Italian
The head coaches of the women’s and men’s World Champion national teams in volleyball have officially announced the teams for the 2026 Volleyball Nations League
MILAN – With the men’s championship still awaiting to know who will win the title between Perugia and Civitanova, and with the women’s championship concluded with the ninth beauty of Imoco Conegliano, yesterday officially marked the start of the new season for the Italian national teams.
At the Belvedere “Silvio Berlusconi” of Palazzo Lombardia in Milano, the press conference for the presentation of the 2026 season of the senior and youth national volleyball teams took place. A way to gather and present the seasonal work programs and to officially announce the list of athletes who will participate in the blue commitments of the summer 2026.
The Azzurre
The women’s national team officially started with a first training camp in Milan from April 13 to 17. An experimental team lacking many stars still busy with club commitments. In any case, coach Velasco had already announced in October that some big names like Egonu, Orro, Sylla, and Danesi would take a breather after years without breaks between leagues, cups, and national team commitments.
A double team is thus born, a way to evaluate new athletes and seek new balances and strategies to pursue the third consecutive Volleyball Nations League but above all the only title that has been missing in these two years under the management of Julio Velasco: the European Championship.
The official list of 30 athletes for the VNL will be announced on May 13, and the day after, the Azzurre will debut in Biella in the first of two test matches against France. The debut in the Nations League is scheduled for June 3 in Brasilia. Then the real season goal, the continental tournament, will start on August 21 with the group stage in Sweden.
These are the words of the Head Coach of the women’s national team, Julio Velasco:
“We must think that, in recent years, we have also lost and not just won because I believe that the best way to lose is to keep celebrating. While we celebrate, all the other national teams are building up anger, hunger, and training every day to beat us. We must always try new situations and adapt to what awaits us.
I would like to thank the Serie A clubs, because without their work there would be no players for the National Team. Our athletes must demonstrate, in A1 and also in A2, that they can compete in important contexts. Nowadays, there are many matches, so we will face the first commitments by giving some members of the group a bit of rest, because the summer is very long. We will introduce new players who will have to overcome the initial emotions of major events, and I must say that I am very confident. We have a list for the A national team and a list for the B national team, while on May 13 we will deliver the official list for the VNL.”
During the presentation, the coach also praised the champion Monica De Gennaro, who, as is known, left the blue jersey at the end of the 2025 World Championship. “She is an extraordinary player and person who has completed her journey with the National Team, and I would certainly like her to, sooner or later, join our staff.”
The called-up players
Velasco has called up 21 players for team A and 15 for group B that will participate in the Mediterranean Games:
TEAM A
SETTERS
Carlotta Cambi, Alessia Orro, Chidera Blessing Eze.
LIBEROS
Ilaria Spirito, Eleonora Fersino, Ilenia Moro.
OPPOSITES
Merit C. Adigwe, Paola Egonu, Josephine Obossa.
OUTSIDE HITTERS
Alice Tanase, Stella Nervini, Myriam Sylla, Loveth Omoruyi, Gaia Giovannini, Ekaterina Antropova.
MIDDLES
Denise Meli, Dalila Marchesini, Linda Nwakalor, Sarah Fahr, Anna Danesi, Linda Manfredini.
TEAM B
SETTERS
Asia Bonelli, Francesca Scola.
LIBEROS
Federica Pelloni, Sara Panetoni.
OPPOSITES
Giorgia Frosini, Binto Diop.
OUTSIDE HITTERS
Alessia Bolzonetti, Alice Nardo, Valeria Battista, Beatrice Gardini, Anna Piovesan.
CENTRAL BLOCKERS
Katja Eckl, Sara Caruso, Veronica Costantini, Islam Gannar.
The Blues
The situation for the Azzurri is different, with the Championship still awaiting the scudetto finals between Perugia and Civitanova. Common goals instead for CT Ferdinando De Giorgi, who will officially announce the final roster for the VNL on May 20.
The men’s national team will meet for the first training camp on May 11 in Rome, and then face Turkey in the first friendly match on May 28 in Cavalese.
The debut in Nations League will be on June 10 in Ottawa, Canada. On September 10, there will be an appointment in Piazza Plebiscito in Naples for the debut at the European Championship. For the summer, De Giorgi has called up 27 players.
SETTERS
Simone Giannelli, Riccardo Sbertoli, Paolo Porro, Mattia Boninfante, Alessandro Fanizza, Bryan Argilagos.
LIBEROS
Fabio Balaso, Domenico Pace, Gabriele Laurenzano, Matteo Staforini, Damiano Catania, Luca Loreti.
OPPOSITES
Yuri Romanò, Kamil Rychlicki, Alessandro Bovolenta, Tommaso Guzzo, Diego Frascio.
SPIKERS
Alessandro Michieletto, Luca Porro, Mattia Bottolo, Francesco Sani, Daniele Lavia, Mattia Orioli, Tommaso Rinaldi, Giulio Magalini, Davide Gardini, Tommaso Ichino.
MIDDLES
Roberto Russo, Giovanni Gargiulo, Giovanni Sanguinetti, Pardo Mati, Francesco Comparoni, Gianluca Galassi, Lorenzo Cortesia, Leandro Mosca, Andrea Truocchio, Marco Pellacani.
Photo Credits: Federvolley.it
