Released this week as part of the Volleyball Men’s Nations League (VNL) 2023 calendar, the tournament to which the Cuban national team managed to qualify after winning the Challenge Cup (VCC, for its English acronym) this year.
For the upcoming VNL season, the competitive format will be the same, ie it will start on June 6 with a three-week qualifying phase where each team will play 12 matches against their elite opponents.
In this qualifier there will be 10 seeded teams that have not been relegated (Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, Iran, Italy, Japan, Poland, Serbia and the United States) and six other competitors (Cuba, Bulgaria, Canada, China, China and other countries). the Netherlands and Slovenia). , who, should they finish last, are at risk of being relegated from the competition and must therefore compete again in the VCC (July 27-30).
In the first weekend (6-11 June), Cuba was in Group 1 to be played in Ottawa, Canada. There they will share a group with locals, as well as the United States, Germany, Argentina, the Netherlands, Italy and Brazil.
For the second round of matches (June 20-25), our matches are seeded in Group 4, based in Orléans, France. In that stadium they will meet Gauls, Brazilians, Japanese, Slovenes, Bulgarians, Argentines and Canadians.
This Greater Antilles representative will conclude the first part of the competition (July 4-9) in the Philippine city of Pasay, which will host the 5th gathering. In that Asian country they will have potential opponents Americans, Iranians, Albicelestes and Bulgarians. And the French, and the Germans, and the Serbs.
In addition to the mentioned cities, the remaining men’s teams will play in Nagoya (Japan), Rotterdam (Netherlands) and Anaheim (USA), while the women’s teams will visit Ankara (Turkey), Hong Kong (China), Brasilia (Brazil), Suwon (South Korea) and Bangkok (Thailand). And also Nagoya.
The goal for those led by Nicolas Vives in this first stage of the tournament is to be among the top eight to be able to advance to the Direct Eliminations (July 19-23), where the best seven seed and the country seeded as Campus.
Already in the quarter-finals, the crosses will be between the first and the eighth, and they will follow this logic to face 2-7, 3-6 and 4-5. The home team would be first if they could place themselves in the top eight, but would instead finish eighth in matches if they were eliminated from that advanced group.
Preview of the qualification stage for VNL 2023:
First week (6-11 June):
Group 1 / Ottawa, Canada: Canada, Cuba, United States, Germany, Argentina, Netherlands, Italy and Brazil.
Group 2 / Nagoya, Japan: Japan, Slovenia, France, Poland, Serbia, China, Bulgaria and Iran.
Week 2 (June 20-25):
Assembly 3 / Rotterdam, Netherlands: Netherlands, USA, Poland, Iran, Italy, Germany, Serbia and China.
Group 4 / Orleans, France: France, Cuba, Brazil, Japan, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Argentina and Canada.
Week 3 (July 4-9):
Group 5 / Anaheim, USA: United States, Iran, Argentina, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Serbia and Cuba.
Group 6 / Pasay, Philippines: Japan, Poland, China, Italy, Slovenia, Netherlands, Brazil and Canada.
