Alan Nine
Volleyball.it’s latest 24-hour news cycle, as visible on August 8, 2026, revolved around the Italian national-team system, the approach to the coming European Championships and one of the most notable coaching stories still open on the club market. The day brought a competitive test for Italy’s women’s B team, another result from the youth world stage, a new call-up list from Ferdinando De Giorgi and a fresh beach-volleyball step forward for Valentina Gottardi and Reka Orsi Toth.
The picture was broad but coherent. Some stories dealt directly with results, others with roster planning, official event organization or late-market strategy, yet all of them pointed to the same phase of the season: August is no longer about general preparation alone, but about decisions that shape the final road into major international events and the opening weeks of club competition.
International
The first competitive headline of the current window came from Urbino, where Italy’s women’s National B team lost to Sweden in a five-set match during an international triangular tournament. Volleyball.it reported a 3-2 Swedish victory, with Obossa scoring 26 points and Bolzonetti adding 21 for the Azzurre of Carlo Parisi. Even in defeat, the numbers underlined that Italy stayed in the match throughout and continued to use the summer window to test depth and competitive rhythm.
The wider international picture also remained tied to the approach toward the continental season. Volleyball.it highlighted that the final phase of the men’s EuroVolley 2026 has now been assigned to the Unipol Forum in Assago, where the semifinals and medal matches will be played on September 25 and 26. That official confirmation gives a concrete Italian backdrop to the final stretch of the event and adds further domestic focus to the national team’s build-up.
International Under
Italy’s women’s Under 17 team added another positive result at the World Championship in Santiago del Cile. Volleyball.it reported that the Azzurrine of Monica Cresta beat the Dominican Republic 3-1, collecting their second consecutive win in the tournament. The individual headline belonged to Hillary Uwadie, who finished with 27 points and drove Italy’s offensive production in another meaningful step of the group-stage campaign.
The result matters beyond the scoreline itself. At this stage of the youth world championship, consecutive victories help define both standings and confidence, and Volleyball.it’s coverage presented Italy as a side capable of following up its opening success with immediate continuity. In a crowded August for the federation’s national teams, the Under 17 women are giving the system one of its clearest competitive signals.
Men's EuroVolley
On the senior men’s side, Volleyball.it reported that De Giorgi has called 17 players for the training camp in Cervia from August 10 to 13 as Italy begins its work toward the European Championship scheduled from September 10 to 26. The article framed the camp as the team’s restart after the end of the Volleyball Nations League, shifting attention from summer competition to the next major target on the calendar.
The significance of that list is not only administrative. It marks the opening of the next selection phase, the point at which the national team moves from broad seasonal monitoring to a tighter competitive core. With the finals weekend of EuroVolley now assigned to Assago and the preparatory work beginning in Cervia, Italy’s men enter a more defined and visible countdown toward September.
Italian Transfer News
The most striking club story of the day came from the coaching market. Volleyball.it reported that Fenerbahçe, still without a head coach after the break with Marcello Abbondanza, is targeting Stefano Lavarini. According to the report, the Turkish club’s financial power could test Numia Vero Volley Milano’s resistance despite Lavarini’s recent confirmation after a season that took Milano to Game 4 of the scudetto final against Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano.
The same article added that Milano is already studying a possible succession plan and has identified Gianlorenzo Blengini as a high-level option. Volleyball.it noted that Blengini remains under contract with the Bulgarian Federation for two more seasons and has so far worked exclusively with the men’s national team, but that a dual-role solution could become possible. If the situation develops, it would create one of the last major late-summer shifts on the international coaching market and directly affect one of Italy’s highest-profile women’s clubs.
Beach Volley
Beach volleyball also delivered a clear Italian note. Volleyball.it reported that Gottardi and Orsi Toth completed a perfect run in Pool D at the BPT Elite16 in Hamburg, beating the German pair Ittlinger-Van de Velde 2-0. That result gave the Italians three wins from three in the pool and a direct passage into the quarterfinals.
Set against the recent injury news involving Claudia Scampoli, the Hamburg result offered a more positive angle for Italy’s women’s beach program. Volleyball.it presented Gottardi and Orsi Toth as the day’s strongest active result on the sand, confirming both consistency in the group phase and the ability to turn a clean preliminary run into immediate knockout-round positioning.
