WL 2016: Group 1 – Pool C (PREVIEW)

Russia

Russia, Bulgaria, Poland and Serbia will start their FIVB Volleyball World League 2016 campaign in Pool C, that will be held in Kaliningrad, Russia.

Bulgaria first took part in the World League in 1994. During the debut season in the tournament, the team managed to go all the way to the Semi-Finals. From then to now they five times had a chance to take the bronze medal but that never happened. 

The biggest success in their history is the silver medal at Olympic Games 1980 in Moscow and in the recent years the bronze medals in World Championship 2016 and European Championship 2009.

The main stars in the team are Tsvetan Sokolov, Teodor Salparov, Nikolay Nikolov and coach Plamen Konstantinov.

Take a look at the 2016 roster of BULGARIA .

Poland is one of the world’s strongest teams, it is the reigning world champion since 2014 and is ranked second in the FIVB world ranking.They appeared 18 times in World League and won one gold 2012 in Sofia and one bronze medal 2011 in Gdansk. On Summer Olympic Games they appeared 8 times and won the first place 1976. Twice they were World champions and only one European 2009 in Turkey.

In the history of the team Poland had only world class coaches: Raul Lozano form 2005 to 2008, Daniel Castellani from 2009 to 2010, Andrea Anastasi from 2011 to 2013 and from 2014 Stéphane Antiga who is still on the bench.

Poland will participate at 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. 

Take a look at the 2016 roster of POLAND.

Russia have participated in the FIVB World League in 24 editions and won three golds, the last one 2013 in Mare del Plata. For 13 times they were the European champions and 6 times World champions. They 12 times have participated in Olympic Games and won four gold medals, last one 2012 in London. They have also qualified for Rio 2016.

Last year they took 7th place in World League and year before 5th.

Since the start of the World League in 1990, Russia has finished second in 1993, 1998 and 2000. Their first gold medal was 2002.

Head coach of this amazing team is Vladimir Romanovich Alekno. 

Take a look at the 2016 roster of RUSSIA.

The national team of Serbia have participated in 18 editions of the FIVB Volleyball World League (262 matches), with an overall record of 160 wins and 102 losses, and a set difference of 598:433.

Serbia have won 8 medals: 5 silver (2003, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2015) and 3 bronze (2002, 2004, 2010). Serbian players have also won numerous individual awards, and Ivan Miljković is the only player in the history of the competition who has won four MVP titles, of which three were in a row (2001, 2002, 2003, and 2005).

The 2015 runners-up will play their 19th season in this prestigious competition. With former volleyball star Nikola Grbić still on the bench, acting as the head coach and a true leader of the team, Serbia will certainly not have to worry about their future. 

The best achievement of Serbia is the gold medal at Olympic Games 2000. Twice they were European champions. 

Take a look at the 2016 roster of SERBIA. 

PRELIMINARY ROUND / GROUP 1 / POOL C 

To see standings, results, stats, videos, etc, visit our FIVB World League 2016 page.  

Subscribe to have full access on WoV PROFILES, STATS & VIDEO data base. 

Receive email notification (FOLLOW) about players‘ and teams’ latest STATS and VIDEOS (you need to be registered).

For more articles click on Latest news.