Florence, Italy, August 29, 2018 - Slovenia will make their first appearance, while their counterparts Dominican Republic will return after 44 years at the FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship.
Head-to-Head
- Dominican Republic 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.
Dominican Republic
- Dominican Republic make only their second appearance at a World Championship, after 1974 in Mexico. They finished 22nd out of 24 teams, ahead of only Puerto Rico and Panama.
- Dominican Republic won three of their 11 matches at the 1974 World Championship, their only previous participation at the tournament. Those three victories came against Puerto Rico (2) and Panama, the only two nations to finish below them in the standings.
- Netherlands, France and Italy were the CEV teams to beat Dominican Republic at the 1974 World Championship, their only previous participation at the tournament.
- Dominican Republic were runners-up at the 2017 NORCECA Championship. They were beaten in straight sets by host nation United States in the final.
Slovenia
- Slovenia are making their first appearance at the World Championship. They are the only team making their debut in the tournament at the 2018 edition.
- Slovenia are the first nation to make their World Championship debut since Croatia and Kazakhstan in 2002. Those debutants both finished in joint-19th.
- Slovenia were runners-up at the 2015 European Championship, when the tournament was co-hosted by Italy and Bulgaria. They lost in the final against France having beaten Italy in the semifinal.
- Slovenia played against NORCECA opposition during the 2016 World League. They beat Puerto Rico in straight sets in Thessaloniki.