[1] Poland defended their world title, defeating the reigning Olympic champions Brazil in straight sets at a repeat of the 2014 final.

[citation needed] The five regional governing bodies were allocated the remaining 21 spots; CAVB (Africa) was granted three, AVC (Asia and Oceania) four, NORCECA (North America) five, CSV (South America) two, and CEV (Europe) seven spots.

Notable countries that failed to qualify include the 2014 third placed Germany, Venezuela (for the first time since 1998), South Korea and Czech Republic.

After the matches played once again in a single round-robin format, the top two teams in each pool qualified for the semifinals and finals.

Teams were seeded in the first two positions of each pool following the serpentine system according to their FIVB World Ranking as of 7 July 2017.

Italy (Hosts) Argentina (7) Brazil (1) Canada (6) United States (2) Russia (4) Bulgaria (Hosts) Poland (3) Iran (8) France (9) Serbia (11) Japan (12) Egypt (13) Belgium (15) Cuba (16) Australia (16) Finland (18) China (20) Slovenia (23) Tunisia (24) Netherlands (25) Puerto Rico (29) Cameroon (30) Dominican Republic (38) The third round draw was held in Turin, Italy on 24 September 2018.

The opening matches of the 2018 World Championship, jointly hosted by Italy and Bulgaria held With the presence of the president Sergio Mattarella and Rumen Radev.

[14] PolandThird title Team roster: Piotr Nowakowski, Dawid Konarski, Bartosz Kurek, Artur Szalpuk, Damian Schulz, Damian Wojtaszek, Fabian Drzyzga, Grzegorz Łomacz, Michał Kubiak, Aleksander Śliwka, Jakub Kochanowski, Paweł Zatorski, Bartosz Kwolek, Mateusz BieniekHead coach: Vital Heynen

The statistics include 6 volleyball skills; serve, reception, set, spike, block, and dig.

Italy Bulgaria Comparable 2014 year the FIVB then mandated two young product designers from Switzerland, Thilo Alex Brunner and Jörg Mettler to create the new World Championship trophy.

With its unique contemporary design, the trophy has set itself apart from other awards in international competitions across the sporting world.

The pieces are brought together in a seamless cylindrical design, symbolising the coming together of the 12 players using the rotation system on the court.