),maintained their positions compared to the start of VNL-2025.
The biggest drop in the rankings was experienced by the Netherlands. They finished last in the final VNL standings, were eliminated from the tournament, and lost six positions in the world ranking – from 13th to 19th.
Despite finishing 4th in the VNL, Slovenia dropped three positions in the rankings, from 4th to 7th. Similarly, the USA, finishing 12th, fell from 3rd to 6th. France, 5th in the tournament, lost two positions, moving to 4th in the rankings. Serbia, finishing 16th, also dropped two places, from 10th to 12th. China, which hosted the “Final Eight” in Ningbo and finished 8th, dropped one place to 25th in the world rankings.
Brazil and Bulgaria – Leaders in FIVB Ranking Points
Brazil added 50.56 points to its ranking – from 305.87 to 356.43. This is only 43.71 points fewer than the leader, Poland, and 11.59 points less than Italy in 2nd place. Bulgaria gained 41.84 points, raising their ranking to 202.90.
Third in points gained was Iran (+37.84),followed by Ukraine (+22.86),Italy (+21.70),Cuba (+11.35),Turkey (+9.56),and China (+2.81).
10 VNL Participants Finished With a Points Loss
Somewhat surprisingly, Poland, the gold medal winner, had a negative points balance. During the group stage, the Poles suffered several painful defeats that cost them ranking points. Despite their brilliant performance in the finals and winning the title, Poland lost 1.17 points but remained 1st with a final score of 400.14.
The Biggest Losses in the Rankings Were:
USA: –46.37
Netherlands: –38.02
Slovenia: –36.52
Serbia: –29.61
France: –24.47
Germany: –10.04
Japan: –7.04
Argentina: –4.74
Poland: –1.17
Canada: –0.59
