2016 Review: Serbia claim first World League title

Lausanne, Switzerland, December 20, 2016 – The 27th edition of the FIVB Volleyball World League crowned Serbia but also gave spectators a taste of what was to come at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.The first Group 1 Preliminary Round match took place in the Olympic city of Rio de Janeiro – and hosts Brazil outclassed Iran 3-0. When the top six in Group 1 met in Krakow for the competition’s Finals, the ranking of Preliminary Round Pool K read as follows: 1. Brazil, 2. Italy, 3. USA. Quick links:FIVB Volleyball World League 2016FIVB Volleyball World League 2017A good month later, the same teams would stand on the podium at the Olympic Games in exactly the same order. But nobody could have known that at the time of the World League. After all, the team making the headlines over the course of the 64 matches that made up Group 1 of the 2016 FIVB World League were Serbia, and they were the only finalists not qualified for the Olympics.    Serbia made amends for missing out on Rio by winning their first World League title – at the 19th attempt – and picked up a million-dollar bonus in the process.“Sixth time lucky, our volleyball team finally won the World League. Magic, fantasy, wonder,” wrote Politika, the country’s oldest and most important daily newspaper.  The team were celebrated by an entire nation upon the players’ return to Serbia – celebrations which would be repeated a few weeks later when the Serbian women’s team won silver in Rio de Janeiro.The men’s victory had something magical about it – apparent “perpetual runners-up”, Serbia had finally won the title in the most important annual event in the world of volleyball after finishing second five times (2003, 2005, both times as Serbia and Montenegro, 2008, 2009, 2015). And in the final, against FIVB World League record winners and hot favourites Brazil, they claimed a commanding 3-0 victory (25-22, …

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