Nikola Grbić honestly at the end of the World Cup. The poignant words of the Poles’ trainer

Although maybe not the very fact of disappointment, which is simply, the desire to be in the final, to which Poland did not advance after Saturday’s defeat with Italy (0: 3). In the match for a bronze medal, on Sunday Poles played Czechs (3: 1). The team led by coach Nikola Grbcia certainly had greater ambitions in the context of the tournament in the Philippines.

Nikola Grbić after the Volleyball World Championships. Important words of the coach

The spokesman Mariusz Szyszko asked for a summary of the struggle at the World Cup 2025 of Poles. You can hear in the voice of Grbcia, on the one hand gratitude for what the team made during the whole season, also a match for bronze, but there was also a return to the semi -finals with Italy.

– Summary here and now is very difficult. We had this World Cup tournament with high expectations. We were preparing to play the best volleyball in the Philippines in the last two days, in the game for medals. Sometimes, however, it is, it is a sport. We had “Kurasia”, which was in very good shape here, on the day of the meeting it turned out that he could not play. It wasn’t easy. Then Kewin, after the first set with Italy, began to play better. But we played with the team that played very well against us. I haven’t seen such Italians playing so, a long time ago. And I think they deservedly advanced to the finals – he analyzed Grbić.

Serb certainly realizes that the eighth medal from a championship event for Poles, under his baton, is a reason to be satisfied. Although not necessarily a moment after the tournament for Poles.

– I am talking a lot about what happened on Saturday, and today we won the medal. But of course we are all disappointed, because this result for everyone and for me personally … We just had expectations to play in the final. We wanted this gold medal. Now we don’t celebrate this third place as we might need. However, if I look holistically at the whole season, how many players are not with us, even those from the Paris Games, where we achieved historical success, for how many during the season it was with injuries and in this tournament “Veneers” and “Kuraś” also, I am very happy that at the end we finished the season. If someone gave me a document to sign, thanks to which I would have two medals from events before starting playing with this team, I would take it blind. But from this place here and now, after the last match for us, I can’t celebrate. In a week, ten days, when emotions fall, I hope that I will have more satisfaction. I know it is, but now it’s far away – he said.

Coach Grbić with the Polish national team has been working since 2022. The greatest successes are the gold of the European Championships (2023), two Golden League of Nations (2023 and 2025) and a silver medal from the Olympic tournament in Paris (2024).

At the World Championships, Poles under the baton of Grbcia gained silver (2022) and bronze (2025).

Volleyball World Cup: The sixth medal for the Polish national team in history

Brown discs captured in the 2025 World Cup tournament in the Philippines are the sixth case with Polish volleyballers on the podium of this type of event. Interestingly, Polish volleyball achieved the most successes in the 21st century. In modern times, Poles won five out of six medals if they look at the classification of all time.

However, it began with the legendary team of coach Hubert Wagner, who during the 1974 World Cup, in Mexico, became the world champion. The golden team “Kata” repeated their dominance two years later (1976) during the Olympic tournament in Montreal. But this is a story for a completely different, longer story.

The next medals of the World Cup in the case of Polish volleyball players have been the period since 2006. Then, during the tournament played in Japan, Poles reached for silver medals. Since that event, it has only happened once (!) That Poland would not find its place on the podium of the World Cup in the Volleyball Mesh. This took place in 2010, during a party in Italy.

In 2014 and 2018, Poles became world champions, first in a great style winning a party in their area – through the National Stadium in Warsaw, Hala Stulecia in Wrocław, Atlas Arena in Łódź, to the Katowice Spodek – with the winning final against gold against Brazil. Four years later (2018) the team defended the title in a tournament played in Italy and Bulgaria, again after winning the final with the Brazilians.

In addition, 2022, this time a silver medal. Brazil defeated for the third time, this time in the semi -final, but in the game for gold in the Katowice Spodek (hosts of the Polish World Cup and Slovenia), a lost and runner -up title. And this latest story, i.e. a bronze medal – for the first time in the history of starts at the World Championships – after winning at the Czech Republic.