The newly rebranded competition, formerly known as the AVC Women’s Challenge Cup, is an annual international tournament. In light of recent reforms in the Volleyball Nations League, the AVC Women’s Nations Cup now assumes a crucial role. It provides national teams not currently participating in the VNL the chance to gain FIVB Volleyball World Ranking points and potentially secure entry into the top-tier global competition. Moreover, the tournament champions will earn a berth at the 2026 Asian Women’s Volleyball Championship, a key qualifier for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, and one of the routes to the 2027 FIVB Women’s Volleyball World Championship.
The 11 teams are divided into two single round-robin pools. Pool A comprises hosts Vietnam, consecutive two-time AVC Challenge Cup champions, Australia, India, Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong. Pool B features Kazakhstan, Philippines, Iran, Indonesia, Mongolia and New Zealand.
The pool stage will last until June 12 with five matches on each competition day and a rest day on June 10. The top two teams from each pool will advance to the crossed semifinals on June 13. The winners of the semifinals will meet in the final showdown on June 14, while classification matches will determine the full final standings through 11th place.
In the most interesting match of Saturday’s first competition day, Iran outlasted Indonesia to celebrate a tight 3-2 (23-25, 25-23, 16-25, 25-19, 15-12) victory, with blocking as their main weapon (17 stuffs against six). Shaghayegh Hassankhani (Shagi) and Masoumeh Ghadami Tabaghdehi (Masi) led the winners with 16 points each. Indonesia’s Ersandrina Devega was the best scorer of the match with 25 points.
