TEAM COMPOSITION

Poland boasts a strong volleyball tradition and the country's national team has been among the elite teams since its appearance at the first FIVB World Championship in 1949. The fourth-place result there was repeated in France in 1956 and again in Brazil in 1960, but the best was yet to come. From the mid-1970s, the Polish squad dominated the international volleyball scene. They triumphed at the FIVB World Championship in 1974 and took gold again at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal.

Poland have gone from strength to strength in recent years, led by the core group of players from the successful 1997 FIVB Junior world champions and headed by top coaches Raul Lozano and Daniel Castellani. They won silver at the FIVB World Championship 2006 and gold at the 2009 European Championship.

After a disappointing FIVB World Championship 2010, where they finished 16th, they set out on a path of revival under one of the world’s best coaches, the Italian Andrea Anastasi, who proved his worth by leading the team to bronze at the FIVB World League 2011. His influence extended to the European Championship where Poland also collected bronze before the highlight of the year came with a silver medal at the World Cup, earning the country a berth to the London 2012 Olympic Games.