Hello, this is Wave Company!
Today’s post is about a topic that volleyball fans have surely heard of at least once — the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) 🏐.
The VNL is the stage where national teams from around the world come together to showcase their best skills, creating new stories and headlines every single year.
Here at Wave Company, we also have a deep connection with volleyball 😉.
We distribute MIKASA volleyballs, the official brand used in international competitions, to the Korean market, helping more athletes and fans experience the excitement of the global stage up close. That’s why news about international leagues like the VNL always feels especially important to us 🙂.
But did you know? The VNL isn’t just another tournament. What makes it unique is that it runs on a promotion and relegation league system, where teams move up or down each season depending on their performance.
Starting in 2025, the VNL has been expanded to an 18-team format for both men and women, along with major changes to the promotion and relegation system. These changes go beyond a simple rule update — they have a direct impact on the Korean national teams as well.
Looking at the recent results of both the men’s and women’s teams, it has become even more crucial to understand what conditions must be met for Korea to return to the VNL stage.
In this post, we’ll break down the changes to the VNL promotion and relegation system in a clear and simple way, and also take a closer look at Korea’s current position and the key challenges that lie ahead.
If you’re a volleyball fan, and especially if you’re cheering for the future of Korea’s national teams, this is a must-read! 🔥
What is the VNL? (Volleyball Nations League)
The VNL is not just an “international volleyball tournament,” but rather a league system that reshaped the global volleyball landscape.
The story behind its creation is quite interesting. In the past, there were two separate tournaments: the World League for men and the Grand Prix for women.
In 2018, the FIVB (Fédération Internationale de Volleyball) restructured these long-standing annual events and launched what we now know as the VNL. 🏐
The idea was, “why not make it more structured, give fans more matches to enjoy, and create a longer season for the players?” 😉
The format is also different from a typical knockout tournament. Throughout the season, teams travel across different host countries to play the preliminary rounds, and only those with the best cumulative results advance to the final round. This means it’s not about winning just one or two games — only consistently strong teams make it through, which makes it even more exciting to watch.
Since 2022, the preliminary stage has been played over three weeks, with two pools of eight teams each competing every week. The key change is that teams no longer face every other opponent — some teams may not meet at all, while others can end up playing more than once.
In fact, during the 2022 women’s season, the Korean national team never once ended up in the same pool as Belgium.
After the preliminary rounds, only the top eight teams advance, and from there the competition switches to a knockout format starting with the quarterfinals.
What’s especially important is that VNL results are directly reflected in the world rankings. Since those rankings determine qualification for major stages like the Olympics and the World Championship, national teams don’t just aim for the title — they also treat the VNL as a crucial part of managing their world ranking.
Changes in the VNL Promotion & Relegation System ⚖️
One of the most unique aspects of the VNL, compared to other international tournaments, is that each season involves promotion and relegation. A team’s performance doesn’t just affect their placement in the standings — it directly determines whether they will qualify for the following year, making every single match more intense.
When the VNL was first launched in 2018, the FIVB (Fédération Internationale de Volleyball) divided the participating nations into Core Teams and Challenger Teams in order to ensure stable league management.
Core Teams were the “fixed teams,” guaranteed a spot in the VNL every year regardless of performance, while Challenger Teams were “variable teams” that could be relegated if they finished at the bottom.
The Korean women’s national team was included as a Core Team at that time.
Having maintained steady results in Asia, the women’s team was guaranteed automatic participation in the VNL every year starting in 2018.
On the other hand, the men’s national team was designated as a Challenger Team, not a Core Team. At that time, Korean men’s volleyball lagged behind Asian powerhouses like Japan and Iran, and its competitiveness on the global stage was also limited.
Simply put, Core Teams were protected from relegation regardless of performance and could remain in the league for the initial seven-year cycle through 2024 — even if they finished last each year. Challenger Teams, however, were relegated the following season if they ended at the bottom.
To manage this system, the Challenger Cup was introduced.
The Challenger Cup was a separate tournament that brought together teams selected from each continent. The winning team earned a spot in the following season’s VNL, while the lowest-ranked Challenger Team from the VNL was relegated and replaced.
In other words, the Challenger Cup functioned as a promotion-and-relegation league directly connected to the VNL. Korea was also significantly affected by this system.
The Korean men’s national team has never advanced to the VNL main stage, but they continued to challenge through multiple appearances in the Challenger Cup.
In the 2022 edition, they showed potential by finishing in third place, but ultimately fell short of winning the tournament and therefore did not secure a spot in the VNL.
Starting in 2025, however, the system underwent a major change. The 2024 tournament marked the final edition of the Challenger Cup, which has since been abolished for both men and women.
The VNL is now run with an 18-team format, and the Core/Challenger distinction has been removed — a rule that applies equally to both men and women.
Each season, the team finishing last in the VNL is relegated, and their place is taken by the highest-ranked team not already in the league.
This change has had a direct impact on Korea. The women’s team finished last in the 2025 VNL, losing their spot for 2026, while the men’s team has still never reached the main stage.
In the past, there was at least a chance through the Challenger Cup, but now the only realistic path back is by raising the world ranking 😢.
Core Teams and Challenger Teams: Why Were They Created, and Why Did They Disappear? 🏐
When the VNL was first launched in 2018, the FIVB faced a key challenge:“How can we ensure the tournament runs stably every year, while also giving new teams the chance to compete?”
The solution was the creation of the Core Team and Challenger Team system. Traditional powerhouses like Brazil, the United States, Italy, and China were designated as Core Teams, and the Korean women’s national team was also included in this group.
But as time went on, dissatisfaction began to grow.
Core Teams were guaranteed a place even with poor results, while Challenger Teams remained in an unstable position no matter how well they performed. This led to increasing criticism that the system was “unfair,” and eventually the FIVB decided to make a change.
As a result, the Challenger Cup was abolished after the 2024 edition, and from 2025 onward the distinction between Core and Challenger Teams was also removed. The league is now run with all teams competing under the same conditions.
In short, the Core–Challenger system was originally designed to balance stable popularity with opportunities for new challengers, but in the end it was replaced with a simpler and clearer system in the name of fairness. 😉
With the abolition of the Challenger Cup, perhaps the ones who feel the most disappointment are Korean volleyball fans.
Although the Korean men’s national team has never reached the VNL main stage, the Challenger Cup at least gave them a platform to show their fighting spirit and keep challenging.
The results were often frustrating, but fans still watched with hope, thinking,
“Maybe one day they’ll finally win and earn their place in the VNL.”
However, starting in 2025, with the Challenger Cup no longer in existence, fans have undeniably lost one of the few opportunities to see the national team compete on the international stage.
Now, the only path back to the VNL is by raising Korea’s world ranking, which may feel to fans as though the very gateway for challenge has been closed off. 😢
The Road Ahead for Korea’s National Teams 🇰🇷
The task ahead is clear: improving the world ranking is the only way back to the VNL stage.
The men’s team has yet to appear in the VNL main draw, while the women’s team finished last in the 2025 tournament and lost their spot for 2026. For both squads, the only way forward is to consistently earn ranking points through international competition. 💪
World rankings aren’t just about how many tournaments you play — they depend heavily on which tournaments you compete in and which opponents you defeat. That’s why victories over top-tier teams are essential.
So which tournaments matter most? To begin with, the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) itself awards the largest share of ranking points each year.
Added to this are the World Championship, the Olympic qualifiers and finals, continental championships such as the Asian Championship, and continental events like the Nations Cup — all of which count toward the rankings. In particular, the World Championship and the Olympics carry the heaviest weight, meaning performances on these stages have a direct impact on world ranking.
This means the Korean national teams must aim for top finishes in continental competitions such as the Asian Championship or the Asian Games, while also seizing crucial wins against strong opponents in World Championship and Olympic qualifiers.
In the end, the task ahead for Korea is crystal clear.
That means producing consistent results in the major international competitions that impact world rankings.
It won’t be solved overnight, but regaining dominance on the Asian stage and steadily earning victories against stronger opponents on the world stage is the only way to reopen the path back to the VNL.
In this post, we’ve explored the VNL’s promotion and relegation system, how it has evolved, and what lies ahead for the Korean national teams.
With the Challenger Cup now gone and promotion and relegation decided solely by world rankings for both men and women, steady performances in international tournaments have become more important than ever for Korea.
Of course, it won’t be an easy challenge,
but volleyball has always been a sport where upsets and possibilities go hand in hand.
And we know all volleyball fans feel the same way, right?
If the Korean national teams can rally together and achieve strong results once again on both the Asian and global stage, we truly believe the day will come when they climb the rankings and return to the VNL stage.
As a company that loves volleyball, we at Wave Company will always stand behind and support the journey of Korea’s national teams.
We hope all volleyball fans will join us in cheering them on! 💪🏐