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One of the year’s biggest international men’s volleyball events will conclude with Chicago playing host to the finals.
The FIVB and USA Volleyball announced Wednesday that the Credit Union 1 Arena at the University of Illinois at Chicago will be the venue for the 2019 Volleyball Nations League Finals on July 10-14.
The Volleyball Nations League is an annual tournament with 16 countries competing in a five weeks of preliminary-round play during May and June. The host nation of the finals along with the top-five remaining teams at the end of the preliminary round qualify for the finals.
The United States in 2018 earned a berth in the six-team finals held in France and defeated Brazil in the bronze-medal match.
This was the second time in the last three years that the U.S. Men’s National Team earned a podium finish at a major international event. The United States won the bronze medal at the 2016 Olympics — its first indoor men’s volleyball medal at the Olympics since winning the gold medal in 2008.
The Volleyball Nations League Finals will be a five-day event that the FIVB will organize in collaboration with the Chicago Sports Commission and USA Volleyball. In addition, Credit Union 1 Arena is a 10,000-seat stadium that has served as the home venue for numerous professional sports teams since it was opened in 1982.
“USA Volleyball is excited to be partnering with the FIVB and the Chicago Sports Commission to bring the VNL Finals to Chicago,” USA Volleyball CEO Jamie Davis said in a statement. “This will mark the first time this event has been held in North America and we look forward to hosting and having Team USA play head-on-head in the Windy City against the world’s toughest competitors.”
This will be the first of three consecutive Volleyball Nations League Finals that will take place in the United States. The FIVB has not yet announced the U.S. cities to host the event in 2020 and 2021.