Lausanne, Switzerland, September 4, 2015 - Should you ever find yourself wondering why Olympic champions Russia, world number one Brazil and world champions Poland are among the top nations in men’s volleyball, you need look no further than the FIVB Volleyball Men’s U21 World Championship. These three countries have dominated the first 17 editions of the competition, which next takes place in the Mexican cities of Tijuana and Mexicali from September 11-20.
The Soviet Union and its successor state Russia have stepped onto the top step of the podium on nine occasions – more than half of the tournaments – and have won 14 medals. Brazil have been in the medals on 13 occasions, including four titles. Poland have been crowned champions twice. The last time was in 2003 when the team featured Mariusz Wlazly - the very same Wlazly who led Poland to the World Championship title in 2014 and also won the MVP award.
His is one of many big careers that began at the U21 World Championships. Two years ago, all eyes were on Viktor Poletaev, who helped Russia to their ninth gold medal in the history of the event.
The Russians won the 2013 tournament with a comfortable 3-0 victory over rivals Brazil. Poletaev scored 151 points over the course of the championship and was named Most Valuable Player (MVP).
“I was very surprised, especially since I was much younger than most of the players there,” he said. “The MVP is usually a member of the team that wins gold, so this individual award was a very nice addition to our result as a team.”
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