Rana Verona and Cucine Lube Civitanova open the 2026/27 Italian men's SuperLega on 17 October. Volleyball World schedules the first serve for 18:00 in Italy, or 23:00 in Vietnam. Twelve teams participate, with a new relegation phase added after the regular season.
Two separate top-eight cutoffs
A home-and-away round-robin contains 22 rounds of six matches. Points, wins and set ratios are the first three ranking criteria identified in the report.
The top eight after round 11 qualify for the Italian Cup quarter-finals. The top eight at the end of the regular season enter the league playoffs, so these are distinct selection dates.
Quarter-finals, semi-finals and the championship final are best-of-five series. Higher-ranked teams host games one, three and five if needed. The champions could be decided on 5, 8 or 11 May 2027, depending on the final's length.
Relegation arrangements and team changes
The new playout includes the bottom three or four teams, depending on the points gap between ninth and 12th. Teams carry ranking-based bonus points into another double round-robin, with the last side relegated.
Perugia defend the championship. Lube were runners-up, while Verona finished third and won the Italian Cup. Promoted Prata di Pordenone replace Grottazzolina.
Lube feature brothers Aleksandar and Simeon Nikolov, with Verona retaining players including Micah Christenson, Rok Možič and Noumory Keita.
Volleyball World lists VBTV for coverage of the competition. The opening match starts the regular-season programme before the separate cup and playoff cutoffs.