VNL, Italvolley collapses at its best: 3-0 Poland in final

The Italvolley’s adventure in the VNL comes to a screeching halt. At the Beilun Sport and Arts Centre in Ningbo, China, in the final of the Volleyball Nations League, the men’s national team was overwhelmed by Poland, which won with a clear 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-14).

The Azzurri of coach Ferdinando De Giorgi won the silver medal after a rather long journey, which began on June 11 in Quebec City, Canada, then continued in Chicago and Ljubljana and ended with the defeat to the Polish national team. On the third step of the podium of the VNL 2025 went Brazil, which in the final for third and fourth place overcame Slovenia 3-1 (23-25, 25-20, 25-23, 25-19) in a comeback.

The Polish national team was the winner of the final match.

Unfortunately, Italy failed to repeat after excellent performances against Cuba in the quarters and Slovenia in the semifinals. On the other side of the net, Poland after winning the first set with no small effort, always held the upper hand in the second and third sets and took the final victory.

This medal was won after a path made up of 12 overall victories. It came at the end of a tournament in which all the Azzurri involved made their decisive contribution to a result that Italy men’s team had been missing since 2004 (at that time the event was called the World League).

The Italian men’s team’s medal was a great success.

Another medal, then, for the Italian Volleyball Federation, adding to the extraordinary gold won just seven days ago by the women’s national team. For coach De Giorgi, this is the fourth medal won on the Azzurri bench: gold at the 2021 European Championships, gold at the 2022 World Championships, silver at the 2023 European Championships, and now silver in the Volleyball Nations League 2025.