The history of the Italian Girl’s Youth national team is rather short but prestigious. The first official event it participated in was the 1995 European Championship in Barcelona, where it immediately conquered, taking the gold medal.

In the same year at the World Championships in France it was defeated in the semifinal by Japan and thus gained the bronze medal.

In 1997 Italy ranked fith at the continental championships in Slovakia and won a bronze at the World Championship in Thailand the same year.

2001 continued the success story of Italian youth Volleyball with a gold medal winning performance at the European Championship in the Czech Republic while in 2003 they collected the silver in the same event, going down to Croatia in the final.

The final between Croatia and Italy was the best ever final of the European Youth Championships in terms of ambiance. More than 2,000 spectators created a great atmosphere in the Dom Odbojke (Home of Volleyball) Arena in Zagreb. In this ambiance, it was easy to forget that the players on court had an average age of ‘only’ 16 years. The pressure on the young talents was enormous.

Italy had big problems to overcome this situation. The defending champion and title favorite was not only overwhelmed by the Croatian fans, but also by the Croatian team’s way of playing. Croatia was sailing on the support of their fans and that’s why it was no surprise that the home squad cruised to a 3-0 victory.