All World Championship silver medallists back on Grbic’s 2023 list

All 14 of the players behind Poland’s silver medals at last year’s FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship co-hosted with Slovenia appeared on head coach Nikola Grbic’s extended roster of 30 players for the upcoming 2023 national team season.

The list announced on Wednesday also includes some other star players like 29-year-old Cuban-born outside hitter Wilfredo Leon, the best server of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in 2021, who skipped the 2022 season for health problems, and 28-year-old Bartosz Bednorz, a Volleyball Nations League 2019 Dream Teamer, who played in the VNL last season, but not at the World Championship after that.

“Last season I listed some people, who didn’t have a chance to be with us, but this season all of the people on the list will be used in the VNL,” coach Grbic said. “Everybody will get a chance to show himself, to adapt to our group and to our system, and to help us out.”

Among the most notable absences from Grbic’s list are 28-year-old scoring machine Maciej Muzaj, the opposite who was part of Poland’s team in all four of the previous four VNL editions, and 33-year-old playmaker Fabian Drzyzga, the Dream Team setter of VNL 2021, who was not among Grbic’s call-ups last season either.

Poland will open the season with a friendly match against Germany on May 25 in Katowice. The team will start their VNL 2023 campaign on June 7 in Nagoya, Japan. During the second competition week of the Preliminary Phase, they will play at the tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and for week three, the White-and-Reds will travel to Pasay City, Philippines, before hosting the Finals from July 19 through 23 in Gdansk.

“We have three important tournaments. First is the VNL. We have the Finals in Gdansk, but, anyway, it doesn’t matter. We have to be prepared for that, because statistics are not great – I don’t remember the last time the host team of the Finals won,” continued Grbic. “So we really have to be ready, because everybody will come in the best shape possible and well prepared, so it will be tough to win it

“The same team goes for the European Championship. It will be another really tough tournament, but it will help us improve and get to know each other even more, which will prepare us in the best way possible for the Olympic qualification tournament. It is the last tournament and also extremely important, because we all want to qualify immediately, so we can prepare in the best way possible for next season’s Olympics.”

Poland will start their CEV European Championship campaign on August 31 in the pool to be played in North Macedonia, in an attempt to advance to the next stages of the competition in Italy. After EuroVolley, which ends on September 16, Nikola Grbic’s squad will be in China from September 30 through October 8 for the FIVB Road to Paris Volleyball Qualifier, where they will compete with the home team, Argentina, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Mexico and the Netherlands for two spots at the 2024 Olympic Games.

“So it will be a long and tough season, but we have so many players, who can help us and they are all eager to come and play,” concluded Grbic, addressing the Polish fans. “I am sure we will all give our best to give you back the emotions that you’re giving us all the time. I cannot wait to start...”

Poland men’s national team full roster:

Setters: Grzegorz Lomacz, Jan Firlej, Marcin Janusz, Marcin Komenda
Opposites: Bartlomiej Boladz, Bartosz Kurek, Dawid Dulski, Karol Butryn, Lukasz Kaczmarek
Outside hitters: Aleksander Sliwka, Artur Szalpuk, Bartosz Bednorz, Bartosz Kwolek, Jakub Szymanski, Kamil Semeniuk, Michal Gierzot, Mikolaj Sawicki, Tomasz Fornal, Wilfredo Leon
Middle blockers: Jakub Kochanowski, Karol Klos, Karol Urbanowicz, Mateusz Bieniek, Mateusz Poreba, Norbert Huber, Sebastian Adamczyk
Liberos: Jakub Popiwczak, Kamil Szymura, Kuba Hawryluk, Pawel Zatorsk

• Watch Volleyball Nations League 2023 on VBTV

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