TEAM PROFILE - Men’s

Italy is not only one of 's superpowers, it is the best of all men's team of the 20th century according to the FIVB selection and certainly, with its spectacular history of eight World League titles, two seconds, one third and two fourth places, the singularly most successful team in World League history. Although the national team had a good start in international competitions, finishing third at the European Championship in 1948 and eighth at the first World Championship in 1949, the country then had to wait for almost another 40 years for a significant success.

The first breakthrough came in 1978 at the World Championship held in Rome where the Italians won the silver medal, but the best was yet to come. Under the firm hand of head coach Julio Velasco of , Italy clear- ly dominated the sport in the 1990s, triumphing at the World Championship in 1990 in , in 1994 in Greece and again, under new coach, Brazilian Bebeto in Japan, 1998. No other team can match such a record in the history of this sport. During this splendid era Italy also captured the silver medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and the bronze in Sydney 2000 under coach .

Also from 1989 Italy won the European Championship four times and claimed the World Cup in 1995 and the Grand Champions Cup in 1993. However, following the fourth place in the World League in 2002 and a disap- pointing fifth place finish at the World Championship, a new coach Gian Paolo Montali, was appointed to lead the blue jerseys to their former glory. Montali wants to focus on the 2004 Athens Olympics but given his win- ning attitude, hopes are high for Italy to return to the leading ranks of international competition. After an encour- aging third place finish at the 2003 World League and a European Championship triumph soon after Italy is expected to put up another strong showing at the 2003 World Cup.

Recent records:

European Men's Continental Championship in Germany (September) finished first Final: Italy beat France 3-2 (25-18, 40-42, 25-28, 27-29, 15-9) Semifinal: Italy beat Russia 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-16) Italy beat Germany 3-0 (25-17, 25-20, 25-19) Italy beat Slovakia 3-0 (25-17, 25-20, 25-19) Italy beat France 3-1 (25-21, 17-25, 26-24, 25-20) Italy beat Spain 3-0 (25-16, 25-22, 25-16) Italy beat the Czech Republic 3-1 (25-19, 25-21, 22-25, 25-23) World Cup record 1999 - Third 1995 - First 1989 - Second World League (May-July, 2003) finished third 1981 - Seventh Play-off for third: Italy beat the Czech Republic 3-1 (22-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-19) Semifinal: Italy lost to Serbia and Montenegro 3-0 (26-24, 25-22, 25-16) Final Round: Italy lost to Brazil 3-1 (31-29, 25-21, 17-25, 25-23) Final Round: Italy beat Bulgaria 3-1 (21-25, 25-19, 25-23, 25-23) Final Round: Italy lost to Russia 3-2 (20-25, 25-20, 19-25, 25-22, 15-13)

Team Roster 1 Mastrangelo Luigi, 2 Meoni Marco, 5 Vermiglio Valerio, 6 Papi Samuele, 7 Sartoretti Andrea, 8 Cisolla Alberto, 10 Tencati Luca, 12 Pippi Damiano, 13 Giani Andrea, 16 Biribanti, 17 Cozzi Paolo, 18 Cernic Matej.