Poland boasts a strong Volleyball tradition. The Men's National Team has played an important role among the elite teams since its first appearance in the inaugural World Championships in 1949 held in Czechoslovakia. Fourth place at the tournament was repeated in France (1956) and again in Brazil (1960).

In 1970, the Polish squad claimed the top position in international Volleyball and continued its domination for several years.

Poland triumphed at the FIVB World Championships in Mexico in 1974 and succeeded again two years later at the Olympic Games in Montreal, where the team won the Olympic title.

Poland also claimed second place at five consecutive European Championships between 1975 and 1983.

The Polish squad joined the FIVB World League in 1998 and finished 10th in its first tournament. They were eighth in 1999 and again in 2000. In 2001, Poland hosted the World League Finals for the first time, finishing seventh.

One year later and led by coach Waldemar Wspanialy, Poland took another step forward and advanced to the World League Finals, where they claimed fifth place, returning the team to international prominence.

One of the strongest and most innovative sides around, Poland has gone from strength to strength in recent years and their quarterfinal performance at the 2004 Olympic Games, which included a straight-sets win over Serbia and Montenegro, summed up the quality of this side.

Poland finished fourth in the 2005 World League and fifth in the European Championships the same year.

To cap a successful year, Poland qualified for the 2006 World Championships in Japan via a Qualification Tournament on home soil in Rzeszów.

Things were going well for Poland until tragedy struck on September 16, 2005, when Arkadiusz Golas, one of the most talented Polish Volleyball players, died in a car accident on the way to Austria during a road trip with Italian side Macerata. He was 24 years old.

Poland bounced back from the Golas tragedy and back into the world Volleyball elite by winning the silver medal at 2006 World Championships.

In 2007, Poland hosted the World League Finals in Katowice and claimed fourth place in a super-successful finale that attracted bumper crowds.

This, unfortunately, was followed up with a disappointing 11th at the 2007 European Championships in Moscow.

In 2008, Poland swept through its Olympic qualifying tournament in Portugal, winning all three matches to book a berth at the Beijing Games, where they lost to Italy in the quarterfinals to finish joint fifth. A fifth-place finish was also the team’s outcome at the 2008 World League.

This year the team is under the guidance of new coach Daniel Castellani, who replaced Raul Lozano in February. The team has had mixed results this year, finishing 11^th at the World League but winning its qualification tournament for the 2010 World Championship in Italy, where it will attempt to do one better than the silver medal it won last time around, and claiming gold at the 2009 European Championship in Turkey to qualify for the 2009 World Grand Champions Cup in Japan.