The Philippines is set to host the FIVB’s Men's and Women's Volleyball Nations League where the top 8 teams in the world collide in the weeklong spectacle in June 2022.
Philippine National Volleyball Federation president Ramon “Tats” Suzara made the official announcement of the country’s hosting during the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum on Tuesday, Dec 14.
A total of six countries are set to host Nations League with the Week 2 of the tournament happening in two venues in Manila. The men’s action will take place at the Araneta Coliseum on June 21 to 26 while the women’s clash will be at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City on June 14 to 19.
“It’s official, I’m announcing it that we are hosting VNL for the first time with the top 8 men’s team and women’s team not just the top teams but also the Olympic champions are coming to Manila,” said Suzara.
The Tokyo 2020 men’s volleyball Olympic gold medalist France will lead the participating teams which will also feature Japan, Russia, Slovenia, Argentina, Italy and Netherlands, while women’s gold medalist USA will headline the squads from China Japan, Russia, Belgium, Poland, Thailand, and Canada.
VNL, which was previously called the FIVB World Grand Prix for the women’s and World League for men’s, is being viewed to change the country’s volleyball landscape. Suzara said that the event will be a great opportunity to further introduce the men’s volleyball to Filipino audience.
“This is part of changing the landscape of volleyball in the Philippines, not only the women’s volleyball but also the men’s volleyball para makikita ng Filipino audience na iba yung men’s volleyball when they come here,” said the federation's top executive who is also looking to get a clearance from the IATF to allow at least 50 percent audience capacity in the venues.
The VNL hosting will be one of the highlights of a busy 2022 calendar for the PNVF where it also plans to hold training camp for the men's and women's national teams in Italy and Brazil respectively as part of its preparations for the Southeast Asian Games.
The federation, as part of its efforts to relaunch its junior program, also plans to participate in the Asian U-18 and U-20 Boys and Girls Volleyball Championship in Kazakhstan and Bahrain which also includes age-group championships for beach volleyball.