World Sport Chicago Serves Up International Volleyball

By Todd McClamroch in News on Jun 15, 2007 3:01PM

World Sport Chicago, an organization that has helped spearhead Chicago's 2016 OIympic Bid, is working hard to bring international sporting events to Chicago to strengthen that bid. This weekend is an example of that effort; the U.S. Men's National Volleyball Team will take on Italy here in Chicago as part of the FIVB World League. The World League is composed of the top 16 men's volleyball teams in the world divided into four pools. The teams within each pool play each other four times, two home games and two road games. The winners of each pool, Poland the host country, and a wild card team will advance to compete for a $20 million purse in the finals to be played in Katowice, Poland.

The United States is in a division with France, Italy and Japan. The Americans sit atop Pool B with a 4-2 record and host the Italians who come in at 2-2. The Italians (Ranked #2 in the world) have a strong history in men's volleyball, having won the FIVB World League title eight times since 1990. The games will be played at the Convocation Center on the campus of Chicago State University. The first game is Friday night at 7pm with the second game being played Saturday night at 5pm. Get your tickets through Ticketmaster. Tickets for a single event are $12 for adults and $8 for youth and a two-day pass is $18 for adults and $14 for youth.

For two members of the United States squad, this game will be a homecoming match. Sean Rooney is from Wheaton, Ill. and the team captain, Tom Hoff, is from Park Ridge, Ill.

Photo by Michael Stanley.