Draws for Football, Water Polo, Basketball, Rugby Sevens and Volleyball
Welcome to live updates of the team draw ceremony for the 30th Summer Universiade, Napoli 2019! The pieces of the puzzle will fall into place over the next two hours or so as we get to know who plays whom in the women’s and men’s tournaments of: Football, Water Polo, Basketball, Rugby Sevens and Volleyball.
A total of 10 draws are being held, with teams allocated to Pools A, B, C and D. Teams are divided into four Pools for tournaments with twelve teams or more, like Basketball and Football. For tournaments like Rugby Sevens and Water Polo, there will be two Pools.
The teams are first divided into tiers (or levels) based on their previous Universiade results, FISU rankings and also the ranking of the International Federation governing that sport. For example in Volleyball, FIVB rankings have been taken into account. Teams drawn by tiers are then allocated to different Pools, to ensure a fair distribution.
Ideally, no more than two countries from the same continent will be placed in the same pool, with the exception of men’s Basketball where there will be two Pools with three countries each from Europe. Alright, we’re all set and ready to go!
1. Basketball Women
We start with women’s Basketball. There are 16 teams in the fray. Former Italian international Liliana Mabel Bocchi, who won eight Italian championships during her career and is a member of the FIBA Hall of Fame, is here to do the honours. Chinese Taipei is the first name out of the bowl and they go into Pool C. In the same tier are Japan, Russia and Australia and they get allocated to Pool A, B and D respectively. And so it goes on until all 16 teams have been allocated. And here is how it is – check out that Pool D with heavyweights China, Canada and Australia! That concludes the draw for women’s Basketball.
POOL A |
POOL B |
POOL C |
POOL D |
| UKR | POR | USA | CHN |
| CZE | ROU | TPE | FIN |
| HUN | RUS | SVK | AUS |
| JPN | ARG | MEX | CAN |
2. Basketball Men
Now, time for the men and Manfredo Fucile comes out to do the draw. He is the president of the Italian Basketball Federation and is the spearhead of Basketball, we are told, in the entire Campania region. We start with the first tier which includes Israel, Latvia, USA and Germany, who get allocated to Pools A through D in that order. Nice continental distribution happening here in the men’s draw. One of the favourites, USA get put into Pool C, along with another strong team China. This one’s going to be an explosive group, with Finland and Ukraine rounding it up. Alright, here you have it then, for men’s Basketball.
POOL A |
POOL B |
POOL C |
POOL D |
| CZE | LAT | CHN | GER |
| ISR | CRO | FIN | CAN |
| AUS | RUS | USA | ITA |
| MEX | ARG | UKR | NOR |
3. Football Women
Celebrated Italian football player Valeria Pirone will draw the names for women’s Football. A former international with more than 200 caps for Napoli, she is a forward for Chievo Verona Valpo. South Africa, Russia, Brazil and Japan are drawn into Pool A, B, C and D. China and Korea are allocated to Pool B and C, so to ensure continental distribution, People’s Republic of Korea is placed in Pool A. Super quick, the women’s Football draw with 12 teams is done and dusted.
POOL A |
POOL B |
POOL C |
POOL D |
| PRK | MEX | IRL | ITA |
| CAN | RUS | BRA | JPN |
| RSA | CHN | KOR | USA |
4. Football Men
Big cheers from the audience as the men’s Football draw starts. Maybe because it’s Football or maybe because of Alex Meret (above) striding out to centre stage. Meret is the Napoli and also Italian U-21 goalkeeper – so naturally kind of popular in these parts! The home team here has to be considered one of the favourites, of course, and they are in the same tier as Korea, Brazil and Russia. The allocation of this tier goes like this: Korea in A, Italy in B, Brazil in C and Russia in D. Final placements look like this:
POOL A |
POOL B |
POOL C |
POOL D |
| KOR | ITA | FRA | ARG |
| URU | MEX | RSA | RUS |
| IRL | UKR | BRA | JPN |
5. Volleyball Women
When it comes to women’s Volleyball, Russia is always a favourite and it was no surprise that they were on top of the podium in Taipei 2017, Summer Universiade Director Marc Vandenplas tells us. So Russia it is then, that starts proceedings now as Martina Ferrara pulls the name out. Ferrara is an Italian Volleyball player who happens to be the most awarded and youngest athlete from Campania in the last 40 years. 40! No lightweight, this one. In the same tier as Russia are Ukraine, Chinese Taipei and Japan – and these four go into Pools A through D straight up. Since we already have two Asian countries, Thailand gets drawn into Pool A. The home team rounds up the draw as they go into the D4 slot.
POOL A |
POOL B |
POOL C |
POOL D |
| CAN | BRA | TPE | USA |
| THA | GER | CZE | SUI |
| RUS | UKR | HUN | JPN |
| MEX | CHN | ARG | ITA |
6. Volleyball Men
Time now for men’s Volleyball. Lots happening here. Marc Vandenplas introduces Italian Volleyball legend Giacomo Giretto (first from left in picture) and jokes that if he reads out his entire CV it will take all day. So let’s put it in a nutshell: Giretto is a former international who was part of the World Cup winning squad for Italy in 1994. Time for him to pick out the names and FISU Secretary General-CEO Eric Saintrond explains why this is the only event with 20 teams.
There was a request from the Organising Committee to open four additional slots in the draw so that the Italian team could also participate, and after some deliberation the FISU leadership agreed to this. So here we have it then: Italy will play – and they should, we’re told because their team is very, very good. In fact, one of our technical officials said they could come with a mediocre team and still win the tournament. Ouch. Not sure what that says about the rest, but we assure you, this full draw will produce one of the most interesting tournaments of the Universiade. Pool table looks like this:
POOL A |
POOL B |
POOL C |
POOL D |
| HKG | CHN | CAN | JPN |
| CHI | USA | BRA | MEX |
| TPE | RUS | FRA | SUI |
| UKR | POR | IRI | ITA |
| CZE | KOR | POL | ARG |
7. Water Polo Women
After a coffee break, here we go again. Time for Water Polo. The lovely, smiling Alessia Morvillo (above, centre) is up on stage with the FISU Summer Universiade team’s Brian Carrer and Arthur Vigier. Morvillo is considered one of the most talented upcoming stars of her sport in Italy and we at FISU like her even more because she takes her academics equally seriously, with a degree in Business Administration. Moving onto the draw then, Hungary, Japan, Canada, France and Czech Republic are drawn into Pool A while USA, Russia, Australia, Italy and China are in Pool B.
POOL A |
POOL B |
| HUN | USA |
| CAN | AUS |
| CZE | ITA |
| JPN | CHN |
| FRA | RUS |
8. Water Polo Men
Serbia has had a long term love affair with Water Polo, it seems. What we think Marc Vandenplas means is that they’ve won a lot of medals. The heartbreak then, is that this time there is no Serbia in the men’s draw. Depends on how you look at it, it could also be very good news – for the other countries, don’t you think? In the absence of Serbia, it is expected that Croatia, Russia and Italy will be the strongest teams in the field. Or rather, in the pool. You get the drift. Massimo Di Martire of a famous surname is doing the honours. His father Fulvio Di Martire is a former decorated champion and make no mistake, Di Martire Junior is also considered very skilled and a rising star. He’s very young – not quite 20 yet – so give him time. Maybe only until July, as he’s expected to turn out for Italy during the Summer Universiade. Don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten about the draw. Here it is:
POOL A |
POOL B |
| RUS | CRO |
| USA | ITA |
| FRA | HUN |
| KOR | JPN |
| GBR | AUS |
9. Rugby Sevens Women
This is only the second time that Rugby Sevens is part of the Summer Universiade programme, the first being in Kazan in 2013. So we expect much interest in this one. Any guesses for who are the favourites? While you might automatically think Australia, New Zealand etc., let us tell you that in the women’s draw it might be France. As we proceed with the draw, Eric Saintrond explains that we have only one country each from Africa and Asia, so they will go into different Pools. Favourites France are in Pool A with Canada, Japan and Italy.
POOL A |
POOL B |
| CAN | RUS |
| FRA | RSA |
| JPN | BEL |
| ITA | ARG |
10. Rugby Sevens Men
Aaaaand we move onto the final draw of the day! This is the men’s Rugby Sevens draw. We have two Italian Rugby stars here to close out the draw. Giordana Duca plays as lock with Capitolina and is also a national team member. Along with her is Diego Varani, wing and former captain of the national Rugby team. He was part of the victorious squad at the famous Hong Kong Rugby Sevens tournament. One team from FISU Americas is assigned to each Pool, with Argentina going into A and Canada into Pool B.
POOL A |
POOL B |
| ARG | FRA |
| ROU | JPN |
| RUS | ITA |
| RSA | CAN |
So, that’s all folks! For the moment, that is. The team sports draws are done, but the individual sports tournament draws will be … well, drawn up… over the next few weeks. And on 3 July 2019, the REAL action starts with the Opening Ceremony of Napoli 2019 Summer Universiade. Keep up with all the developments right here. Ciao!
