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The Cuban Volleyball Federation (FCV) announced a preliminary selection of 30 players for the 2026 Volleyball Nations League, with veteran center Roberlandy Simón as the most notable name on the list.
The announcement, made public this Thursday and published by the site JIT, confirms the return of the 38-year-old center to the national team, after saying goodbye to the team in June 2024 with a message on social media —“I love you all, and keep fighting”— following the Olympic elimination.
Simón, born in Guantánamo on June 11, 1987, has accumulated over two decades of international career and rejoined the Cuban team in 2019 after years playing in professional leagues in Europe, South Korea, and Brazil.
Alongside him in the central positions are Alexis Wilson, Javier Concepción, and David Fiel (Havana), Thiago Suárez and Endriel Pedroso (Pinar del Río), and Jakdiel Contreras (Artemisa).
Another key figure on the list is the outside hitter Marlon Yant (Villa Clara), who was the top scorer of the VNL 2025 with a total of 237 points, averaging 19.75 points per match.
The complete roster of auxiliary attackers also includes Julio César Cárdenas and Luis Enrique Reyes (Matanzas), Nivaldo Díaz (Havana), Miguel Ángel López and Félix Rodríguez (Cienfuegos), Víctor Andreu (Camagüey), Bryan Camino (Mayabeque), Carlos Pereira (Santiago de Cuba), and Yusniel González (Pinar del Río).
As opponents, José Israel Massó (Guantánamo), Alejandro Miguel González, Daniel Martínez, and Ronaldo Glaquet (Matanzas), Alejandro Rodríguez (Mayabeque), and José Carlos Romero (Cienfuegos) were chosen.
The setters on the long list are Christian Thondike, Julio Alberto Gómez, and Lybán Taboada (Havana), Adrián Chirino (Camagüey), and Ronaldo Glaquet (Matanzas), while the selected liberos were Yonder García and Dairon Gallego (Havana), and Yudiel Arrechea (Cienfuegos).
The coaching staff will be led by head coach Jesús Cruz, with Mario Izquierdo and Manuel Espinosa as assistants, doctor Lenin Hernández, and physiotherapist Eladio Vives.
This announcement comes at a peak moment for the Cuban men's volleyball, which in the VNL 2025 qualified for the final phase for the first time in its history of the tournament, with a record of six wins and six losses that placed it seventh in the general standings and elevated it to eighth place in the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) ranking.
The preliminary phase calendar is extremely demanding: Cuba will open on June 10 in Linyi, China, against Poland, the reigning champion and number one in the world ranking, and will also compete against Ukraine, Slovenia, and the host country, China, in that first week.
In the second phase (June 24-28, Orléans, France), the team will face the United States —Olympic bronze medalists in Paris 2024—, France —Olympic champions—, Serbia, and Iran.
The third and final preliminary week (July 15-19, Kansai, Japan) will see Cuba face Belgium, Argentina, Canada, and Italy, the current world champion.
The return of Simón to the pre-selection is particularly significant when it is remembered that in the VNL 2024, he was a key player for the team, leading the Cuban team with 92 points before his departure, and that his reintegration in 2019 was made possible by the approval of the Cuban Volleyball Federation for players abroad to once again wear the national jersey.
The grand final of the Men's Nations League is scheduled to take place from July 29 to August 2 in the Chinese city of Ningbo.
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