Florence, Italy, September 18, 2018 - After Slovenia lost in five sets to Argentina, co-hosts Italy remain the only undefeated team in Pool A and have secured pole position regardless of Tuesday's result when the two clash in the 2018 FIVB World Championship. Both are already qualified to the next round. The two sides meet for the first time ever in an official world competition. Last time the two went head-to-head was in the semifinals of the 2015 European Championship, when Slovenia won in four sets.
Head-to-Head
• Italy and Slovenia will play each other for the first time in a world level major tournament match.
• The world level major tournaments are Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World League, Grand Champions Cup and Nations League.
• Slovenia beat Italy 3-1 in Sofia in the 2015 European Championship semifinal. They went on to lose against France in the final (Italy beat Bulgaria in the third-place play-off).
Italy
• Co-hosts Italy started their 2018 World Championship campaign with victories over Japan, Belgium, Argentina and Dominican Republic.
• Italy could start a World Championship with five straight wins for the fourth time, after 2010 (first 7), 1998 (8) and 1978 (6). In 1998 they went on to win the tournament.
• Italy already have more wins at the 2018 World Championship as they had in 2014 (3).
• Including their last match in 2014, Italy could win six straight World Championship matches for the first time since winning nine in a row in 2006-2010.
• Ivan Zaytsev (65) and Osmany Juantorena (59) are among the top scorers at the 2018 World Championship.
Slovenia
• Slovenia, the only debutants at this World Championship, started their campaign with wins against Dominican Republic, Japan and Belgium, before Argentina edged them 3-2 (15-13 final set).
• Slovenia have played 23 total matches at world level major tournaments. They lost only three, against Greece in the 2016 World League (3-1), against Japan in the 2017 World League (3-2) and against Argentina on Monday.
• Slovenia could lose back-to-back world level major tournament matches for the first time.
• Tine Urnaut (71 points) is among the most prolific scorers at the 2018 World Championship.