The names of as many as 13 of the 14 athletes, who lifted Italy to the world title at the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship last year, appeared on the list of 30 national team players for the upcoming campaign in Volleyball Nations League 2023, announced by head coach Ferdinando De Giorgi at a press conference held at Milan’s Museum of Science and Technology on Tuesday.
Some of the players from the squad that won the continental title at the 2021 CEV European Championship, like 26-year-old libero Alessandro Piccinelli and 23-year-old middle blocker Lorenzo Cortesia, who played in VNL 2022, but not at the World Championship, are also back on De Giorgi’s list.
The only one missing among the world champions is 26-year-old opposite Giulio Pinali, but a notable absence is also that of 34-year-old star and former team captain Ivan Zaytsev, a two-time Olympic medallist and a three-time Olympian, who has been in and out of the national team in recent years.