Lausanne, Switzerland, September 22, 2014 – What was it all about? The FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship Poland 2014 was certainly about the glory and hosts Poland finished in glorious style by beating Brazil in the final.
But there’s more to glory than just a smile and a pat on the back. The Poles took home a first prize of $200,000, while Brazil had to settle for $125,000 and bronze-medallists Germany $75,000.
Poland also secured a place in volleyball history by securing their second World Championship title in front of a record number of spectators: 563,263, which included nearly 62,000 for their opening match against Serbia.
In addition to cash, glory and fan worship, the title allowed Poland to carry off a stunning new trophy.
The conceptual design for the trophy was provided by Marco Heer of Achtung!, a creative agency known internationally for their work in brand development who have worked closely with the FIVB for a number of years. The FIVB then mandated two young product designers from Switzerland, Thilo Alex Brunner and Jörg Mettler, to create the new World Championship trophy.
Rising from a solid base with the names of previous champions, the trophy consists of 12 individual pieces – for the 12 players on the court and the 12 players in each squad – that create a round space near the top representing both the ball and the world. The shape is designed to show the speed and elegance of volleyball as well as the sport’s values of purity, performance, power, precision and teamwork. There’s a graduation of colour from nickel at the bottom to the ultimate prize of gold at the top.
With its unique contemporary design, the trophy has set itself apart from other awards in international competitions across the sporting world.
Poland became only the fifth double winner of the World Championship and became the first team other than Italy or Brazil to take the title since 1986 when USA won. Poland stopped Brazil winning their fourth straight title. Prior to Brazil’s three Championships, Italy had won the previous three. Poland’s previous title was in 1974 in Mexico.
The Soviet Union have won the most titles with six crowns to their name.