Paola Egonu, new announcement expected
Paola Egonu, new announcement expected
Davide Mazzanti has left the bench of the women’s national volleyball team after the flop at the European Championships and the failure to qualify directly for the Olympics. The Azzurri coach had ended up in the eye of the storm especially for his handling of some of the Azzurri stars, primarily Paola Egonu, the world-class ace left on the bench for much of the European Championships.
The rift between the two had culminated with Egonu’s withdrawal from the Olympic qualifying tournament, which Italy then failed.
With Mazzanti's farewell, new scenarios open up for Paola Egonu and the other excluded senators (Bosetti, Chirichella, De Gennaro): their return to the Azzurro will depend on the announcement of the new coach, which will arrive in the coming days.
The favorite seems to be Julio Velasco, current coach of Busto Arsizio and legendary coach of men's Italvolley in the 1990s. But the Federation is also considering other names (according to rumors, Zoran Terzic as well). For all will be offered a one-year contract, until the post-Olympics, and only then will it be decided whether to extend the agreement. Mazzanti had been in charge since 2017 and won the 2021 European Championships and the 2022 Nations League with the Azzurre, as well as a silver medal at the 2018 World Cup.
