Krakow, Poland, July 12, 2016 - Brazil and Italy, the two teams with most gold medals from the FIVB Volleyball World League, will be the first ones to test out the court in Krakow in the first match of the 2016 Group 1 finals.
Head-to-Head
• This is the first meeting between these teams in the World League this season.
• Brazil have won five of the last seven World League meetings between these two.
• Their last encounter in the competition was won by Italy, a 3-2 away victory in Uberlândia on 3 July 2015.
• In total, these teams have met 33 times in the World League. Brazil won 17 and Italy 16 times.
Brazil
• Brazil are in search of their 10th trophy in the World League. Their nine championships are already a record within the competition and one more than Italy's eight.
• Brazil have not won the World League since 2010 and have finished runners-up on three occasions since then.
• Brazil finished top of Group 1 with eight wins and one defeat. That lone defeat came against Serbia.
• Wallace De Souza is Group 1's best spiker with a 55.9% success rate.
Italy
• Italy's eight trophies in the World League rank second only behind Brazil's nine. Italy have not won the competition since 2000.
• Italy claimed a bronze medal in two of the previous three seasons in the World League. Last season, they finished fifth.
• Five of Italy's six victories in the World League this season have come in straight sets.
• Luca Vettori (123) and Ivan Zaytsev (121) lead Italy in scoring.