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Changes - The Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) have announced changes to the 2018 season.

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Grand Prix and World League - What her traditionally known as the Grand Prix and Volleyball World League will now be known collectively as the Volleyball Nations League, with categories for men and women.

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Grand Prix - history - The women's Grand Prix competition, which will now be known as the Women's Nations League, has been held since 1993. Cuba were the victorious team in that year.

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Grand Prix - biggest winner - The Brazilian team have won the Grand Prix 12 times. Will they be the first to win this year in the new Nations League?

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Women's Nations League - In 2018, the tournament will be played between 12 core teams and 4 'challenge' teams, who could remain in or leave the League, according to their results.

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Women's Nations League: core teams - The core teams, which have been released by the FIVB, are: Brazil, China, Serbia, Russia, Holland, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and the United States.

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Women's Nations League: challenge teams - And the challenge teams will be: Poland, Belgium, Argentina and the Dominica Republic.

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Women's Nations League: fixtures - Women's Nations League will take place from May 15 to July 1 in various countries yet to be released by the FIVB.

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World League - history - In the men's World League, which will now be known as the Men's Nations League, has been taking place since 1990. Italy were the team who won in this year.

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World League - biggest winner - The Brazilian men's team have been the biggest winners in the World League so far, with nine titles.

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Men's Nations League - Just like the Women's Nations League, this year's tournament will be played between 12 core teams and 4 'challenge' teams, who could remain in or leave the League, according to their results.

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Men's Nations League - The United States, Brazil, Italy, Russia, Serbia, France, Argentina, Poland, Iran, Germany, Japan, and China are the 12 core teams for the 2018 competition.

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Men's Nations League - And Canada, Bulgaria, Australia and South Korea will be the challenge teams.

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Men's Nations League: fixtures - The Men's Nations League will run from May 25 to July 8, taking place in various different countries.

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Montreux Volley Masters - According to the calendar released by the FIVB, the Montreux Volley Masters 2018 will not be the opening event of the international competitions.

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Montreux Volley Masters: categories - This is a women's tournament which is played every year in Switzerland.

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Montreux Volley Masters: first winner - The competition took place for the first time in 1984, and was won by the Netherlands, who up to this day are one of the most important teams in the sport.

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Montreux Volley Masters: biggest winner - Cuba have won the competition the most, with 9 titles to their name.

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Montreux Volley Masters: fixtures - In 2018, the competition will take place from the September 4  to September 9, in Switzerland.

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Volleyball World Championship - But this year the most important volleyball competition of them all, which is on par with the Olympics, is taking place: the World Championship.

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Volleyball World Championship - The World Championship, played by men's and women's teams, takes place once every four years and is one of the most prestigious competitions in the sport.

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Men's World Championship: biggest winner - The first team to have won the championship, and who up to this day hold the most wins, are the former Soviet Union.

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Men's World Championship: inherited titles - The titles which were won by this team have been passed onto the Russian volleyball team.

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Men's World Championship: current champion - The current champion is Poland, who won the tournament back in 2014. Who will be the winners this year? It promises to be an exhilarating competition.

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Men's World Championship: fixtures - The Men's World Championship will take place in September from the 9 to the 30 in Bulgaria and Italy.

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Women's World Championship: biggest winner - Just like the former medals awarded to the men's Soviet Union team, in the Women's World Championship, the biggest winners are Russia.

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Women's World Championship: current champion - The US team is the current champion of the tournament, but this year the competition is going to be intense.

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Women's World Championship: fixtures - The dates for the Women's World Championship are between September 29 and October 20 in Japan.

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Who will win? - 2018 is certainly set to be an exciting year for volleyball fans!

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