Lausanne, Switzerland, June 9, 2017 - France host Italy Saturday in Pau in a rematch of last year's FIVB World League bronze medal match. France won that one in straight sets, but trail Italy 24-16 in their overall head-to-head series in the competition.
Head-to-Head• This will be a replay of last season's World League bronze medal match, when France beat Italy in straight sets (25-23, 25-21, 25-20).
• In total, these nations have met 40 times in World League history, with France claiming 16 and Italy 24 victories.
• France have won their last five World League matches against Italy since the 3-1 intercontinental round defeat on 19 May 2012.
• These nations most recently met at world level on 7 August 2016, when Italy recorded a straight-set victory over Italy in the 2016 Olympic Games preliminary round.
France• France have won all four World League matches in 2017, dropping only two sets (both against Russia).
• The second of France's 3-1 victories versus Russia in this year's competition was their 150th World League victory, the sixth team to achieve this.
• France also won the bronze medal match in last year's World League. Their current five-match winning streak in the competition is their best since they were victorious in their first 15 fixtures of the 2015 edition.
• Stephen Boyer (67), Trevor Clevenot (53) and Julien Lyneel (51) have all scored more than 50 points in Group 1. Italy's top scorer is Luca Vettori (43).
Italy• Italy began their 2017 World League campaign with a straight-set victory against Iran, but have lost all three matches since.
• Italy could lose four consecutive World League matches for the first time since 2015, when they were beaten twice by both Brazil and Serbia.
• Italy could lose four of their opening five matches of a World League campaign for the first time. They also lost three of their first four in 2009, but won their fifth fixture in a deciding set versus Netherlands.
• Italy have never suffered consecutive straight-set World League defeats (419 matches).