Lille, France, July 4, 2018 - Just hours before first service at the 2018 FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League finals, excitement is building up in the northern France city of Lille. Will reigning world champions Poland repeat their sweep of Russia in pool play at Krakow? Or will reigning European champions Russia return to their winning ways that earned them second place in the pools table? Find out from 18:00 local time (16:00 GMT).
First day action at the magnificent state-of-the-art Stade Pierre Mauroy will continue at 20:45 local time (18:45 GMT), when the hosts take on reigning Olympic champions Brazil in a rematch of the France pool play win in straight sets.
France's Thibault Rossard comes up against the triple block of Brazil's Bruno Rezende, Isac Santos and Mauricio Borges last time the two teams met in the VNL at Varna.
Teams in the Final Six are distributed in two pools of three, with France leading Pool A alongside Brazil and Serbia and Russia heading Pool B together with Poland and USA.
A win in straight sets on the opening day of these tricky three-team pools can practically guarantee a team a ticket to the semifinals, so they'll all be looking at getting their campaigns off with unblemished records.
The top two teams of each pool will meet in crosswise semifinals on Saturday, followed by the bronze medal match and final on Sunday.
Quick links: FIVB Volleyball Nations League
Website
Men's teams
Schedule
Competition information
Tickets
Media