News

13/07/2018

Less than two months away, focus shifts to World Championships

Lausanne, Switzerland, July 13, 2018 - With the inaugural 2018 FIVB Volleyball Nations League behind us after an electrifying Finals in Lille last week, attention shifts to the 2018 FIVB Volleyball World Championships, now less than two months away.

Indeed, even before the end of the VNL, as teams were knocked out and bowed out of the competition, focus was changing to the FIVB's flagship competition with the men's event to be co-hosted by two countries for the first time in history when Italy and Bulgaria welcome the 24 top teams of the world as of September 9.

"I really hope we can learn our lesson for the World Championship," said Serbia head coach Nikola Grbic last week in Lille, after his team lost to USA and failed to go through to the medals round of the VNL. "We'll have 20 days now to rest and prepare for the most important tournament this year."

A day earlier, as Poland crashed out of the VNL, their Belgian coach Vital Heynen had been on the same wavelength: "Now, we're going to have two weeks off after a long league. You travel a lot, play often, but don't practice or work out so much. We will put these two break weeks to good use."

Poland will be defending their 2014 world title in Italy/Bulgaria this year, against the likes of such powerhouses as recently crowned VNL champions Russia, Rio 2016 Olympic champions Brazil, as well as hosts Italy and Bulgaria.

In fact Italy, who failed to make it through to the Final Six of the VNL and already had the time to rest, are back to work, ahead of the World Championship.

The FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship will take place from September 9 to 30 with matches to be played in Sofia, Varna and Ruse in Bulgaria, and six cities in Italy including Bari, Bologna, Florence, Milan, Rome and Turin. It will be followed by the Women's World Championship hosted by Japan from September 29 to October 20 with matches to be played in Yokohama, Sapporo, Kobe, Hamamatsu, Osaka and Nagoya.