For the first time in history, the Volleyball World Championships were contested in two countries; Poland were hosts for the first time and finally our team was among the top eight teams in the world for the first time in 60 years.

For 23 days, the eyes of volleyball fans around the world turned to Poland and the Netherlands, where the 19th Volleyball World Championships were held. During this time, 100 matches have been played, and the last – the most important – was won by Serbia, defending the title four years ago. As in 2018 in Japan, the best player of the tournament was Tijana Bosković, 25, a fantastic striker, thanks to whom her team won all 12 games, including the final against Brazil.

In Poland, the hosts of the championships were Gdańsk, whose organizing partners were the Pomeranian Voivodeship, Łódź and Gliwice.

At the Ergo Arena in Gdańsk, the matches were played by the teams of Group B, in which the Polish national team was located. The whites and reds played in the Volleyball World Cup after a 12-year break. Our team has grown from game to game. She undergoes an inauguration with Croatia, then outclasses the dangerous Thailand. They lost after the fight against the Dominican Republic and Turkey and were beaten in the second phase by Serbia, to play the United States, the current Olympic champion of the match and win 3-0.

It was a decisive moment, because the victory opened a chance for the quarter-finals and the halls were full. We saw an unfamiliar sight in women’s volleyball – before the game tickets could only be bought from “ponies”. And on the field, it all depended on our representatives – two wins gave the dream promotion to the top eight. It was not easy, but Germany and Canada left the field beaten 3-2, and after 60 years, Poland was among the eight best national teams in the world.

After Gdańsk and Łódź, the best teams in the world from the Polish part of the championship moved to Gliwice. A month earlier, in Arena Gliwice, the Polish men’s national team had fought heroically for the American semi-final. However, she was a favourite, which – despite her surprisingly good attitude – could not be said of our volleyball players.

The match against undefeated Serbia was fantastic, fierce and full of dramatic moments. Magdalena Stysiak scored 41 points, and the phenomenal Bosković scored three less. The last world champions had huge problems and they had the smallest possible difference to say goodbye to the tournament – two points in the tie-break. Serbia won 3-2 and could only be stopped at the end of the championship. Poland scared the champions and showed they could compete on equal terms with the best.

The World Cup in Poland was an organizational success. Attendance records were broken in each of the Polish host cities.

• In Gdańsk, the game against Turkey attracted 7,701 fans to the stands and a total of 12 games were played at the Ergo Arena.
• In Lodz, two halls were played: Sport Arena and Atlas Arena, where 25 matches were held. In the latter, the largest number of people were present at the Poland-Canada match – 9,113.
• Two quarter-finals and a semi-final were played in Gliwice. 7,923 volleyball fans came to Arena Gliwice for the game against Serbia.
• The final in Apeldoorn was attended by 6,376 fans and Serbia beat Brazil 3-0. Italy was third and the United States fourth. Poland was ranked seventh.

The main sponsor of the Polish part of the 2022 FIVB Volleyball World Championships was PKN Orlen, and the partner and patron was the Ministry of Sports and Tourism.