This homework almost took forever for us to finish!
The 2014 FIVB Men’s World Championship is just a day away and we thought of creating this POWER LIST called “The 50 Players To Watch Out For At The World Championship”!
Here you go…
49th: Jeon Kwang-In (Korea)
48th: Freddie Winters (Canada)
47th: Piotr Nowakowski (Poland)
46th: Denys Kaliberda (Germany)
44th: Frank Depestele (Belgium)
43rd: Pedro Rangel (Mexico)
42nd: Ahmed Abdelhay (Egypt)
41st: Nikola Kovacevic (Serbia)

39th: David Lee (USA)
38th: Simone Parodi (Italy)
37th: Kervin Pinerua (Venezuela)
36th: Kevin Tillie (France)
34th: Todor Skrimov (Bulgaria)
33rd: Erik Shoji (USA)
32nd: Lucas Saatkamp (Brazil)
31st: John Gordon Perrin (Canada)
29th: Alexey Spiridonov (Russia)
28th: Micah Christenson (USA)
27th: Tom Edgar (Australia)
26th: Dragan Travica (Italy)
24th: Sebastian Sole (Argentina)
23rd: Bruno Rezende (Brazil)
22nd: Pawel Zagumny (Poland)
21st: Antti Siltala (Finland)
19th: Matt Anderson (USA)
18th: Facundo Conte (Argentina)
17th: Gavin Schmitt (Canada)
16th: Rolando Cepeda (Cuba)
14th: Antonin Rouzier (France)
13th: Nikola Rosic (Serbia)
12th: Wallace (Brazil)
11th: Andrey Zhekov (Bulgaria)
10th: Hector Soto (Puerto Rico):
The Best Scorer of the 2006 FIVB World Championship and the 2007 FIVB World Cup is finally back on the team after missing the last few years due to injuries and a “quick” switch to beach volleyball.
“Picky” is now playing as an outside hitter from being an opposite attacker.
9th: Murilo Endres (Brazil):
Brazil’s best all around player is reportedly in a much better shape compare to his overall condition during the 2014 FIVB World League. With a shoulder injury that caused him to miss the 2013 season, Brazil will no doubt rely on experience and leadership of Murilo.
Can the MVP of the 2010 World Championship carry his team to win their 4th consecutive World Title?
8th: GyΓΆrgy Grozer (Germany)
Grozer has been Germany’s most reliable attacker and best scorer within the last few years. If Grozer plays up, Germany has a bigger chance of winning the match.
7th: Tsvetan Sokolov (Bulgaria)
Tsetso and Grozer play similar roles for their respective teams. Bulgari’s chances of winning heavily relies on Sokolov plays. If he plays great then other teams better watch out for him. The moment he catches fire, Sokolov is hard to stop.
Compare to 2010, the soon to be dad Sokolov has a bigger role to play this time around in the absence of Matey Kaziyski.
6th: Mir Saeid Marouflakrani (Iran)
The man with the golden touch.
Like what we’ve said before, Iran’s one and only Saeid is one of THE BIG REASONS why Iran has become a world class team. With millions people back home ready to cheer for them in every match, the expectations are high but no doubt Saeid and team will do their best to make their country proud.
5th: Aleksandar Atanasijevic (Serbia)
Back in the days, Serbia had the legendary Ivan Miljkovic and now the current generation has Atanasijevic to keep an eye on. The young opposite hitter has been Serbia’s scoring machine. The fate of Serbia no doubt relies on Alek.
Serbia has already lost to Poland so will Alek do now to push his team and qualify for the second round?
Wait and see…
4th: Dmitriy Muserskiy (Russia)
Russia’s BEST player and the world’s best middle blocker has already won the Olympics, the World League and the European Championship. The ONLY crown missing from his collection is the World Championship Title.
Dima and Russia winning the World Crown? Possible.
3rd: Taylor Sander (USA)
Prince Taytay is definitely the current volleyball sensation from Team USA.
The 2014 World League Champion and MVP is the MAIN piece of the puzzle to help his team achieve international success in this new Olympic cycle.
The pressure is on Taytay’s shoulder but we hope he’d manage it well. Together with Anderson, expect these 2 to be scoring for Team USA throughout the World Championship.
2nd Ivan Zaytsev (Italy)
We let this video do the talking…
1st: Mariusz Wlazly
His return made headlines all over the volleyball world!
Welcome back Wlazly!
Whichever team Mariusz Wlazly plays for wins. That’s what the hitter’s profile at his club in Belchatow says. He is the only player there who has been involved in all eight of the club’s Polish championship titles since 2005. He also lead the team to second places in the European Champions League and the FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship.
His outstanding performance last season played a major part in the top team’s recent title win in the Polish league. Stephane Antiga, who became Poland’s national coach after he ended his playing career, was also involved in the title as a player. He convinced Mariusz Wlazly to return to the national squad for the World Championship β and now the whole of Poland is hoping that the powerful jumper will guarantee major success when the competition kicks off on Saturday.
It was by no means a given that Wlazly would take part. In recent years, the player who is now 31-years-old, has turned down the opportunity to play for the national team. But with Antiga as the national coach, his enthusiasm has been restored. And the Polish volleyball association is hoping that Wlazly’s return will also see the Poland team return to winning ways.
Mariusz Wlazly has been successful since the very early stages of his career. He first tried his hand at swimming, but then discovered that his real talent was for playing volleyball. In 2003, he was included in the Polish youth national team which won the World Championship title. On May 20, 2005 he made his debut with the senior national team, with a 3-0 win over Slovakia. A year later, he made an appearance on the international volleyball stage at the FIVB World Championship; he was one of the outstanding players when Poland sensationally won silver. More recently, however, Wlazly, who has picked up numerous individual awards for MVP and best hitter, has repeatedly been plagued by injuries, ranging from back to ankle problems.
The Polish public were even more worried when the star hitter twisted his ankle at a friendly match in August. Wlazly uploaded a picture of his damaged ankle to his Facebook account with the comment: βUnfortunately, I’ve twisted my ankle, but the positive in all of this is that this isn’t the first time it’s happened, and I will probably heal more quickly. It will become clear how long it will take in the next few days, but as they say: what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger.β
A few days later, Wlazly took to the court again however – such is his will to perform. This is also why he has had such a successful career and why Poland is hoping that he will become one of the all-time heroes at the FIVB World Championship in his home country. The whole of Poland is dreaming of a repeat of the title win in 1974.
Wlazly easily slipped back into his role as one of the leaders of the national team, despite the fact that the last time he played for the Polish team was in the World Championship four years ago. Wlazly, who is also studying at a management school for when he can no longer play, is always willing to take on responsibility β whether it be as Belchatow’s captain or in his private life.
Wlazly plays an important role in social and charitable organisations, and is the president of his own foundation, which supports children in sport. He is a married man and also father to a son β and, with the consent of Stephane Antiga, even took his wife and son to a training camp in France ahead of the World Championship. βWe have so little time for our loved ones that we need to take every opportunity to spend time with them,β he said.
After all, there won’t be much time for family at the FIVB Menβs World Championship, as Poland aim to be involved throughout the 23-day tournament, from the opening match in Warsaw on Saturday to the final in Katowice on September 21.
Mariusz Wlazly is looking forward to the opening match in front of a record crowd of 62,000 in the football stadium in Warsaw β as is setter PaweΕ Zagumny, who won World Championship silver for Poland alongside Wlazly in 2006. βThe fans in the stadium will be supporting us, to make all of us happy. Serbia are our toughest rivals in our preliminary group. If we beat them, we can fight for the top.β Everyone in Poland is assuming that this will be the case anyway, as the saying goes: whoever Mariusz Wlazly plays for wins…















Surprised Matt Anderson at the 19th?.wow are you serious?..
He deserves 50 th place he’s no good …
you’re resume pls.!!!
Well, it is all a matter of an opinion. The “best volleyball player” is all a matter of an opinion. Who cares, what other people think. If you think he should have gotten 50th or 19th. In MY opinion, I think he deserved what he got.
MAT ANDERSON definitely deserves first place!!!! this list is just not really true!
He’s really good but I think wlazly beats him any day…
wlazly beats him any day?????!!!!!? did you see usa-poland match in WCH last night ??? MATT ANDERSON IS OBVIOUSLY THE BEST PLAYER IN THE WORLDβ€οΈβ€οΈβ€οΈβ€οΈβ€οΈβ€οΈ
18th: Facundo Conte (Argentina)
17th: Gavin Schmitt (Canada)
16th: Rolando Cepeda (Cuba)
14th: Antonin Rouzier (France)
13th: Nikola Rosic (Serbia)
12th: Wallace (Brazil)
11th: Andrey Zhekov (Bulgaria)
PLEASE….ENLIGHTEN ME HOW THESE PLAYERS ARE AHEAD OF MATT ANDERSON!!!
many commentators especially SUNDERLAND says that Matt is definitely the top 5 best players in the world of volleyball…
Matt Anderson is not TOP 5 at all. He just won his first Gold in the World League, and was not even named MVP. And he is close to his 30`s. But I do like him.
Who is Sunderland??
SUNDERLAND is the one who do a commentary with a substance…he cover all the leagues of Volleyball..
Brazilian commentators (CarlΓ£o, Nalbert and Marco Freitas) also put Anderson in their top 5. He can play in any position and is very regular in every aspect. Serves very well, good receiver, good blocker and he is a very reliable attacker. He is like Giba or Sokolova.
Like Giba? 1 Gold and 2 silver at the Olympics, 3 time World CHampion, 2 World Cup tittles, 2 Champions Cup, maybe 5-7 World League Gold? plus Pan American Games, and so on. PLus MVP in every single competition.
Im sorry, but if he was like Giba. He would have to have the same record as Giba.
In what year does Giba start playing prof volleyball? Anderson starts his career 2009 but got cut because of his illness..Anderson’s transition in opposite,a great attacker in a wing side with the height that can play defense, one of the hardest thing as a volleyball player the is adjustment, but still he’s killing the ball and still the USA’s best.Giba is now a legend of volleyball no doubt about that…
“Im sorry, but if he was like Giba. He would have to have the same record as Giba.”
I’m sorry, but volleyball is not tennis, it’s not an individual sport. Team results don’t exactly reflect the quality of a single player. Costagrande played for Argentina, Pascual for Spain, Jelic for Croatia, they were the best in the world at times, but couldn’t put a whole team through by themselves.
And Giba started playing in the Brazilian national team in 1995. It took him till 2001 to start winning gold medals.
I don’t like Sunderland commenting the matches though. He sounds like a funeral narrator…
Im sorry but I don`t like Sunderland.
During the matches he just ignore the game being played. To be honest I tough he was just a TV commentator with no experience.
And during every single match of any competition of any year he just talk about the Olympics.
And only give wrong information.
World League 2014 – During one the USA matches, he said Matt Anderson is one of the 5 highest paid volleyball players. That is not true.
During GP 2014. He 1000000 times Jaqueline and Sheilla were 3 time olympians. That is not true.
He said Murilo did not play the World League 2014 Final. That is not true.
And so onn
I think you are talkng the british commentator not Sunderland…try to watch volleyball videos and you can see how Sunderland making a relevant comment with the players..
Have you read on the top of the page that the players from 11 to 50 are not in a particular order?
No Dear
The british guy did a amazing job, He really knows what he is talking about.
Well, do you wanna me to prove that Sunderland kept saying during all 5 Brazil matches that Jaque and Sheilla were 3 time Olympians?? He even was called out in the Twitter, in the match vs Japan he had to apologize.
There you go..
http://universalsports.com/video/2014-fivb-volleyball-world-grand-prix-tokyo-japan-brazil-vs-japan/
Sunderland making a relevant player?
You said Sunderland said Anderson is TOP 5 BEST player?
Well during the World League match USA vs Bulgaria –
Sunderland said Anderson is one of the 5 HIGHEST paid players. And this information is not true.
I think you heard wrong dear. He never said he was TOP 5 Best, he said TOP 5 Paid.
Making a relevant player? Oh common!!!
Watch the gold medal match of USA vs BRAZIL of world league 2014.. Wow,the British guy who cannot identify the names c of the player? Watch the Olympic games and you can see how this British guy sucks big time..try USA vs Russia and USA vs Brazil.
In the match Brazil vs Turkey last week. Sunderland called Tandara of Dani Lins.
And he made fun of Tandara saying she has been on the team for years and only thing she does is come in to serve and get back out.
He has no clue that who she is. Tandara would be the starter if she was playing for any other country.
You have serious reading issues sir.
Or maybe you just like making scandals?
“Spots 50th to 11th are in no particular order”
Mir Saeed Marouf (IRAN) is the best
Dmitriy Muserskiy gotta be number 1.
and I personally have Rodrigo Quiroga on my Top 10.
This World Championship won`t be the same without Maxim Mikhaylov.
He’s been gone since 2012. He didnt play at all the last 2 years… Pavlov, Spiridonov, Ilinykh and Biryukhov took his spot.
Oh he did not play at all the past 2 years?
How did he win the award for best server at the CEV Champions 2013/2014??
How did he win Gold at the European Championship 2013?
Mikhaylov was injured in one of the training before the Final Six match of the championship of Russia in late April.
He had surgery. Everything went well. He has been recovering and even training, but he is not ready to play yet.
He didn’t play for the russian team, you annoying child. Have you watched the world league last year and this year? He was in the bench the whole time. Pavlov was even the MVP last year…
Yes, he won the gold. Did he play most of the time (if at all)? No. Pavlov did.
CEV is a club tournament… It doesn’t count.
BTW, why do you idolize Russia so much?
You should move there. That human rights icon will receive you with arms wide open…
I’d guess Sander, Muserskyi, Christenson, Zaytsev, Pavlov, Murilo, Lucarelli, Atanasjevic, Marouf and Rossini.
Number 1 : Mir Saeed Marouf
like
10-Dmitry Muserskiy (RUS)
9-Julien Lyneel (FRA)
8-Nikolai Pavlov (RUS)
7-Jiri Kovar (ITA)
6-Salvatore Rossini (ITA)
5-Roberlandy Simon (CUB)
4-Jenia Grebnnikov (FRA)
3-Mory Sidibe (FRA)
2-Marko Ivovic (SER)
1-Ivan Zaytsev (ITA)
You guys haven’t seen the top cuban players to play together in the last 5-10 years……..a few of them are still inactive because of political reasons…… but defenitely Simon, Juantorena, Sanches , Leon , Leal are very good players and they could be in the top 20 list if there is one….
Number 1. Ivan Zaytsev
They said vb superstars not the quality of the players.BTW in both categories Matt and Bata would be the first
ivan zayztev of italy number 1for sure
It would make sence if it’s in the top 5; Ivan Zaytsev (ITA) and Aleksandar AtanasijeviΔ (SRB) …
Brazilian players are by far the best players in the world. I hate Russia π Brazil is known for it’s fantastic volleyball
Who prefers Brazil over Russia is awesome !! :*
I totally agree π
Number 1: Luciano De Cecco!! He can’t be missing in this list….
Just for the records: Paul Sunderland is an American sports commentator
… and he won an Olympic Gold Medal in Volleyball in 1984
Just sayin’
Number One would be SPIRODONOV! Who doesn’t want to WATCH OUT for him on court?
My eyes will be setting on MichaΕ Winiarski though, his eyes are PRICELESS!
no Winiarski, no WlazΕy, no Kubiak??? hahahah this is bullshit no stars. Two polish players on further place’s- hahaha
but Wlazly is first…
matt anderson no 19.??????!!!!!!!! seriousely ?!?!!!
HE GOTTA BE NUMBER 1 !
The best player is Mir Saeid Marouf from Iran, I love him
i love you too
I’m iranian . I study in mechanical faculty of tehran university first i wanna say fuck you all.second i think that is unfair that we have not most iranian player in this ranking . (im DA ESH fan)
it is obvious you study in tehran university
lol
Elahi shafa….
yessss, i’m agree by eshi
just marouf and mousavi (iran)
they are the best in the world
Saeid Marouf & Mohamad Mousavi are the best players in the World
just saeid marouf & mohamad mousavi <3
Mir Saeid Marouf and Mohamad Mousavi Eraghi Are the Best
just Mir Saeid Marouf <3
Saeid marouf
1- The birdman ‘Taylor sander’
2- Thaughtfull Brain ‘Mirsaeed marouf lakrani’
3- Power Bomb ‘Mariusz Wlazly’
4- Giant Tower Spiker ‘Dmitry Musersky’
5- The Booster ‘Ivan Zytsev’
6- Skill full and expert ‘Murilo Endres’
7- The best handy serve ‘Maxwell HolT’
8- Muscular Demolition ‘Gyorgy Grozer’
9- Precious Man ‘Alexander Atanasevic’
10- The Wall ‘Seyed Mohammad Mousavi’
Damn i liked that number 8… definitely the best desc
Marouf was great but Zagumny in final match with Brazil was outstanding- unreachable to any setter in this tournament.
Marouf was great but Zagumny in final match was excellent- unreachable lever for Marouf and any other setter in this WCH. Maybe Bruno can play as quickly and precisely as Zagumny.
Zagumny is more experienced as his age shows , and great setter of this world championships as shew in whole tornument & Final match ,
Anyway I must to say Iran’s programming since 2000 was to get Gold medal in 2016 Olympics as Iran’s youth got the world gold medal 2 year ago in mexico and will get it again & again .
I like poles kinda playin too as I have some pol friends and know it has alota fans in volleys
bruno rezende is the best
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ha ha ha
just mir saeed marouf from iiiiiiiiran
Mir saeid known as the best player in the world and no one is hands down the only other close Dhnatvnv Mir saeid famous.
I am a volleyball player.My sellection is just Mir saeed marouf
Mirsaeid marouf IRAN
Mir saeid known as the best player in the world
i dont think so. Not even in the top twenty best plauyers in the world.
think so.
Marouf was the best setter of the world league (2014) so surely he is in the top twenty .
and as my opinion he is the best setter in the world
yes yes and maybe the greatest setter in history of voleyball- hahaha
1.Mir Saeid Marouflakrani (Iran)
2.Seyed Mohammad mousavi (iran)
3. Amir
4. Mirzajapour
5. Gholami
6. Someoene else with iran team
hahaha
7.piotrekk . hahahahahahahahah
you are not the one who judge. mirsaeid is the best. whether you are agree or not.
mir saeid marouf is the best.
I think Mir Saeed Marouf (IRAN) is the best
I think Mat Anderson and Mir Saeed Marouf are bessst volley ball player in the world
only saeed marouf & mousavi from iran