Italy
The statistics say that ranking of Italy in the 2017 World League was the worst-ever ranking of this European national team in the tournament. By losing to Canada 3-1 in the in the last round of Week 3 – Preliminary Round, the „Azzurri“ became the last-placed team in Group 1 with 2-7, breaking previous negative record which they set five years ago when they finished on the penultimate position.
The fact that Italy are the second-ranked by the number of gold medals in the World League (eight) shows how big this fail was. Brazil is the only team with more titles – nine.
Luckily for Italy, they will not suffer consequences for this underachievement (according to current regulations, the last-placed team loses a spot in Group 1) as the FIVB will change the format for the 2018 World League.
See STATS & VIDEOS from World League 2017.
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