2021 FIVB Volleyball Men's U21 World Championship

The 2021 FIVB Volleyball Men's U21 World Championship was the 21st edition of the FIVB Volleyball Men's U21 World Championship, contested by the men's national teams under the age of 21 of the members of the FIVB, the sport's global governing body. The tournament was held in Italy and Bulgaria from 23 September to 3 October 2021.^[1] For the first time, the tournament was jointly hosted by more than one country.

2021 Men's U21 World Championship

Campionato mondiale maschile under 21 di pallavolo 2021 Световно първенство по волейбол за мъже до 21 години на FIVB 2021
Tournament details
Host nations	Italy  Bulgaria
Dates	23 September – 3 October
Teams	16 (from 5 confederations)
Venue(s)	3 (in 3 host cities)
Champions	Italy (1st title)
Runners-up	Russia
Third place	Poland
Fourth place	Argentina
Tournament awards
MVP	Alessandro Michieletto
Best Setter	Paolo Porro
Best OH	Manuel Armoa Tommaso Rinaldi
Best MB	Karol Urbanowicz Nicola Ciancotta
Best OPP	Roman Murashko
Best Libero	Damiano Catania
Official website
FIVB Men's U21 World Championship
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Iran were the defending champions, having won their first title in Bahrain.

Players must have been born on or after 1 January 2001.

Qualification

A total of 16 teams qualified for the final tournament. In addition to Italy and Bulgaria who qualified automatically as hosts, another 10 teams qualified via five separate continental tournaments while the remaining 4 teams qualified via the FIVB U21 World Ranking.^[2] But, South Korea and China later withdrew and were replaced by Thailand and Poland respectively. In addition, Cameroon withdrew just before the beginning of the tournament. All of Cameroon's matches were forfeited and Cameroon were ranked in last place in the final standing.^[3]

Means of qualification	Date	Venue	Vacancies	Qualifier
Host Countries	13 October 2020	Lausanne	2	Italy
				Bulgaria
2018 Asian Championship1	21–28 July 2018	Riffa	2	Iran
				South Korea  Thailand
NORCECA Ranking2	January 2020	Santo Domingo	2	Cuba
				Canada
2020 European Championship	26 September – 4 October 2020	Brno & Kuřim	2	Russia
				Belgium4
2020 African Championship	20–24 February 2021	Cairo	2	Egypt
				Cameroon
World Ranking for CSV3	1 March 2021[4]	Rio de Janeiro	2	Brazil
				Argentina
World Ranking	1 March 2021	Lausanne	4	China  Poland
				Morocco
				Bahrain
				Czech Republic
Total			16

1.^ On 14 December 2020, AVC announced that the 2020 Asian Championship which was originally the AVC qualifier for the tournament was canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic and the top two teams of the 2018 Asian Championship qualified as the AVC representatives.^[5]

2.^ On 30 November 2020, NORCECA announced that the 2020 NORCECA Championship which was originally the NORCECA qualifier for the tournament was canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic and the top two teams of the NORCECA Ranking as of January 2020^[6] qualified as the NORCECA representatives.^[7]

3.^ 2020 South American Championship which was originally the CSV qualifier for the tournament was canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic and the top two CSV teams of the World Ranking as of 1 March 2021 qualified as the CSV representatives.

4.^ With European runners-up Italy hosting the tournament together with Bulgaria, European 3rd place Belgium joined the field for the tournament as well.^[8]

Pools composition

First round

Teams were seeded in the first two positions of each pool following the serpentine system according to their FIVB U21 World Ranking as of 1 March 2021.^[4] FIVB reserved the right to seed the hosts as head of pools A and B regardless of the U21 World Ranking. All teams not seeded were drawn to take other available positions in the remaining lines, following the U21 World Ranking.^[9] The draw was held on 15 June 2021.^[10] Rankings are shown in brackets except the hosts Italy and Bulgaria who ranked 1st and 27th respectively.

Seeded teams		Pot 1	Pot 2
Italy (Hosts)  Bulgaria (Hosts)  Iran (2)  Russia (2)	Brazil (4)  Argentina (5)  Cuba (6)  Egypt (8)	Morocco (10)  Bahrain (11)  Czech Republic (12)  Cameroon (13)	Poland (14)  Belgium (15)  Canada (18)  Thailand (47)

Draw

Pool A	Pool B	Pool C	Pool D
Italy	Bulgaria	Iran	Russia
Egypt	Cuba	Argentina	Brazil
Czech Republic	Bahrain	Morocco	Cameroon
Thailand	Poland	Belgium	Canada

Second round

Final eight				9th–16th places
Pool E		Pool F		Pool G		Pool H
1A	Italy	1B	Poland	3A	Thailand	3B	Cuba
1C	Belgium	1D	Russia	3C	Iran	3D	Canada
2A	Czech Republic	2B	Bulgaria	4A	Egypt	4B	Bahrain
2C	Argentina	2D	Brazil	4C	Morocco	4D	Cameroon

Squads

Main article: 2021 FIVB Volleyball Men's U21 World Championship squads

Venues

Pool A, E and Final four	Pool B, D, F, H, 13th–16th places and 9th–12th places	Pool C, G and 5th–8th places
Cagliari, Italy	Sofia, Bulgaria	Carbonia, Italy
PalaPirastu	Levski Sofia Sports Hall	Palazzetto dello Sport
Capacity: 2,266	Capacity: 1,700	Capacity: 1,560
Cagliari Carbonia 2021 FIVB Volleyball Men's U21 World Championship (Sardinia)	Sofia Sofia (Bulgaria)

Pool standing procedure

1. Number of matches won
2. Match points
3. Sets ratio
4. Points ratio
5. If the tie continues as per the point ratio between two teams, the priority will be given to the team which won the last match between them. When the tie in points ratio is between three or more teams, a new classification of these teams in the terms of points 1, 2 and 3 will be made taking into consideration only the matches in which they were opposed to each other.

Match won 3–0 or 3–1: 3 match points for the winner, 0 match points for the loser
Match won 3–2: 2 match points for the winner, 1 match point for the loser

First round

Pool A

• All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	Pts	SW	SL	SR	SPW	SPL	SPR	Qualification
1	Italy	3	3	0	9	9	0	MAX	225	140	1.607	Final eight (Pools E and F)
2	Czech Republic	3	2	1	6	6	4	1.500	230	212	1.085
3	Thailand	3	1	2	3	3	7	0.429	182	245	0.743	9th–16th places (Pools G and H)
4	Egypt	3	0	3	0	2	9	0.222	234	274	0.854

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
23 Sep	16:00	Czech Republic	3–1	Egypt	25–20	25–16	29–31	25–23		104–90	P2
23 Sep	19:00	Thailand	0–3	Italy	12–25	15–25	13–25			40–75	P2
24 Sep	16:00	Czech Republic	3–0	Thailand	25–16	25–16	25–15			75–47	P2
24 Sep	19:00	Egypt	0–3	Italy	13–25	22–25	14–25			49–75	P2
25 Sep	16:00	Egypt	1–3	Thailand	25–18	23–25	22–25	25–27		95–95	P2
25 Sep	19:10	Italy	3–0	Czech Republic	25–16	25–15	25–20			75–51	P2

Pool B

• All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+03:00).

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	Pts	SW	SL	SR	SPW	SPL	SPR	Qualification
1	Poland	3	3	0	9	9	2	4.500	270	231	1.169	Final eight (Pools E and F)
2	Bulgaria	3	2	1	6	7	3	2.333	240	231	1.039
3	Cuba	3	1	2	3	4	7	0.571	237	252	0.940	9th–16th places (Pools G and H)
4	Bahrain	3	0	3	0	1	9	0.111	211	244	0.865

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
23 Sep	13:00	Cuba	1–3	Poland	16–25	19–25	25–18	19–25		79–93	P2
23 Sep	19:00	Bulgaria	3–0	Bahrain	25–21	25–21	25–23			75–65	P2
24 Sep	16:00	Poland	3–0	Bahrain	25–21	25–20	25–21			75–62	P2
24 Sep	19:00	Cuba	0–3	Bulgaria	21–25	22–25	21–25			64–75	P2
25 Sep	13:00	Bahrain	1–3	Cuba	25–19	20–25	18–25	21–25		84–94	P2
25 Sep	19:00	Poland	3–1	Bulgaria	29–27	25–19	23–25	25–19		102–90	P2

Pool C

• All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	Pts	SW	SL	SR	SPW	SPL	SPR	Qualification
1	Belgium	3	3	0	8	9	3	3.000	290	232	1.250	Final eight (Pools E and F)
2	Argentina	3	2	1	5	7	5	1.400	269	256	1.051
3	Iran	3	1	2	5	7	6	1.167	288	271	1.063	9th–16th places (Pools G and H)
4	Morocco	3	0	3	0	0	9	0.000	137	225	0.609

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
23 Sep	16:00	Argentina	3–0	Morocco	25–13	25–16	25–23			75–52	P2
23 Sep	19:00	Belgium	3–2	Iran	25–20	25–23	26–28	26–28	15–8	117–107	P2
24 Sep	16:00	Morocco	0–3	Belgium	16–25	12–25	16–25			44–75	P2
24 Sep	19:00	Argentina	3–2	Iran	25–20	20–25	24–26	25–18	19–17	113–106	P2
25 Sep	16:00	Argentina	1–3	Belgium	19–25	17–25	25–23	20–25		81–98	P2
25 Sep	19:15	Iran	3–0	Morocco	25–5	25–21	25–15			75–41	P2

Pool D

• All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+03:00).
• Cameroon's forfeited matches (25–0, 25–0, 25–0) were not recorded and excluded from the ranking calculation.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	Pts	SW	SL	SR	SPW	SPL	SPR	Qualification
1	Russia	2	2	0	5	6	3	2.000	200	184	1.087	Final eight (Pools E and F)
2	Brazil	2	1	1	4	5	3	1.667	177	165	1.073
3	Canada	2	0	2	0	1	6	0.167	143	171	0.836	9th–16th places (Pools G and H)
4	Cameroon	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
23 Sep	16:00	Russia	3–2	Brazil	16–25	25–22	23–25	25–21	15–9	104–102	P2
24 Sep	13:00	Canada	0–3	Brazil	22–25	21–25	18–25			61–75	P2
25 Sep	16:00	Canada	1–3	Russia	13–25	22–25	25–21	22–25		82–96	P2

Second round

Pool E

• All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	Pts	SW	SL	SR	SPW	SPL	SPR	Qualification
1	Italy	3	3	0	9	9	0	MAX	228	183	1.246	Semifinals
2	Argentina	3	2	1	5	6	6	1.000	273	264	1.034
3	Czech Republic	3	1	2	3	5	8	0.625	255	287	0.889	5th–8th semifinals
4	Belgium	3	0	3	1	3	9	0.333	254	276	0.920

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
27 Sep	16:00	Czech Republic	3–2	Belgium	14–25	22–25	25–23	25–18	15–12	101–103	P2
27 Sep	19:00	Italy	3–0	Argentina	25–22	26–24	25–20			76–66	P2
28 Sep	16:00	Belgium	1–3	Argentina	21–25	25–23	19–25	21–25		86–98	P2
28 Sep	19:10	Italy	3–0	Czech Republic	25–19	25–18	25–15			75–52	P2
29 Sep	16:00	Czech Republic	2–3	Argentina	25–22	22–25	17–25	25–22	13–15	102–109	P2
29 Sep	19:20	Italy	3–0	Belgium	25–17	25–23	27–25			77–65	P2

Pool F

• All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+03:00).

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	Pts	SW	SL	SR	SPW	SPL	SPR	Qualification
1	Russia	3	3	0	9	9	1	9.000	250	223	1.121	Semifinals
2	Poland	3	2	1	5	7	6	1.167	292	295	0.990
3	Brazil	3	1	2	3	4	6	0.667	247	231	1.069	5th–8th semifinals
4	Bulgaria	3	0	3	1	2	9	0.222	219	259	0.846

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
27 Sep	13:00	Poland	3–1	Brazil	28–26	25–23	19–25	25–23		97–97	P2
27 Sep	19:00	Bulgaria	0–3	Russia	21–25	22–25	19–25			62–75	P2
28 Sep	13:00	Russia	3–0	Brazil	27–25	25–21	31–29			83–75	P2
28 Sep	19:00	Poland	3–2	Bulgaria	21–25	23–25	25–22	25–22	15–12	109–106	P2
29 Sep	13:00	Poland	1–3	Russia	23–25	25–17	18–25	20–25		86–92	P2
29 Sep	19:00	Bulgaria	0–3	Brazil	14–25	22–25	15–25			51–75	P2

Pool G

• All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	Pts	SW	SL	SR	SPW	SPL	SPR	Qualification
1	Iran	3	3	0	9	9	0	MAX	225	153	1.471	9th–12th semifinals
2	Thailand	3	2	1	6	6	4	1.500	220	218	1.009
3	Egypt	3	1	2	3	4	7	0.571	256	243	1.053	13th–16th semifinals
4	Morocco	3	0	3	0	1	9	0.111	160	247	0.648

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
27 Sep	16:00	Thailand	3–0	Morocco	25–12	25–15	25–22			75–49	P2
27 Sep	19:00	Egypt	0–3	Iran	22–25	23–25	20–25			65–75	P2
28 Sep	16:00	Iran	3–0	Morocco	25–9	25–14	25–13			75–36	P2
28 Sep	19:00	Thailand	3–1	Egypt	25–23	25–23	18–25	25–23		93–94	P2
29 Sep	16:00	Egypt	3–1	Morocco	22–25	25–12	25–19	25–19		97–75	P2
29 Sep	19:00	Thailand	0–3	Iran	18–25	12–25	22–25			52–75	P2

Pool H

• All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+03:00).
• Cameroon's forfeited matches (25–0, 25–0, 25–0) were not recorded and excluded from the ranking calculation.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	Pts	SW	SL	SR	SPW	SPL	SPR	Qualification
1	Canada	2	2	0	6	6	0	MAX	150	119	1.261	9th–12th semifinals
2	Cuba	2	1	1	3	3	4	0.750	162	172	0.942
3	Bahrain	2	0	2	0	1	6	0.167	157	178	0.882	13th–16th semifinals
4	Cameroon	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
27 Sep	16:00	Bahrain	0–3	Canada	22–25	21–25	17–25			60–75	P2
28 Sep	16:00	Cuba	3–1	Bahrain	26–28	25–21	27–25	25–23		103–97	P2
29 Sep	16:00	Cuba	0–3	Canada	21–25	21–25	17–25			59–75	P2

Final round

13th–16th places

• All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+03:00).
• Cameroon's forfeited matches (25–0, 25–0, 25–0) were not recorded.

	13th–16th semifinals				13th place match
	2 October
	Egypt	3
					3 October
	Cameroon	0
					Egypt	3
	2 October
					Bahrain	2
	Bahrain	3
	Morocco	0
					15th place match
					3 October
					Cameroon	0
					Morocco	3

13th–16th semifinals

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
2 Oct	13:00	Bahrain	3–0	Morocco	25–21	25–13	25–22			75–56	P2

13th place match

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
3 Oct	10:00	Egypt	3–2	Bahrain	26–28	26–24	22–25	25–16	15–9	114–102	P2

9th–12th places

• All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+03:00).

	9th–12th semifinals				9th place match
	2 October
	Canada	3
					3 October
	Thailand	0
					Canada	1
	2 October
					Iran	3
	Iran	3
	Cuba	1
					11th place match
					3 October
					Thailand	1
					Cuba	3

9th–12th semifinals

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
2 Oct	16:00	Canada	3–0	Thailand	25–20	25–16	25–17			75–53	P2
2 Oct	19:00	Iran	3–1	Cuba	25–15	25–19	17–25	25–23		92–82	P2

11th place match

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
3 Oct	13:10	Thailand	1–3	Cuba	37–35	18–25	16–25	23–25		94–110	P2

9th place match

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
3 Oct	16:00	Canada	1–3	Iran	17–25	21–25	27–25	15–25		80–100	P2

5th–8th places

• All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).

	5th–8th semifinals				5th place match
	2 October
	Czech Republic	1
					3 October
	Bulgaria	3
					Bulgaria	1
	2 October
					Belgium	3
	Brazil	1
	Belgium	3
					7th place match
					3 October
					Czech Republic	0
					Brazil	3

5th–8th semifinals

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
2 Oct	16:00	Czech Republic	1–3	Bulgaria	26–24	22–25	22–25	23–25		93–99	P2
2 Oct	19:00	Brazil	1–3	Belgium	25–19	24–26	21–25	23–25		93–95	P2

7th place match

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
3 Oct	16:00	Czech Republic	0–3	Brazil	13–25	21–25	15–25			49–75	P2

5th place match

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
3 Oct	19:00	Bulgaria	1–3	Belgium	25–19	22–25	20–25	23–25		90–94	P2

Final four

• All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).

	Semifinals				Final
	2 October
	Russia	3
					3 October
	Argentina	0
					Russia	0
	2 October
					Italy	3
	Italy	3
	Poland	2
					3rd place match
					3 October
					Argentina	0
					Poland	3

Semifinals

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
2 Oct	16:00	Russia	3–0	Argentina	27–25	28–26	25–17			80–68	P2
2 Oct	19:00	Italy	3–2	Poland	20–25	20–25	25–11	25–20	15–12	105–93	P2

3rd place match

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
3 Oct	16:00	Argentina	0–3	Poland	16–25	14–25	19–25			49–75	P2

Final

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
3 Oct	19:00	Russia	0–3	Italy	19–25	22–25	20–25			61–75	P2

Final standing

Rank Team  Italy  Russia  Poland 4  Argentina 5  Belgium 6  Bulgaria 7  Brazil 8  Czech Republic 9  Iran 10  Canada 11  Cuba 12  Thailand 13  Egypt 14  Bahrain 15  Morocco 16  Cameroon

2021 Men's U21 World champions  Italy 1st title 12–man roster Damiano Catania, Leonardo Ferrato, Francesco Comparoni, Federico Crosato, Alessandro Michieletto, Mattia Gottardo, Tommaso Stefani, Andrea Schiro, Giulio Magalini, Tommaso Rinaldi, Paolo Porro, Nicola Cianciotta Head coach Angiolino Frigoni

Awards

• Most valuable player

  Alessandro Michieletto

• Best setter

  Paolo Porro

• Best outside spikers

  Manuel Armoa

  Tommaso Rinaldi

• Best middle blockers

  Karol Urbanowicz

  Nicola Ciancotta

• Best opposite spiker

  Roman Murashko

• Best libero

  Damiano Catania

See also

• 2021 FIVB Volleyball Women's U20 World Championship