Lausanne, 21^st August 2006 – After six weeks of competition, Serbia and Montenegro, Brazil, France and Bulgaria secured their tickets to the finals as the leaders of their respective pools, with Russia already guaranteed a berth as the host nation. The sixth place, the FIVB’s wild-card choice, is now offered to Italy after what FIVB President Acosta described as one of the toughest wild card decisions during his tenure.

With three of the pools going down to the wire before the leader was determined, the wild card entrant in the finals was always going to be a close call. Taking the FIVB’s first criterion of competitiveness into account, any one of eight teams could have legitimately been chosen as the wild card. Even the second criterion of media and TV marketability could do little to separate the contenders, with many of the participating federations showing excellent promotional work and enjoying capacity crowds for their home matches.

The FIVB is today pleased to announce the outcome of a decision that President Rubén Acosta H. described as one of the “toughest ever” in the World League. Announcing that Italy was the team offered the FIVB wild card today, he said “The decision was indeed very hard and I think several teams had a strong case for the wild card. Unfortunately, the FIVB can only offer one and, after due consideration of all factors, we are pleased to offer the FIVB wild card to Italy.”

One compelling reason for Italy as the wild card is the team’s uninterrupted participation in the World League since its debut in 1990. Defending champion Brazil is the only other team to have taken part in every World League tournament, although Italy holds the record for gold medals, having won the competition eight times to Brazil’s five.

This record, together with Italy’s ranking as world number two, will, according to President Acosta “undoubtedly add an extra degree of competitiveness to the final round in Moscow, making the tournament more appealing to fans and the world’s media.” Italy will face defending champions and top-seeded Brazil in Pool F, as well as Bulgaria in the Final Rounds in Moscow from 23-27 August.

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