Italy men's national volleyball team


The Italy men's national volleyball team represents the country in international competitions and friendly matches. It dominated international volleyball competitions in the 1990s and early 2000s, by winning three World Championships in a row, six European Championships, one World Cup and eight World League. However, the team could never win olympic gold at the Summer Olympics.

Medals

Result history

Golden Team

In 1989, Julio Velasco was hired to coach the Italian National Men's Team. He immediately led them to a Gold Medal at the European Championships in 1989, which his team won twice more in 1993 and 1995. The team also won a Silver Medal at the World Cup in 1989.
He de-emphasized the specialization trend of the 1980s. He emphasized the concept of the “square”, team unity where the team was better than the sum of its players. He was meticulous, well prepared and very demanding, but he knew how to win.
Starting at the 1990 World Championships and the 1990 Goodwill Games, the Italian National team swept the world volleyball events for five years. They won a Gold Medal in the World Championships in 1990 and 1994, the World League in 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994 and 1995, 1991, the Mediterranean Games, and the 1993 Grand Champions Cup. They won a Silver Medal at the Olympic Games. Julio Velasco left the Italian National Men's Team in 1996. Velasco in 1989-1996 created Golden Team with Players such as Zorzi, Andrea Gardini, Giani, Bernardi, Gravina, Bracci, Tofoli, Lucchetta, Papi, Pasinato and Meoni.

Olympic Games

YearResultPldWLSWSLPWPL
1964th place0000000
1968th place0000000
1972th place0000000
19768th place0000000
19809th place0000000
19843rd place0000000
19889th place0000000
19925th place0000000
19962nd place0000000
20003rd place0000000
20042nd place0000000
20084th place0000000
20123rd place0000000
20162nd place0000000
Total0/140000000

YearResultPldWLSWSLPWPL
1949th place0000000
1952th place0000000
1956th place0000000
1960th place0000000
1962th place0000000
1966th place0000000
1970th place0000000
1974th place0000000
1978th place0000000
1982th place0000000
1986th place0000000
1990th place0000000
1994th place0000000
1998th place0000000
2002th place0000000
2006th place0000000
2010th place0000000
2014th place0000000
2018th place0000000
Total0/180000000

YearResultPldWLSWSLPWPL
1965th place0000000
1969th place0000000
1977th place0000000
1981th place0000000
1985th place0000000
1989th place0000000
1991th place0000000
1995th place0000000
1999th place0000000
2003th place0000000
2007th place0000000
2011th place0000000
2015th place0000000
20197th place0000000
Total0/140000000

Champions Runners up Third place Fourth place
YearResultPldWLSWSLPWPL
1993th place0000000
1997th place0000000
2001th place0000000
2005th place0000000
2009th place0000000
2013th place0000000
2017th place0000000
Total0/70000000

Champions Runners up Third place Fourth place
Champions Runners up Third place Fourth place
YearRankPldWLSWSL
20188th place15873028
20198th place15873125
2020qualified-----
2021qualified-----
Total2/23016146153

Current roster

The following is the Italian roster in the 2017 Men's European Volleyball Championship.

Coach history

#PlayerAppearances
1Andrea Giani474
2Andrea Gardini418
3Luigi Mastrangelo363
4Samuele Papi*361
5Marco Bracci347
6Paolo Tofoli342
7Luca Cantagalli330
8Ferdinando De Giorgi330
9Andrea Sartoretti330
10Andrea Zorzi325

Kit providers

The table below shows the history of kit providers for the Italy national volleyball team.
PeriodKit provider
2000–2008Nike
Asics
2008–Asics
Crai
Armani

Sponsorship

Primary sponsors include: main sponsors like DHL, Kinder, Honda and Mizuno, other sponsors: Visit Trentino, Errea, Santal, Diadora, EthicSport, Reaxing, Crai, Nutrilite, Uliveto and Winform.

Media

Italy's matches and friendlies are currently televised by RAI and Rai Sport 1.