Volleyball was introduced in Argentina by the
YMCA - Youth Christian Association in 1912. The Argentine Volleyball Federation
was created in 1932 sharing the same management as
Basketball. The number of fans slowly started to grow as a
result of its broadcasting. Nowadays, about 30.000 registered players enjoy
Volleyball all over the country, not to mention the number of players at school
level.
The Men's
National team's first participation in an official event was at the South
American Championship held in Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil, in 1951 and they
finished fourth. The Argentinean Men's team first took part in the World
Championship in 1960 in Rio de
Janeiro, finishing 15th. Since then, Argentina participated in 8 World Championships
and its best ranking was 3rd, which was in Buenos Aires in 1982. At the last World Championship,
held in Japan in November
2006, Argentina finished
13th.
They first qualified for the Olympic Games in
Los Angeles in 1984 and finished 6th, and 4 years
later in Seoul won the Bronze medal. They finished 6th in Atlanta in 1996,
4th in Sydney in 2000 and finally 5th in Athens in 2004.
Argentina qualified to the second
round in all Olympic Games.
As for the the World League, Argentina first jointed it in 1996 in Mar del Plata. As host
country in 1999, it took place in the final matches with the best 6 teams of the
world. In the 2006 edition Argentina played against Brazil, Portugal and
Finland, winning 7 consecutive matches, 4 of which as visiting team, losing only
one against Finland in Catamarca and 4 played against Champion Brazil, 2 in San
Juan and 2 in Belo Horizonte.
On the American level, Argentina took part in 9 editions of the
Panamerican Games, obtaining 3 times the bronze medal and became champion in
1995 in
the Games played in Mar del
Plata, Argentina.
Argentina is one of the countries that has shone in
the world competitions in the last years and it has organized two World Senior
Men's Championships, in 1982 and in 2002, one World Youth Boys Championship in
1993 and several other Championships in South America.
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A former player and coach, Jon Uriarte wore the Argentinean jersey
himself for 12 years and played four World Championships and two Olympic
Games. He was part of a group called "Generation 82", who won the bronze
medal at the 1982 Men's World Championship in Argentina and at
the 1988 Olympic Games in Seul. As a player, he also won three times the
Argentine League and nine times foreign Leagues: seven times in Italy, once in
France and once in the Netherlands.
His path as a coach started
in the Argentinean city of Azul, first coaching Chacarita FC Azul (1991/93
- twice champion) and Azul Volley Club (1993/2001 - champion of the 1993/94 and
2000/01 seasons). After that he went to Australia to
coach their Men's National Team (2001/04), allowing them, among other
achievement, to qualify for the first time to the Olympic Games in 2004. In
2005 he coached Telemig Minas de Brazil with whom he won one Championship and
one second place before returning to Argentina.
Under the coaching of Jon
Uriarte, the Argentine Men's National Team put on the best performance in its
history at the 2006 World League with seven consecutive victories, and also
finished 13th at the 2006 Men's World Championship in Japan. At the 2007
South-American Championship, held in Chile, Argentina finished 2nd, only behind
Brazil and with a great victory over Venezuela, and earning a place at the 2007
Men's World Cup.
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ARG / Argentina
- Team Composition
Competition Formula