TEAM COMPOSITION

ITA / Italy - Team Composition

Team manager	SCIASCIA Stefano
Head coach	BERRUTO Mauro
Assistant coach	BROGIONI Andrea
Doctor	BENELLI Piero
Therapist / trainer	LAMA Davide
Journalist	LISI Carlo

	No.	Name	Lastname	Shirt Name	Birthdate	Height	Weight	Spike	Block
	1	Luigi	Mastrangelo	Mastrangelo	17.08.1975	202	90	368	336
	3	Simone	Parodi	Parodi	16.06.1986	196	82	350	335
	4	Andrea	Bari	Bari	05.03.1980	185	81	327	310
	7	Michal	Lasko	Lasko	11.03.1981	202	104	348	337
	9	Ivan	Zaytsev	Zaytsev	02.10.1988	202	92	355	348
	10	Dante	Boninfante	Boninfante	07.03.1977	194	75	334	315
C	11	Cristian	Savani	Savani	22.02.1982	195	95	354	335
	12	Simone	Buti	Buti	19.09.1983	206	100	346	328
	13	Dragan	Travica	Travica	28.08.1986	200	94	335	320
	14	Alessandro	Fei	Fei	29.11.1978	204	90	358	336
	15	Emanuele	Birarelli	Birarelli	08.02.1981	202	95	340	316
L	17	Andrea	Giovi	Giovi	19.08.1983	183	80	310	290
	18	Giulio	Sabbi	Sabbi	10.08.1989	201	92	352	325
	20	Mattia	Rosso	Rosso	28.05.1985	198	98	347	315

C=Captain L=Libero

Team profile

Italy's first major volleyball success came in the form of a bronze medal at the 1948 European Championships, which they hosted, but it was only in the early 1970s – after gold at the 1970 World University Games in Turin – that Italy became a major force in the sport.

In 1978, Italy hosted the FIVB World Championship for the first time and the side, led by Carmelo Pittera, won the silver medal. They followed this up with a bronze at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games under Silvano Prandi. In 1989, with the advent of Julio Velasco as the leader of the "Azzurri," Italy began a 15-year spell of domination that continued under coaches Paulo Roberto “Bebeto” Freitas, Andrea Anastasi and Gian Paolo Montali. From 1989 to 2005, Italy won three FIVB World Championships, one FIVB World Cup, six European Championships, eight FIVB World Leagues and three Olympic medals (silver in Atlanta in 1996, bronze at Sydney in 2000 and silver at Athens in 2004).

More recently, there have been glimpses that a possible return back to the glory days aren’t far away with their current young and progressive line-up finishing sixth at the FIVB World League this year after narrowly qualifying for the Finals, second at the 2011 European Championship and fourth at the FIVB World Championship last year.

Coach profile

Mauro Berruto was named Italy coach in December 2010 after six years as coach of Finland where he was named Coach of the Year in 2007. During his time as assistant coach of Italy from 2003 to 2004, the Azzurri won gold at the European Championship, silver at the Olympic Games, and bronze and silver in the FIVB World League. His hands-on nature already seems to be turning Italy in the right direction after an impressive showing in this year’s World League, Berruto’s first FIVB tournament in charge.