Year in Review: European Teams at the World Championships

10 European national teams per gender competed in this year's FIVB World Championships, and alongside having the most representation and four podiums in total, the titles stayed at the continent as well, with Serbia in women's and Italy in men's.

This year's FIVB Women's World Championship took place in Poland and Netherlands, and Europe was represented by Serbia, Italy, Poland, Türkiye, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, and Croatia in the most prestigious tournament of the year.

While each team showed outstanding performances throughout the first and second phases, four secured their spots for the quarterfinals. With Serbia facing Poland in a thrilling five-setter and Italy sweeping China in four sets, the finalists of CEV EuroVolley 2021 also managed to advance to the semifinals, whereas the Turkish and Polish squads' journey ended up in the quarterfinals.

Serbia became the first finalist after overpowering the United States by 3-1, and Italy failed to pass Brazil in the second semifinal. Paola Egonu and her friends had no difficulties defeating the United States for the bronze and took third place in the tournament.

On the other hand, Serbia made one of historical successes, and by showing a superior performance against Brazil with a clear score of 3-0 in the final match, they defended their title without losing any matches in the tournament.

As well as the titleholder team remaining unchanged, the Most Valuable Player was also no one but Serbia's superstar, Tijana Boskovic. Only at 25 years of age, it was her second MVP award in the World Championship, and she became the second player who could succeed in this achievement.

The Dream Team includes a total of five European players: Bojana Drca (Serbia), Tijana Boskovic (Serbia), Myriam Sylla (Italy), Anna Danesi (Italy), and Teodora Pusic (Serbia) found their places in the Dream Team with their stunning performances.

Italy, Poland, Slovenia, France, Ukraine, Serbia, Netherlands, Türkiye, Germany, and Bulgaria took the court in the men's edition of the FIVB World Championship, which was held in Poland and Slovenia. European national teams were quite successful in the tournament: nine of them made it through to the round of 16, and five booked their tickets to the quarterfinals.

Europeans became face-to-face in two quarterfinals. At the first of them, Italy became victorious against France in five, and Slovenia took a win over Ukraine. Poland advanced to the semifinals after a epic win opposed to the United States by 3-2.

While Poland played and won another five-setter, this time against Brazil, to get into the finals, Italy went to the final with a three-set victory over Slovenia.

Beating Poland by 3-1 in the final clash in front of almost 10.000 Polish fans, Italy became the top national team after 24 years.

The MVP of the CEV EuroVolley 2021, Simone Giannelli, was honored as the Best Setter and the MVP of the tournament. Alongside Italian super talent, Bartosz Kurek (Poland), Kamil Semeniuk (Poland), Mateusz Bieniek (Poland), Gianluca Galassi (Italy), and Fabio Balaso (Italy) were selected for the Dream Team.

With ten participating countries, two podiums, and the triumph per gender, European national teams once again represented their continent in the best way in this year's FIVB World Championships. No one can know what will happen four years later, but one thing is for sure, Europe as a whole will continue to pursue success.