Poland boasts a strong Volleyball tradition. The country's national team has played an important role among the elite teams since its first appearance at the very first FIVB World Championship in 1949 held in Czechoslovakia. The fourth place from the tournament was repeated in France (1956) and again in Brazil (1960). But the best results were yet to come. In the middle of the 1970s, the Polish squad claimed the absolute top position and dominated the international Volleyball scene for several years. Poland triumphed at the FIVB World Championship in Mexico in 1974 and succeeded again two years later at the Montreal Olympics, winning the Olympic title. Also at the time, Poland finished second and fifth at consecutive European Championship between 1975 and 1983.

The Polish squad joined the elite FIVB World League in 1998 and has again been on the rise. After their debut, finishing tenth, they finished eighth in 1999 and again in 2000. In 2001, Poland made its mark on the world scene by hosting a fantastic final of the FIVB World League in the city of Katowice, where they finished 7th overall. Atmosphere, entertainment and ambience at this event drew widespread praise and set new standards for international competitions. One year later, Poland, led by coach Waldemar Wspanialy, took another step forward and advanced to the FIVB World League finals, where they claimed fifth place and re-launched the team into international prominence.

One of the strongest and most innovative sides on the international stage, Poland have 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 Polish side.

Despite an interesting change of coach with Argentine Raul Lozano replacing Stanislaw Gosciniak, big things are expected again from Poland in group C with Serbia & Montenegro, Greece and Argentina as opponents. The core group of players, which is based on the successful 1997 World Junior champions lineup, includes such prominent names from the free scoring Dawid Murek, Pawel Zagumny and Piotr Gruszka to the twin towers of Piotr Gruszka and Lukasz Kadziewicz, who both stand at 2.06m tall, and provide Poland with plenty of attacking artillery.

Poland qualified for the FIVB World League 2005 together with Brazil, Serbia and Cuba. The Polish team, in all their final matches, played five sets and finished fourth. It was the best performance in the history of Polish participation in the FIVB World League.

At the European Championships 2005 the Polish men’s team finished in fifth place.

Poland together with Russia qualified for the FIVB World Championships 2006 in Japan. The Qualification Tournament was played in Rzeszów (Poland) with participation from Bulgaria, Estonia, Russia and Poland.

In 2006 Poland returned to the world Volleyball elite by winning a silver medal at the 2006 FIVB World Championships. It was best performance since 1974.

2007 World League  Finals was held in Katowice (Poland) and the Polish Team finished in 4th place. It was the best Volleyball event in the history of Polish Volleyball.

2008 was very tough for all teams across the world. Poland won their Olympic Qualification Tournament in Portugal winning all matches 3-0. Polish Team played World League Finals in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and moved directly from Brazil to China for the 2008 Olympic Games. They lost in the quarterfinal against Italy and finished in position 5-8.

In February 2009 Daniel Castellani became head coach of the Polish Men’s Team and his first targets are the FIVB World league 2009, qualification to the 2010 FIVB World Championships (Italy) and European Championships (Turkey).

Poland won the Qualification Tournament for the FIVB World Championships 2010 in Italy and during the Final Tournament will defend their silver medal.

Poland won gold medal in the 2009 European Championships in Turkey and qualified for the World Grand Champions Cup where they finish 4th place.

Daniel Castellani was just 32 years old when he was offered the job as coach of the Argentine National Team. Sixteen years later, in February 2009, the Board of the Polish Volleyball Federation entrusted him with the task of coaching our National Team. Expectations are high following the National Team’s successes under former coach Raul Lozano.

Born: March 21, 1961 in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Married to Silvinia, with two children, Ariana and Ivan

Career as a player:
Teams: Obras Sanitarias (Argentina), Chieti (Italy), Atlantica Boavista, Minas (Brazil), Falconara, Bologna, Padova, Firenze (Italy)

National leagues achievements:
- Runner-up at Brazil Championship – Atlantica Boavista 1984
- CEV Cup Winner – Falconara (Italy) 1985
- Brazil Championship – Minas 1985

National team achievements:
- Gold, South America’s Junior Championship – 1980 Chile
- Bronze, World Championship – 1982 Argentina
- Winner, Olympic Qualification Tournament – 1987 Brazil
- Bronze, Olympics – 1988 Seoul
 
Coaching career:
- Won the Pan-American Games with Argentina – 1995 La Plata
- Helped Argentina qualify for the Olympics – 1996 Buenos Aires
- Argentina Championship – 2003 and 2004 Bolivar Signia
- Poland Championship – 2007 and 2008 Skra Belchatów
- Poland Cup winner – 2007, 2009 Skra Belchatów
- Third place in Masters’ League – 2008 Skra Belchatów
- Became head coach of Poland Men’s National Team - 2009