Defending champions Italy win preparation tournament

European powerhouse Italy picked up three solid wins that helped them triumph in the FIPAV Cup Men Elite preparation tournament ahead of their trip to Asia, where they will try to defend the world title they won three years ago at the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship.

The Italians hosted continental rivals Türkiye, Germany and the Netherlands, which will all also play at the World Championship, in Turin between Friday and Sunday and defeated all of them to please their home fans and get a confidence boost before getting to the Philippines, where they will compete from September 12-28.

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The world champions met Türkiye in their first match in the tournament, on Friday, and triumphed 3-1 (25-19, 31-29, 19-25, 25-16) with opposite Kamil Rychlicki scoring 20 points and outside hitter Luca Porro adding 14 – opposite Adis Lagumdžija scored 20 points of his own for the Turkish team.

On Saturday, the Italians were dominant against Germany, producing a sound three-set (25-19, 25-16, 25-22) victory. Rychlicki again stood out for Italy with 16 points, followed by outside hitter Mattia Bottolo, who tallied 11. Veteran opposite Georg Grozer led Germany with 14 points.

The final match of the tournament had the Italians against the Dutch, and again the world champions prevailed in four sets, winning 3-1 (23-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-19) to take the title. Bottolo was the team’s leading scorer on Sunday with 20 points, three more than opposite Francesco Sani. Leading the Dutch was opposite Michiel Ahyi, with 12 points.

“Playing three matches allowed us to test a lot of different things after working very hard over the last weeks,” head coach Ferdinando De Giorgi said. “We faced some intense moments and had to adapt to different situations, and I saw the players very open and with a constant desire to win. Adaptability is very important for any team, and at the World Championship, we’ll need to be able to change our skin and find different solutions in difficult moments.”

Each of the other three participating teams returned home with a win and two losses after Germany swept (25-17, 25-20, 25-12) the Netherlands on Friday, the Dutch overcame Türkiye 3-1 (22-25, 25-23, 25-16, 25-20) on Saturday and the Turkish downed the Germans also in four sets (31-29, 25-16, 21-25, 25-19) on Sunday.

After winning the FIPAV Cup Men Elite, Italy are set to head to Tokyo on Wednesday. They will stay in Japan until September 9 and are scheduled to play a pair of friendly matches on September 6 and 7 to finalize their preparation.

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