MEN’S VNL, POOL 1: WAY TO GET GOING!

China's Jiang Chuan in action against Italy during last year’s VNL

Lausanne, Switzerland, May 4, 2019 – Pool 1 of the men’s 2019 FIVB Volleyball Nations League features the first match of the competition when Iran take on Italy at the Jiangmen Sports Center Gym at 16.00 local time in China on May 31. And what a way to get going in a pool where anything can happen, epitomizing the excitement that comes with a race between 16 of the best national teams in the world! 

Iran, Italy, Germany and hosts China will try to score their first points in the run towards the spots at the final six tournament in Chicago, playing against each other in one of the four pools of the first competition weekend from May 31 through June 2.

Interestingly, three of the four teams finished the 2018 preliminary round practically “holding hands” in the final standings. Italy finished eighth with eight wins, followed by Germany and Iran in ninth and tenth, respectively, with seven wins each. All of them missed out on advancing to the finals in Lille, but showed their potential to succeed in an intensive competition.

In the 2019 VNL, Italy will bet on their new generation of talented players and this is bound to make the race in Jiangmen even more interesting. Led by their multifunctional 22-year-old star setter Simone Giannelli, the young hopefuls of the southern European squad will do their best to prove they belong to the team, but the bar was set high by last year’s Italian side, which won all three of their first weekend matches in May 2018 – against Germany, Brazil and Serbia.

Upon announcing Germany’s roster for the 2019 VNL season, their Italian coach Andrea Gianni set an ambitious goal for the team. “We were close to the finals last year,” he said. “This year we want to take the next step and fight for a place in the final tournament in USA. We have a strong team made up of experienced players and young athletes.” With players like captain Christian Fromm, who was among the top five spikers in the 2018 preliminary round, opposite Simon Hirsch, the sixth best scorer, and multi-talented Jan Zimmermann, the best server and the sixth best setter, on the squad, Giani has all the reasons to be confident the team will avoid a start similar to the three defeats in the first weekend of last year’s competition.

Source: fivb.org