I've read that the Montreux Volley Masters is scheduled in mid-May this year. It was an article on the swiss federation site which mentioned that the Swiss NT will play two tournaments before the ECH: Montreux and the Universiade.
The Montreux Volley Masters 2019 is from May 13. until 19.
Participating teams are: China, Germany, Japan, Poland; Italy, Thailand, Switzerland, Turkey
Wow. Montreux ends on May 19, VNL starts at May 21 and later we have Olympic Qualification, European Championships and World Cup...
Wow. Montreux ends on May 19, VNL starts at May 21 and later we have Olympic Qualification, European Championships and World Cup...
There is no other date to squeeze in Montreux. But I expected it to be before VNL. Nawrocki once said that it could be good for teams as preparation to VNL.
VNL's level will for sure drop significantly this year. We can expect teams put up different rosters every week
Most of the NTs will focus on World Cup, Olympic Qualies and ECH.
Honestly with no ranking points from VNL, what's even the point, do FIVB think all these NTs are idiots? As viewers, we want to see high level competitions, not some practices. I mean, the prize money aren't that good, you play for over a month for what, like a couple of million dollars? With over 20 players and staff on every team. You do the math. 
For the million dollars it sure pays more than Montreux.
Ranking points for VNL will be given shortly, probably this year. It is stupid to not have your biggest annual tournament not to be given points.
For the million dollars it sure pays more than Montreux.
Ranking points for VNL will be given shortly, probably this year. It is stupid to not have your biggest annual tournament not to be given points.
If you have ranking points though you should have a more democratic qualification process. Realistically you can't have it too fair because the FIVB doesn't want top countries dropping out, but maybe increase the number of countries rotating out to 2 every year and drop the number of protected teams from 12 to 8.
FIVB knows who’s got cash, hence why there is 12.
NO Ranking points should be given to VNL as the 12 core teams never changed.
Money definitely can not buy ranking points, unfair to the sport and the rest of the world.
Money was the reason why the World League & WGP expanded. Sadly, many of the lower teams could not make any money traveling all over the world.
Teams were rewarded points based on their results. The FIVB took away the Continental Championship Points, which hurts the teams standings in the rankings. So essentially the FIVB has limited many countries to scoring points through World Champs and Olympic qualifying. Yet, we have continental champs in odd years, which count for 0 points. Then you wonder why teams get bad seeding for the World Champs and Olympics?
Go back and look at the World League and World Grand Prix.
In WL, 11 teams played 20 times or more. In 28 years of playing.
Of those 11 teams, only Japan (1), France (7) and Poland (9) made the Final Round less than 10 times.
So I would say than at worst 10 of those 11 were punching their weight.
Over to the World Grand Prix it has been more consolidated only 9 teams playing more than 18 times in 25 years.
Of those 9 teams only Germany and South Korea made the Final Round 4 times each, while the other 7 teams, were each in at least 12 times or more in the finals. The Netherlands had played in 14 WGP and made the Finals 6 times, more than any other team with fewer appearances.
So even with the big Women’s teams, it is still pretty consolidated as well.
The way the VNL is set up makes sense to me. Some countries/teams form the core of the sport. Hopefully those countries have sponsors that are interested and international in nature to want to be part of the game.
Teams still have to go and perform on the court. Turkey in my mind came out of nowhere this past year in the Women’s VNL, but lost their way a little bit in the World Championships. However, if you look at the top of the sport, you’ve got 5 men’s and women’s teams that are basically even in the biggest tournaments. This brings tension in matches, which make it better for us in the stands.
You will see some surprises, but they are few and far between.
Display MoreHosts have been announced:
Pool A - Hosts are Poland
Pool B - Hosts are China
Pool C - Hosts TBC
Pool D - Hosts: Brazil
Pool E - Hosts: Russia
Pool F - Hosts: Italy
The host of Pool C is still unknown
It is confirmed that Pool C will take place in USA (city TBC). Host cities in other groups are Wroclaw (POL), Ningbo (CHN), Belo Horizonte (BRA), Kaliningrad (RUS) and Catania (ITA).
It seems Soviet union is the only european team to get the gold medal at olympics in the history....
It seems Soviet union is the only european team to get the gold medal at olympics in the history....
Maybe because they we good at playing this sport....
I hope Serbia or Italy will change this fact 
After Soviet Union, we got the gold medals of WCH and ECH but unluckily we did not get gold medals of OGs as Russian NT. It is a very important tournament with full of difficult opponents.
First of all, we need to get the ticket for OGs. South Korea will be the main serious opponent IMO. They have Kim and plus a good coach. I'm against to underestimate opponents even if some of them are weak on paper, not faimilar with Canada and Mexico but think they also won't be easy opponents.
anyone knows how many players in each team for Olympic Qualification ?
anyone knows how many players in each team for Olympic Qualification ?
Probably same as normal. 25 players list then down to 14 for the 3 matches.
Probably same as normal. 25 players list then down to 14 for the 3 matches.
thanks
Official site of qualifications with all of the schedules:
anyone knows how many players in each team for Olympic Qualification ?
Mirosław Przepełski, FIVB member:
"After the end of the VNL, the next official tournament for the Polish national team will be the qualification for the Olympic Games, which will be held on August 9-11 in Gdansk. It will definitely be the most important representative tournament this year. Vital Heynen coach will be able to put fourteen volleyball players in the match squad, but nothing has changed in terms of the size of the squad for the Olympic Games. - For today the Olympic team's matchmaking team is expected to include a maximum of twelve players, this is related to the cost of accommodation. Although FIVB has been struggling for years to increase this number to fourteen" said Przedpełski.