Under new technical leadership, world No. 1 Brazil begin a new cycle in their illustrious history after claiming the gold medal at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and Renan dal Zotto taking over as head coach following the retirement of Bernardo ‘Bernardinho’ Rezende.
During Bernardinho’s 15-year tenure as coach, Brazil have at times seemed unstoppable, collecting numerous trophies. Rezende led the team to the 2001 World League title in his first outing and Brazil claimed the competition in successive years from 2003 to 2007.
The Brazilians won back-to-back World League titles again in 2009 and 2010, three successive titles at the World Championship (2002, 2006, 2010) and two at the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Cup (2003 and 2007), all capped by their third Olympic gold last year.
Under Dal Zotto, Brazil will be looking at capitalising on their home turf status when they get to host the 2017 World League finals in a bid to claim their first gold in the competition since 2010 – though history has shown that they’re far more successful when playing in World League finals abroad.