Nikola Grbić has made his choice. This is the Polish national team that will compete in the finals.

The Polish national team finished the intercontinental phase of this year's Nations League in fifth place. This meant that the Olympic runners-up will face Japan in the quarterfinals. The match for a place in the top four will take place this Thursday (July 31st). Polish fans should note that due to the location of the VNL 2025 final tournament – Ningbo Beilun, China – the Polish match times will be somewhat unusual for our time zone.

Nations League: Nikola Grbić chooses the Polish national team squad

The Poland-Japan quarterfinal will begin at 1:00 PM CET. Who has coach Nikola Grbić named to the matchday squad for this challenge? The only one of the "15" the Serbian coach of Poland took to China who didn't make the squad is center Mateusz Poręba. Therefore, coach Grbić decided to include five receivers and only three centers in the match report.

Which, considering the practices of the Polish coach, is not a big surprise.

"I think Artur can give us a serve, Benji can give us a reception, Semen can give us everything—play, serve, and receive. That's why we've made this decision. I won't say we'll do it, but we can use every player in this one match. After that, I don't know what will happen on Saturday. But this is the decision now," the coach of the Olympic runners-up commented on the squad situation.

So what's the Polish team's matchday lineup? The starting lineup is Marcin Komenda and Jan Firlej. The receiving lineup is a quintet: Wilfredo Leon, Tomasz Fornal, Kamil Semeniuk, Artur Szalpuk, and Bartosz Bednorz. The center of the net is Jakub Kochanowski (captain), Jakub Nowak, and Szymon Jakubiszak. The attackers are Kewin Sasak and Bartłomiej Bołądź. And the libero duo is Jakub Popiwczak and Maksymilian Granieczny.

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And what shape are the Poles in?

"We're in a good moment. This victory against France gave us a lot of confidence. It was very important, especially after the previous loss to Bulgaria, which put us in a difficult situation. I think playing well is the most important thing; after that, of course, we didn't have the opportunity to play. There are good things that can help us stay calm and play our best volleyball. I hope we play our best match," concluded coach Grbić, straight from China.

VNL 2025 Men's Volleyball Final Tournament (Ningbo Beilun, July 30 - August 3) Wednesday (July 30)

• Italy – Cuba (9:00 a.m.)
• Brazil – China (13:00)

Thursday (July 31)

• France – Slovenia (9:00)
• Japan – Poland (13:00)

Saturday (August 2)

• Semi-final 1 (9:00)
• Semi-final 2 (1:00 p.m.)

Sunday (August 3)

• Match for 3rd place (9:00)
• Final (1:00 p.m.)

All matches of the VNL 2025 women's volleyball final tournament will be broadcast on Polsat Sport. Additionally, matches of the Polish national team will be included in the schedule of the open-source Polsat channel. Online broadcasts will be available on the Polsat Box Go platform.

Also read: Aleksander Śliwka speaks candidly about his injury. "That's all I have left for now." Also read: Success with Iga Świątek, and now competition? A big move in the tennis world.