Volleyball Nations League men, great start for Italy'Italy
The men’s national volleyball team’s adventure in the Volleyball Nations League 2025 began in the best possible way in Quebec City (Canada): the Azzurri led by Ferdinando De Giorgi overcame Bulgaria 3-1 (25-16, 22-25, 25-19, 25-19), thus taking the victory in the first of the four matches scheduled in the first week of the international event.
The Azzurri’s top scorer is Mattia Bottolo, with a total of 13 points scored. He is followed by Giovanni Gargiulo with 12, Kamil Rychlicki and Simone Anzani with 10. On the other side, Aleksandar Nikolov’s 17 points were useless, as well as Bulgarian captain Iliya Petkov’s 10. Italy will play the next three games against Germany, France and Argentina, also at the Videotron Centre in Quebec City.
The match against the Germans is scheduled for 10:30 p.m. Italian time on Thursday, June 12, while the one with the French will be played on the Italian night between Friday and Saturday, with first serve when 2 a.m. is struck in the Bel Paese. Against Argentina, in the last match of the Canadian trip before moving for Week 2 to the United States, in Chicago, it will instead be played at 5 p.m. Italian time on Sunday, June 15.
Part of the international volleyball calendar since 2018, the Volleyball Nations League has so far not brought great satisfaction to the men’s national team, which in six editions has never made it onto the podium, not even when it hosted the final phase in 2021 and 2022. The best finish is fourth place, achieved in 2022 and 2023. Last year Italy finished in fifth place.
