On the same day of the Drawing of Lots for the Olympic men’s volleyball tournament of the Paris 2024 Games – click here to watch it live at 18:00 local time (16:00 GMT) -, the 12 national teams set to play in the French capital in just over a month revealed their wide rosters for the event.
The wide rosters are composed of 25 players and it’s from that list that head coaches need to pick the 13 players that will represent their countries at the South Paris Arena in the French capital from July 27 to August 11.
Paris Olympics men’s wide rosters (subject to eligibility check to be conducted by the FIVB)
World champions Italy included all of their stars in the list, such as setter Simone Giannelli, opposite Yuri Romanò, outside hitter Alessandro Michieletto, middle blocker Gianluca Galassi and libero Fabio Balaso.
Defending champions France will also be able to pick a strong squad, with all of outside hitter Earvin Ngapeth, opposite Jean Patry, middle blocker Barthélémy Chinenyeze, libero Jenia Grebennikov and setters Benjamin Toniutti and Antoine Brizard being available for selection.
The same goes for FIVB World Ranking leaders Poland, who have opposite Bartosz Kurek, libero Pawel Zatorski and outside hitters Wilfredo Leon, Aleksander Śliwka and Kamil Semeniuk, and three-time Olympic champions Brazil, who have three returning players from their last victory, setter and captain Bruno Rezende, outside hitter Ricardo Lucarelli and middle blocker Lucas Saatkamp, in the list prepared by head coach Bernardo Rezende.
Other international stars shortlisted by their national teams are Argentina’s Luciano De Cecco, Canada’s Nicholas Hoag, Egypt’s Mohammed Asran, Germany’s György Grozer, Serbia’s Marko Podraščanin and Slovenia’s Tonček Štern.
The national teams of the United States and Japan have already announced their 13-player squads for the Olympics.
