Alan Nine
Volleyball.it on July 7 moved across youth national-team results, senior international preparation, European-cup administration, transfer news and federation projects. The lead result came from The Hague, where Italy's Under 22 women opened their European Championship with a victory over Poland. On the senior side, the women's national team completed its approach to the start of the Volleyball Nations League week in Hong Kong, while European volleyball confirmed the official club fields for the 2026-27 continental competitions.
International Under
Italy Under 22 women started their European Championship in winning fashion by beating Poland 3-2 in Pool II at the Sportcampus Zuiderpark Den Haag II. The match ended with set scores of 25-22, 25-16, 19-25, 21-25, 15-11, giving the team coached by Nino Gagliardi its first two points of the tournament.
Volleyball.it reported that Italy controlled the first two sets, then had to absorb Poland's comeback before regaining order in the tie-break. Merit Adigwe was Italy's top scorer with 19 points, followed by Giorgia Amoruso with 18. Dalila Marchesini added 16 points, including nine winning blocks. The Italian team closed the match with 10 aces and 15 winning blocks. The schedule remains tight: Italy will face Serbia on July 8 at 19:30 Italian time and Portugal on July 9, with the top two teams in each group advancing to the semifinals on July 11.
Women's VNL
Italy women's national team will open Pool 8 of the Volleyball Nations League in Hong Kong against Ukraine on July 8 at 11:00 Italian time at the Kai Tak Arena. According to Volleyball.it, the Azzurre arrive at the start of the week in third place overall with six wins and two losses, targeting qualification for the Finals in Macao scheduled from July 22 to 26.
Anna Danesi, back in the group after a rest period, said she feels ready to return together with other senior players and stressed the need to recover match rhythm after the break. Head coach Julio Velasco also said the experiments from the first two VNL weeks are over and that the team has returned to a consolidated system while working to recover rhythm and condition. Volleyball.it listed the 14-player squad for Hong Kong, including setters Carlotta Cambi and Alessia Orro, opposites Paola Egonu and Ekaterina Antropova, and captain Danesi among the middle blockers. The article also recalled a head-to-head balance of 13 wins and 4 losses for Italy against Ukraine.
European Cups
The European club map for 2026-27 also became clearer. Volleyball.it reported that 103 women's teams and 105 men's teams have been confirmed across the Champions League, CEV Cup and Challenge Cup, with one additional place in each gender still to come from the BVA Cup.
On the women's side, the Italian clubs listed in the Champions League were Conegliano, Scandicci, Milano and Novara, while Chieri '76 was included in the CEV Cup and Vallefoglia in the Challenge Cup. On the men's side, Italy's Champions League entrants were Perugia, Lube Civitanova, Verona and Trentino Itas, with Piacenza and Modena among the clubs entered in the CEV Cup. The confirmation fixed the official starting field for next season's continental competitions before the July draw stage.
Italian Transfer News
Daniele Lavia renewed his contract with Itas Trentino for one more season and will therefore wear the yellow-and-blue shirt for a sixth consecutive year. Volleyball.it wrote that the outside hitter, who arrived in June 2021, has become one of the reference points of the club's recent cycle.
During his time in Trento, Lavia won two Italian league titles, one Champions League and one Italian Supercup. The article also noted that, despite the serious injury suffered ten months ago, he passed the mark of 200 appearances for Trentino Volley during the last season. Club president Marcello Poli described him as a fundamental piece of the squad on and off the court.
Federation
FIPAV announced two new editorial tools aimed at the technical and managerial sectors: VolleyZone and VolleyCast. Volleyball.it described VolleyZone as a quarterly scientific magazine designed to explore themes, data and innovation through accessible articles signed by figures from the national volleyball landscape.
VolleyCast, meanwhile, is a podcast built to connect different areas of expertise and offer a broader view of volleyball by linking on-court experience, scientific research and innovation. The two channels will cover the federation's three disciplines - indoor volleyball, beach volleyball and sitting volleyball - as well as scouting, regulations, physical preparation, psychology, sociology, nutrition, rehabilitation and managerial topics.
