1997 FIVB Volleyball World League

The 1997 FIVB Volleyball World League was the eighth edition of the annual men's volleyball tournament, played by 12 countries from May 16 to July 5, 1997. The Final Round was held in Moscow, Russia.

Pools composition

Intercontinental round

• The top two teams in each pool will qualify for the Final Round. If the Final Round hosts Russia finish lower than second in Pool C, they will still qualify along with the best two second teams across all three pools.

Pool A

			Matches		Sets			Points
Rank	Team	Pts	W	L	W	L	Ratio	W	L	Ratio
1	Brazil	23	11	1	34	9	3.778	614	420	1.462
2	Bulgaria	21	9	3	29	16	1.813	596	498	1.197
3	Argentina	16	4	8	20	25	0.800	526	588	0.895
4	Japan	12	0	12	3	36	0.083	339	569	0.596

Pool B

			Matches		Sets			Points
Rank	Team	Pts	W	L	W	L	Ratio	W	L	Ratio
1	Italy	22	10	2	34	13	2.615	652	465	1.402
2	Yugoslavia	20	8	4	29	15	1.933	583	461	1.265
3	Spain	16	4	8	18	30	0.600	544	622	0.875
4	China	14	2	10	8	31	0.258	313	544	0.575

Pool C

			Matches		Sets			Points
Rank	Team	Pts	W	L	W	L	Ratio	W	L	Ratio
1	Cuba	23	11	1	35	6	5.833	595	369	1.612
2	Netherlands	21	9	3	28	17	1.647	585	523	1.119
3	Russia	14	2	10	14	30	0.467	493	570	0.865
4	South Korea	14	2	10	8	32	0.250	351	562	0.625

Final round

• Venue: Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Moscow, Russia

Pool play

• Teams from the same pool of Intercontinental Round will not play. Russia will be considered as the runners-up of Pool B.

			Matches		Sets			Points
Rank	Team	Pts	W	L	W	L	Ratio	W	L	Ratio
1	Italy	7	3	1	10	4	2.500	198	157	1.261
2	Cuba	7	3	1	10	5	2.000	202	172	1.174
3	Netherlands	7	3	1	9	8	1.125	195	227	0.859
4	Russia	6	2	2	8	8	1.000	205	181	1.133
5	Brazil	5	1	3	3	9	0.333	141	159	0.887
6	Bulgaria	4	0	4	6	12	0.500	197	242	0.814

Date		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total
30 Jun	Netherlands	3–1	Italy	15–11	15–13	8–15	15–10		53–49
30 Jun	Cuba	3–0	Brazil	15–11	15–11	15–9			45–31
30 Jun	Bulgaria	2–3	Russia	9–15	15–11	3–15	15–11	7–15	49–67
01 Jul	Bulgaria	2–3	Cuba	4–15	15–11	12–15	15–9	13–15	59–65
01 Jul	Italy	3–0	Brazil	15–12	15–8	15–12			45–32
01 Jul	Russia	2–3	Netherlands	15–17	15–3	15–4	11–15	13–15	69–54
02 Jul	Italy	3–0	Bulgaria	15–11	15–5	15–9			45–25
02 Jul	Brazil	3–0	Netherlands	15–13	15–8	15–2			45–23
02 Jul	Cuba	3–0	Russia	15–11	15–7	15–5			45–23
04 Jul	Netherlands	3–2	Bulgaria	15–9	15–13	13–15	7–15	15–12	65–64
04 Jul	Italy	3–1	Cuba	14–16	15–11	15–12	15–8		59–47
04 Jul	Russia	3–0	Brazil	15–11	16–14	15–8			46–33

Finals

3rd place match

Date		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total
05 Jul	Netherlands	0–3	Russia	8–15	12–15	8–15			28–45

Final

Date		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total
05 Jul	Italy	3–0	Cuba	15–8	15–5	15–10			45–23

Final standing

Rank Team 01 !  Italy 02 !  Cuba 03 !  Russia 4  Netherlands 5  Brazil 6  Bulgaria 7  Yugoslavia 8  Argentina 9  Spain 10  China 11  South Korea 12  Japan

1997 World League Champions  Italy 6th title

Awards

• Best Scorer
  • Guido Görtzen
• Best Spiker
  • Bas van de Goor
• Best Server
  • Ramón Gato
• Best Blocker
  • Ihosvany Hernández

External links

• 1997 World League results
• Sports123