Team Profile


POL/Poland

Poland’s world ranking of seven illustrates the vast improvement this team has made in recent years after being ranked ninth at the start of 2004.

One of the strongest and most innovative sides going round 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 Lozan 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 Gruzska to the twin towers of Piotr Gruszka and Lukasz Kadziewicz, who both stand at 206cm tall, and provide Poland with plenty of attacking artillery.

Last year Poland finished seventh in the World League, finishing behind Bulgaria and France after losing their final two matches but after last year’s Olympic performance bigger and brighter things are on the cards.

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 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 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 at five consecutive European Championship between 1975 and 1983. Poland initially failed to qualify for the last World Championship in Argentina in 2002, but after Korea withdrew from the competition, their team was selected as a replacement and finished ninth.

The Polish squad joined the elite World League in 1998 and has since been again on the ascendancy. 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 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 World League finals, where they claimed a historic fifth place and re-launching the team into international prominence.