Netherlands-Poland 2022: What you need to know about the four Phase 1 pools

Netherlands-Poland 2022 is the first phase of the volleyball competition. The Netherlands finished fourth at last year's EuroVolley 2021. Italy qualified for the 2022 edition as 2021 European champions. Puerto Rico lost the 2021 NORCECA Championship final to the Dominican Republic, but qualified as continental runners-up. Cameroon are reigning African champions with three back-to-back titles in 2017, 2019 and 2021, and Kenya won the African Championship silver last season.

Poland reached the final of the first-ever World Championship in 1952. Türkiye reached final four at all four editions of VNL and at the European Championships. Dominican Republic finished ninth at V NLN and eighth at Tokyo Olympics in 2021. South Korea made the semifinals at last year’s Olympic Games. Thailand won silver at Asian Games in 2018 and 2019. Croatia will play at World Championships finals for the the First time since 2010.

Serbia are defending world champions. USA won their first Olympic title in Tokyo last year. Bulgaria won the CEV European Golden League trophy in 2021. Canada won a 2021 NORCECA Championship bronze. CSV representatives Kazakhstan finished 24th at the 2018 World Championship.

Brazil won gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the VNL and silver at South American Championship. China are the number four team in the World Ranking. Colombia qualified for the finals for first time in history. Argentina finished 11th at last year's Olympic Games and third at 2021 South America Championship, Czech Republic won European Golden League and Volleyball Challenger Cup.