TEAM COMPOSITION

ITA / Italy - Team Composition

Team manager	GAVAZZI Alberto
Head coach	BARBOLINI Massimo
Assistant coach	BRACCI Marco
Doctor	FERRAZZA Fabrizio
Therapist / trainer	ROSI Laura
Journalist	LISI Carlo

	No.	Name	Lastname	Shirt Name	Birthdate	Height	Weight	Spike	Block
	1	Sara	Anzanello	Anzanello	30.07.1980	193	78	316	298
	2	Cristina	Barcellini	Barcellini	20.11.1986	183	78	307	292
L	3	Paola	Croce	Croce	06.03.1978	167	52	290	265
	6	Monica	De Gennaro	De Gennaro	08.01.1987	174	67	292	270
	8	Carolina del Pilar	Costagrande	Costagrande	15.10.1980	188	80	312	291
	9	Caterina	Bosetti	Bosetti	02.02.1994	179	59	299	281
L	10	Immacolata	Sirressi	Sirressi	19.05.1990	175	62	284	260
	13	Valentina	Arrighetti	Arrighetti	26.01.1985	185	72	294	280
C	14	Eleonora	Lo Bianco	Lo Bianco	22.12.1979	171	67	287	273
	15	Antonella	Del Core	Del Core	05.11.1980	180	70	296	279
	16	Lucia	Bosetti	Bosetti	09.07.1989	175	65	306	286
	17	Simona	Gioli	Gioli	17.09.1977	185	70	307	283
	18	Noemi	Signorile	Signorile	15.02.1990	182	74	284	265
	19	Raphaela	Folie	Folie	07.03.1991	186	82	307	283

C=Captain L=Libero

Team profile

Volleyball is the most practised women’s sport in Italy thanks to recent results, including the 2007 FIVB World Cup title. Italy gained a position among women’s volleyball elite with their first Olympic qualification in 2000 where they finished ninth. Prior to that, their best performance at international level was fifth at the 1998 FIVB World Championship.

Italy first took part in the FIVB World Grand Prix in 1994 while in 2001 they reached their first continental final and a year later they picked up the ultimate honour – the FIVB Women’s World Championship title with an outstanding performance in Germany. The year 2004 saw the side finish fifth at the Olympic Games and second at the FIVB World Grand Prix. In 2005 they took silver again at the FIVB World Grand Prix before winning bronze in 2006, and 2007 was a golden year for the side as they won the European Championship and the FIVB World Cup.

In 2008 they finished fifth again at the Olympics and picked up their third bronze medal at the FIVB World Grand Prix, a feat they repeated in 2010, and they also won the 2009 FIVB World Grand Champions Cup. Their recent success always puts Italy amongst the favourites however, to ensure a medal, coach Massimo Barbolini has the big task of getting his team to play consistently at their best.

Coach profile

Massimo Barbolini, a setter before injury stopped his playing career at age 20, went into coaching soon after, starting as an assistant coach to Julio Velasco at Panini Modena before moving on to take the helm at Agrigento, Modena, Rome and Perugia. During his club career Barbolini won four Italian Championships, five Italian Cups, two CEV Cups, two Champions Cups and one European Supercup. Since 2006, he has worked with Italy's national team capturing two European Championships, the FIVB World Cup 2007 and the FIVB World Grand Champions Cup 2009.