Olympic qualifying tournament pools drawn: women in Poland, men in Brazil

The draw for the women’s and men’s volleyball qualifying tournaments for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games was held today in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The Italian women’s national team will play their pool in Poland, where they will take on the hosts, the United States, Germany, Thailand, Colombia, South Korea and Slovenia. 

“Playing in Europe is a positive factor” commented coach Davide Mazzanti, “because it will allow us to train more. Undoubtedly the strongest teams in the group are the United States and Poland. We will then have to pay great attention to Germany and Thailand, both of whom play a particular kind of volleyball” the coach concluded. 

Meanwhile in Brazil , the men’s Italian team will face the hosts, Iran, Cuba, Ukraine, Germany, the Czech Republic and Qatar. 

“Ours is certainly a very challenging round” said coach Ferdinando De Giorgi. “We will obviously face Brazil, the hosts and always a very difficult team; then there will be Cuba, Iran and the Ukraine itself, which are constantly evolving teams. Of course we are talking about an Olympic qualifying tournament, so all the challenges will be very tricky to face. It will be important to play with great determination, without thinking too much about the opponents. We will try to bring all our qualities to the field and then we will see game by game how far we have got”.

Each of the six qualifying tournaments will put two Olympic quotas up for grabs (six in total for women and six for men). China, Japan and Poland will host the women’s competitions from 16-24 September 2023, while Brazil, China and Japan will stage the men’s events from 30 September-8 October of the same year.

A total of 24 teams (12 women’s and 12 men’s) will take part in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games: France (qualified as the host nation); six national teams qualified by way of Olympic tournaments and five based on world rankings, which will be updated at the conclusion of the Volleyball Nations League 2024 group stage. (Here the #RoadtoParis2024). The tournament will be held in South Paris Arena 1. 

OLYMPIC QUALIFYING TOURNAMENTS

ITALY WOMEN 

POOL C (Poland) – Poland, Italy, United States, Germany, Thailand, Colombia, South Korea, Slovenia

ITALY MEN

POOL A (Brazil) – Brazil, Italy, Iran, Cuba, Ukraine, Germany, Czech Republic, Qatar

(Photo: FIPAV)