Best VNL Players: The Top Stars of the Nations League

The best VNL players are named, not summarized, below: 12 stars across the men’s and women’s game, led by Poland’s Wilfredo León and Italy’s Paola Egonu — the only two-time women’s VNL MVP. Rankings and awards reflect the 2025 season (the most recent completed edition) and confirmed 2026 rosters; sources are Volleyball World and FIVB.

At a glance: the 12 best VNL players

1. Wilfredo León (Poland)

León is the outside hitter every VNL opponent game-plans around. Born in Cuba and now a naturalized Polish citizen, he combines a huge vertical attack with a serve that regularly forces errors, and he anchored Poland’s run to the 2025 VNL title alongside Jakub Kochanowski. He earned a spot on the VNL 2025 Dream Team as a best outside hitter, continuing a run of selections that stretches back years. Club fans know him from Ziraat Bankkart Ankara and, before that, Perugia, where he was a two-time Italian league MVP. When people argue about the single best men’s outside hitter in the world right now, León’s name comes up first.

2. Paola Egonu (Italy)

Egonu is the most decorated individual in VNL history: the only woman to win the MVP award twice, in 2022 and 2024. A powerful opposite hitter, she overwhelms blockers with pure arm speed rather than trickery, and she has carried Italy through several VNL and World Championship runs. She was also named the 2025 VNL Dream Team’s best opposite, meaning she stayed at the top of her position even in a year she didn’t win MVP. In a competition only launched in 2018, two MVP trophies gives Egonu the strongest statistical claim to being the best women’s VNL player to date.

3. Jakub Kochanowski (Poland)

Kochanowski won the 2025 VNL MVP as a middle blocker — a rare honor, since the award usually goes to an outside hitter or opposite putting up huge point totals. He appeared in only the tournament’s final seven matches yet posted a 69% attack success rate and 14 kill blocks, peaking with a 71% attack rate in the gold-medal match against Italy. It was his third straight men’s Dream Team selection, after 2023 and 2024, which is what separates him from a one-tournament breakout: he’s been the most consistent middle blocker in the competition for three years running.

4. Monica De Gennaro (Italy)

De Gennaro won the women’s 2025 VNL MVP as a libero, the pure-defense specialist who never attacks or serves in rotation. That’s unusual — MVPs are almost always big scorers — and it says everything about how completely Italy relied on her back-row defense and serve-receive during their VNL title run. She also took the best libero award on the Dream Team. At an age when most liberos are winding down, De Gennaro’s 2025 season was arguably the best of her career, underlining how defense alone can decide a tournament.

5. Gabriela “Gabi” Guimarães (Brazil)

Gabi is Brazil’s most important outside hitter and one of the most complete two-way players in the sport — a Dream Team selection at both the 2025 World Championship and the 2025 VNL. She combines heavy cross-court hitting power with reliable serve-receive, which is why Brazil leans on her in the rotation even when the score is close. With Brazil rebuilding its roster around younger talent, Gabi has become the veteran the team’s offense runs through, much like the way great volleyball positions depend on one player carrying multiple responsibilities.

6. Simone Giannelli (Italy)

Giannelli was named the VNL 2025 Dream Team’s best setter, running an Italian offense that reached the Finals with multiple attacking options rather than depending on one star. His set distribution keeps blockers guessing between Michieletto on the outside and Egonu at opposite, and that unpredictability is exactly what makes a top setter valuable — the position rarely puts up highlight numbers, but it decides who gets to score. Giannelli has been Italy’s starting setter through their recent stretch of major titles.

7. Tijana Bošković (Serbia)

Bošković is Serbia’s captain and one of the most feared opposites in the sport, a two-time World Championship MVP (2018 and 2022) — only the second player ever to win that award twice. She joined Serbia’s VNL squad for the first time in the 2025 season, immediately becoming the team’s focal point in attack. Her career, split between Serbian national colors and club stints in Turkey, including Eczacıbaşı VitrA Istanbul, has made her one of the sport’s most consistent high-volume scorers across a decade of international play.

8. Alessandro Michieletto (Italy)

Michieletto is the men’s game’s brightest young outside hitter, an Olympic gold medalist with Italy who earned a VNL 2025 Dream Team spot alongside León. He plays with unusual composure for his age, mixing power hitting with sharp shot placement rather than relying purely on athleticism. Alongside Giannelli and fellow attacker Daniele Lavia, he’s part of the core group Italy is building around, and he’s already been on the podium in multiple major FIVB events.

9. Melissa Vargas (Türkiye)

Vargas won the women’s VNL MVP in 2023, the award that first established her as one of the tournament’s premier opposites. Originally from Cuba and now representing Türkiye, she brings a similar power-hitting profile to Egonu’s, which is part of why Italy-Türkiye VNL matchups have produced some of the competition’s best attacking duels. Vargas remains one of the highest-volume scorers in the women’s game whenever Türkiye reaches the Finals.

10. Kewin Sasak (Poland)

Sasak was the VNL 2025 Dream Team’s best opposite, the attacking partner to León in Poland’s title-winning lineup. He specializes in quick, high-percentage attacking rather than pure power, which lets Poland run a faster offensive tempo than teams relying on one dominant hitter. His selection alongside Kochanowski and León meant Poland placed three players on the men’s Dream Team — the most of any nation in 2025.

11. Yuji Nishida (Japan)

Nishida is the men’s game’s most electric server, an opposite spiker known for a jump serve that regularly produces aces against elite international opponents. He captains Osaka Bluteon in Japan’s SV League and represents Japan internationally under new head coach Laurent Tillie’s 2025-2026 squad rebuild. While Japan hasn’t matched Poland or Italy’s recent VNL title success, Nishida’s serve alone forces opposing coaches to adjust their reception patterns, and he’s become one of the most-watched individual attractions in the sport globally.

12. Alessia Orro (Italy)

Orro was named the VNL 2025 Dream Team’s best setter on the women’s side and was also the MVP of the 2025 World Championship, giving her two of the sport’s biggest individual honors in the same year. She runs Italy’s offense with the same efficiency Giannelli brings to the men’s side, distributing to Egonu, Sylla and Danesi in a way that keeps opposing blockers guessing. Orro’s rise alongside Egonu and De Gennaro has made Italy’s women arguably the deepest roster in the sport right now.

How we ranked them

This list combines the VNL 2025 Dream Team and MVP honors with sustained multi-year selection, since one big tournament shouldn’t outweigh a track record. Egonu, León and Kochanowski rank highest for stacking multiple years of recognition, not just one good Finals. Bošković and Nishida are included despite missing the 2025 Dream Team because both are among the sport’s most-recognized talents by broader FIVB and World Championship honors. Every name traces to FIVB or Volleyball World’s official announcements; confirm the newest edition’s honorees at Volleyball World before citing a current MVP. For the format behind this competition, see our guide to the Volleyball Nations League; for the all-time greats beyond it, read our best volleyball players list. More named, ranked lists live in our records hub.