The calendar year is now coming to an end and, as always, it is the ideal time to take stock of the progress of the last twelve months. If to sum it up it is Italy in the volleyball universethen the feedback can only be positive: both the major nations have won the World Cupthe men’s team confirmed itself on the throne by taking home the fifth world title in its history and the women’s team won the scepter after triumphing at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The national teams have been on break since September and have left room for club activity, making an appointment directly for the month of June with the start of the Nations League. The traveling tournament will keep us company during the summer and will launch the sprint towards the European Championships, which between August and September will offer the first passes to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics (the teams that win the tournaments will deserve a ticket to the Games). But what is the situation in the FIVB ranking?
Female Italy she won two editions of the Nations League, the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics and the 2025 Women’s Volleyball World Cup, and has racked up 35 consecutive victories in official matches. The last defeat dates back to 1 June 2024, when the Italians lost in a tie-break against Brazil in Macau in a match valid for the preliminary phase of the Nations League. A simply record-breaking streak with a series of apotheoses that made the group led by coach Julio Velasco one of the greatest teams in the history of Italian sport.
Our national team has been unleashed in the last two years and stands peremptorily at the top of the FIVB ranking: Italy is number 1 in the world with 484.15 points and has now made up for Brazil (428.00) and Turkey (368.09), Poland (359.85), Japan (346.26), China (337.02) and the USA (335.03) are even further behind. The situation will remain crystallized in the positions that matter until June 2026, when the next Nations League begins.
The men’s Italy team has confirmed itself as World Champion, but is not number 1 in the world: this is the paradox of the FIVB ranking drawn up at the end of the world championship which ended with the triumph of Simone Giannelli and his companions. The international ranking is drawn up according to a complex algorithm which provides that a national team can lose or gain points depending on a victory or defeat, the score of the match, the caliber of the opponent and the importance of the event in which it takes place.
Italy occupies second position with 385.02 points. Polanddefeated in the semi-final by the Azzurri and then capable of winning bronze, takes the lead with 390.96 points. Brazil (338.40) and France (328.22) are decidedly further away, having suffered elimination in the group stage of the World Cup. Fifth place for the USA ahead of Slovenia, Japan, Argentina, Bulgaria and Canada.
RANKING FIVB VOLLEY FEMMINILE (top-10)
1. Italia 484,15
2. Brazil 428.00
3. Türkiye 368.09
4. Poland 359.85
5. Japan 346.26
6. China 337.02
7. USA 335,03
8. Netherlands 270.58
9. Serbia 261,31
10. Germania 254,68
RANKING FIVB VOLLEY MASCHILE (top-10)
1. Poland 390.96
2. Italia 385,02
3. Brazil 338.40
4. France 328.22
5. USA 324,35
6. Slovenia 303,61
7. Japan 294.77
8. Argentina 269,00
9. Bulgaria 261,30
10. Canada 252,99
