Volleyball.it spent July 16 across three clear fronts: a needed response from Italy's senior men in the Volleyball Nations League, an institutional and scheduling day for the Italian leagues at Volley Mercato in Bologna, and a late-evening package of youth, sitting-volley and market developments that extended the picture well beyond the senior court. The result was one of the most structurally important news days of the week, because it combined a completed international result with decisions that will shape the 2026-27 domestic season.
International
Italy reacted immediately after the opening loss to Japan by beating Belgium 3-0 in Osaka, with set scores of 25-20, 25-22, 25-22. Volleyball.it described the win as cleaner on the scoreboard than in the balance of play, because the match stayed close in the statistics. Italy finished with 42 winning attacks against Belgium's 36, 7 blocks against 6, and 3 aces against 1, while the total error count remained near level at 21 for the Azzurri and 23 for Belgium.
The Belgian opposite Ferre Reggers was the overall top scorer with 14 points, but Italy spread production more effectively and got 13 points from middle blocker Pardo Mati, plus 13 from Yuri Romano and 11 from Mattia Bottolo. Volleyball.it noted that the result gave the team coached by Ferdinando De Giorgi its sixth VNL victory and lifted Italy to 20 points in the overall standings. After July 17 as a rest day from matches, the Azzurri are due back against Argentina on July 18 and Cuba on July 19.
The late July 16 roundup kept the wider international race in focus as well. Volleyball.it recalled Japan's previous five-set win over Italy in Osaka and pointed to other table-moving results, including Brazil's 3-0 win over France behind 13 points and 4 aces from Darlan Souza, Poland's straight-sets success over Bulgaria and the United States' own 3-0 result against China. The same article added that Slovenia beat Germany 3-1 and Ukraine defeated Iran by the same score to remain in the finals race.
Italian Leagues
The most significant off-court development came in Bologna, where the extraordinary assembly of the Lega Pallavolo Serie A elected Claudio Durigon by acclamation as the new league president during Volley Mercato 2026. Volleyball.it reported that Massimo Righi, president from 2020 to 2026, will remain in the structure as chairman of the board. The same assembly also elected Carlo Ghirardi of Consoli Sferc Brescia as the new Serie A2 councillor, while the clubs reviewed the 2025-26 pre-closing accounts and unanimously approved the 2026-27 budget forecast.
Durigon's first remarks, as reported by Volleyball.it, centered on continuity, institutional visibility and collective work. He explicitly said he was not arriving to change what already works, and placed emphasis on giving volleyball stronger recognition in the Italian sports narrative and in its relationship with institutions. The timing of the election mattered because it came on the same day as the official presentation of the new season and its calendars.
Volleyball.it also published the key dates for the next SuperLega campaign. The regular season will run from October 18 to February 28 with an asymmetric format, plus four midweek rounds and an additional holiday round on December 26. The Italian Super Cup Final Four is scheduled for November 14-15, while the Coppa Italia quarterfinals will be played on December 30 and the Final Four on February 6-7. The Scudetto Playoffs will begin on March 7 and can extend to May 11, while the teams ranked ninth to twelfth will enter the play-out phase for three SuperLega places.
Market And Youth
In the late roundup, Volleyball.it used the first calendar releases to give an early reading of the new lower-division season. In Serie A2, Consar Ravenna will open at home on October 18 against Yuasa Battery Grottazzolina, while ABBA Pineto will also start at home against Reggio Calabria. Belluno Volley, meanwhile, is set to begin away at Reggio Emilia. In A3, SAV Silvolley Trebaseleghe completed its roster with the return of 2006-born middle blocker Riccardo Florian, after already adding libero Francesco Giannini.
The same late-evening article also kept July 15's youth story alive by confirming that Italy Under 18 men, after beating Turkey 3-1 in Porto San Giorgio, would face France in the European semifinal and had already secured qualification for the 2027 Under 19 World Championship. In sitting volley, Italy's women's national team answered its quarterfinal disappointment by beating Iran 3-1 with set scores of 18-25, 25-23, 25-16, 25-23. Volleyball.it highlighted Asia Sarzi Amade as top scorer with 17 points and noted that the Azzurre will play Ukraine for fifth place on July 17 at 9:00 Italian time.
The international-club notes in that same roundup stretched further, from the French presence in next season's European cups to the choice of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria as a host city for EuroVolley 2028. Together with the VNL rebound and the institutional shift in Bologna, those updates closed July 16 as a day that moved both the present competitive race and the medium-term shape of Italian volleyball.
