Ottawa, Canada, August 14, 2018 - Later this month, the Canadian men’s national team will continue their preparations for the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship in Italy and Bulgaria from September 9 to 30 when they travel to Poland for the Hubert Jerzy Wagner Memorial Tournament.
The tournament will be held at the Tauron Arena in Krakow and it will be the second year in a row that Canada will be part of the prestigious event, which is set to take place from August 24 to 26.
"We are looking forward to participating in the Wagner Memorial again this year," said Canada’s head coach Stephane Antiga, who previously coached the Polish men’s team. "It’s important to play top-ranked teams as much as possible, and the matches will be part of our preparation for the World Championship next month."
This will be the team's first major competition since the inaugural season of the FIVB Volleyball Nations League earlier this year – Canada finished seventh in the VNL, just outside the final six.
The schedule in Poland is as follows:
• August 24 - Canada–Poland - 17:00 (Poland were fifth in the VNL)
• August 25 - Canada–Russia - 17:30 (Russia won the inaugural VNL)
• August 26 - Canada–France - 14:00 (France were runners-up in the VNL)
Following the Wagner Tournament, the team will train in Maribor, Slovenia from August 27 to September 4 in preparation for the World Championship.
On September 5, the team will travel to the country's capital to play in the Ljubljana Volleyball Challenge (from September 6 to 8) and will face Slovenia, Iran (tenth in the VNL), and USA (third in the VNL).
Shortly after, the team will make its way to the northeastern Bulgarian city of Ruse for the start of the 2018 FIVB Men's World Championship. Canada is in Pool B with Brazil (ranked number one in the World), China, Egypt, France and the Netherlands.