TEHRAN – Iran will meet Russia in their opening match of the 2022 FIVB Volleyball Men's Nations League (VNL).

The match has been scheduled for June 7 in Kemerovo, Russia.

The 2022 VNL was originally to be the fourth edition of the competition, an annual men's international volleyball tournament. The preliminary round was scheduled to be held during five weeks between Jun 7 and July 10, 2022.

The final round was scheduled for July 20 and 24.

The 16 teams qualified for the competition. The 12 of them qualified as core teams which could not face relegation. Other four teams were selected as challenger teams which could be relegated from the tournament.

The 16 teams compete in a two groups each week, the eight teams per group. The new format allows teams to have a one-week gap between events. The total number of matches in the pool phase will be 96.

The top eight teams after the preliminary round compete in the final round.

The eight qualified teams play knock-out round. The VNL Finals will see the eight strongest teams moving directly to the knockout phase which will consist of eight matches in total: four quarterfinals, two semi-finals and the bronze and gold medal matches.

Preliminary Round – Men: June 7 – July 10

Week 1 from June 7 to 12: Brasilia, Brazil & Ottawa, Canada

Week 2 from June 21 to 26: Quezon City, Philippines & Sofia, Bulgaria

Week 3 from July 5 to 10: Osaka, Japan & Kemerovo, Russia

Finals – Men: July 20-24: Host city to be announced