With clubs continue to shore up their respective rosters with quality players, the battle for supremacy in the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) is already in full swing way before the opening serve in the All-Filipino Conference has been made.
A glimpse of each team’s rejigged arsenal will be unveiled this week when the participating squads submit their initial rosters and uniform designs to the league.
PVL control committee chairman Sherwin Malonzo said teams are already informed of the deadline.
“By 10 January, teams are required to submit their initial lineups and uniform designs,” he said in a phone interview with DAILY TRIBUNE on Monday.
Malonzo said although teams are required to enter the names of their players, squads can still sign free agents even if the tournament is ongoing, provided they still have a slot in the allotted roster.
“They can still add players as long as their 20-man lineup is not yet full. However, changing players once their names are already submitted is not allowed,” Malonzo said.
The PVL official also encouraged teams that have players with expiring contracts but have no intentions of re-signing them to exclude them from the roster they will submit for the tournament. This way, players will be able to negotiate with other clubs willing to take them in.
Also to be known this week is whether the tournament will have 11 clubs or be further trimmed to 10.
Last month, Chery Tiggo disbanded after five seasons and winning one title in the league.
Talks of Petro Gazz and Nxled joining forces have drawn attention, although the league has already turned down the proposition of a merger involving active players.
In a separate interview with PVL president Ricky Palou said that the year-opening tournament may end up with just 10 teams if Petro Gazz, which won a breakthrough AFC crown last year at the expense of Creamline before reclaiming the Reinforced Conference last November, decides to proceed with its deal with Nxled.
“It will depend on Petro Gazz if they’ll still continue to participate as a team. But I think what Petro Gazz would do is disband its team and just sponsor Nxled to go ahead with their joint venture,” Palou explained.
The Angels and Chameleons are expected to inform the PVL of their decision this week.
“When teams submit their lineups, that could be the first confirmation of whether we’ll have 11 or 10 teams,” Malonzo said.
Clubs continue to beef up their respective lineups with major signings and changes, with just a few weeks left before the year-opening tournament's tentative opening on 31 January.
The biggest recruitment coup so far was pulled off by Choco Mucho.
The Flying Titans won the Eya Laure sweepstakes, signing the sought-after winger to join former college teammate Sisi Rondina, who will make her return after skipping three conferences last year to concentrate in her stint with the Alas Pilipinas beach volleyball team.
Aside from Laure, Choco Mucho also brought in Caitlin Viray, Jaila Atienza and Alina Bicar after releasing Royse Tubino, Bia General and middles Aduke Ogunsanya and Cherry Nunag.
Creamline, which ended 2025 without a title, parted ways with veterans Pau Soriano, Rizza Mandapat, Michelle Morente and Mafe Galanza.
Recently, Strong Group Athletics of distinguished businessman Frank Lao joined the arms race with recruitment of Chie Saet and Remy Palma from Petro Gazz as well as Tubino and General, making ZUS Coffee and Farm Fresh two of the teams to watch out for in the season-opening conference.
Prior to that, SGA acquired the services of former Chery Tiggo standouts Cess Robles, Karen Verdeflor and Renee Peñafiel.
With the acquisition of 41-year-old Saet and Palma, who will serve as playing assistant coach, SGA squads are expected to figure prominently in the title chase against league heavyweights following the Thunderbelles’ maiden appearance in the finals of the Reinforced Conference last season.
Other teams have also made significant acquisitions, with more changes expected in the coming days as the tournament draws near.