2018 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship
The 2018 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship was the 19th staging of the FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship, contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. The final tournament was held in Italy and Bulgaria from 9 to 30 September 2018. For the first time, the tournament was jointly-hosted by more than one country. The final six was hosted by Italy at the Pala Alpitour in Turin.
| Campionato mondiale di pallavolo maschile Italia/Bulgaria 2018 Световно първенство по волейбол за мъже Италия/България 2018 | |
|---|---|
| Tournament details | |
| Host nations | Italy Bulgaria |
| Dates | 9–30 September |
| Teams | 24 (from 5 confederations) |
| Venue(s) | 9 (in 9 host cities) |
| Officially opened by | Sergio Mattarella and Rumen Radev |
| Champions | Poland (3rd title) |
| Runners-up | Brazil |
| Third place | United States |
| Fourth place | Serbia |
| Tournament awards | |
| MVP | Bartosz Kurek |
| Best Setter | Micah Christenson |
| Best OH | Michał Kubiak Douglas Souza |
| Best MB | Lucas Saatkamp Piotr Nowakowski |
| Best OPP | Matt Anderson |
| Best Libero | Paweł Zatorski |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 94 |
| Attendance | 389,029 (4,139 per match) |
| Best scorer | Bartosz Kurek (171 points) |
| Best spiker | Douglas Souza (56.58%) |
| Best blocker | Bartosz Kurek (0.48 Avg) |
| Best server | Marko Ivović (0.36 Avg) |
| Best setter | Micah Christenson (6.51 Avg) |
| Best digger | Erik Shoji (1.64 Avg) |
| Best receiver | Taylor Sander (34.78%) |
| Official website | |
| italy-bulgaria2018.fivb.com | |
Poland defended their world title, defeating the reigning Olympic champions Brazil in straight sets at a repeat of the 2014 final. This was Poland's third title overall, and the third time in the last four editions of the World Championship that Brazil and Poland contested the final. This was also the fifth straight World Championship with Brazil reaching at least the final. United States won the 3rd place match, defeating Serbia in four sets. Bartosz Kurek from Poland was elected the MVP.
The first round match between Russia and Tunisia set the new all-time lowest-scoring record in a World Championship set since the new volleyball scoring rules were adopted, with Russia winning the second set by 25–6. The previous record was a 25–8 achieved by United States against Puerto Rico during the 2014 World Championship.