Year in Review: Young Italian squad bring in country’s fourth world title

Twenty-four years after their incredible run of three consecutive titles in the 1990s, Italy claimed their fourth at the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship 2022 held in Poland and Slovenia to become the second most decorated country in the history of the competition, after the Soviet Union with six world titles.

Ferdinando De Giorgi, who was part of the team that won the first three gold medals last century, was now the head coach of a very young Italian squad. Averaging an age of about 24, all the Italian players were between 20 and 26 years of age with the exception of 30-year-old middle blocker Simone Anzani. With pretty much the same line-up, De Giorgi led Italy to the European title a year earlier. Just like at EuroVolley 2021, setter Simone Giannelli was named the Most Valuable Player of the World Championship 2022.

Italy went through the tournament riding a wave of seven consecutive victories. They finished first in Pool E in Ljubljana without dropping a single set, after straight-set wins over Canada, Türkiye and China. In the round of 16, they had to come back from a set down to knock out Cuba in four. Their quarterfinal encounter with reigning Olympic and Volleyball Nations League champions France in the Slovenian capital was probably key to their campaign at the World Championship. Twice in that match, the French were up by a set, but twice the Italians caught up to push it to five and then dominate the tie-breaker.

Having moved to Katowice for the conclusion of the tournament, the Italians first cruised to a straight-set semifinal win over Slovenia. In the big final on September 11, hosts and defending champions Poland took the first set, but Di Giorgi’s men proved better in the next three to triumph after a 3-1 (22-25, 25-21, 25-18, 25-20) victory, led by 22-year-old outside hitter Daniele Lavia on 19 points and the team’s youngest star, 20-year-old Alessandro Michieletto, on 14.

World Championship co-hosts Poland were just two sets away from claiming their third consecutive and fourth overall title. They dominated Pool C in Katowice and knocked out Tunisia in the round of 16 in Gliwice. Then they persevered through two hard-fought five-setters to overcome the United States in the quarterfinals and Brazil in the semifinals. In front of a fantastic home crowd at the Spodek, they even won the first set of the gold medal match before succumbing to the assertive Italian team. It was Poland’s second silver and fifth overall podium in the history of the competition.

Three-time world champions Brazil claimed their first ever bronze and seventh overall medal. They had a tough start losing the first two sets of their opening match against Cuba, but then got their act together to win the next 12 sets, which took them all the way to the quarterfinals. There, they defeated South American neighbours Argentina in four sets, before losing to Poland in the semis. To take the bronze, the Brazilians claimed a 3-1 victory over Slovenia in the third place match. In what was probably legendary 35-year-old Brazilian opposite Wallace De Souza‘s last ever game with the national team, he delivered the match high of 22 points, including an ace for the match winner.

At a glamorous ceremony after the final, 26-year-old Giannelli was named MVP and among the seven players on the World Championship Dream Team.

FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship Poland Slovenia 2022 - Dream Team

Best Setter: Simone Giannelli (Italy)

Best Opposite: Bartosz Kurek (Poland)

Best Outside Hitters: Yoandy Leal (Brazil) and Kamil Semeniuk (Poland)

Best Middle Blockers: Mateusz Bieniek (Poland) and Gianluca Galassi (Italy)

Best Libero: Fabio Balaso (Italy)

Leal was the best scorer (125 points) and the best attacker (107 winning spikes) of the World Championship. Argentina’s Agustin Loser was the best blocker with 17 stuffs to his name, while Ukraine’s Oleh Plotnytskyi impressed with his 18 aces, standing six aces clear at the top of the best servers’ chart.

FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship 2022: All results

· Watch replays of World Championship matches on Volleyball TV.

Quick links:
FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship Poland Slovenia 2022
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