Wilfredo Leon on the great talents in the Polish national team. "I didn't expect it."

It's no secret that the Jakub Nowak-Maksymilian Granieczny duo impressed with their form in their debut season with the national team. From the very beginning, both players, who are just beginning their senior careers, proved they could be full-fledged members of Poland's most important volleyball team.

Wilfredo Leon on young talents in the Polish national team

Wilfredo Leon expressed his appreciation for the performances of the "young wolves" at the VNL 2025. A leading figure in world volleyball for many years, he is one of the leaders of the Polish national team, and in his last season with the national team, he wore an Olympic silver medal. Importantly, he is the frontman of Bogdanka LUK Lublin, with whom Leon won the Challenge Cup and the PlusLiga championship in his first year.

Granieczny and Nowak's performance? According to Leon, it deserves great recognition.

"I can say that the young players are looking very good. They were in incredible form in the first and second tournaments. And let's hope it continues, because these are the players who will be playing when we're no longer in the national team. And Kuba Nowak is the one who surprised me the most. He's also clearly in very good form in training. The libero also surprised me. I didn't expect him to play so brilliantly in his debut. I'm very happy that we have such players," Leon admitted to polsatsport.pl .

The performance of center Norwid Częstochowa and libero JSW Jastrzębski Węgiel was also recognized by the Polish national team's coach. Nowak and Granieczny were among the select squad selected for next week's (July 16-20) VNL tournament in Poland.

Moreover, this will also be the final stretch of selection – including the Nations League final tournament – ​​before this year's World Cup.

VNL 2025: Poles are second in the standings. Now it's time for Ergo Arena!

After eight matches played in two tournaments in the ongoing Nations League, Poland has recorded six victories. The Polish national team, in Xi'an, China, won their first tournament, the 2025 VNL, 3-1 against the Netherlands, 3-1 against Japan, 3-0 against Turkey, and 3-0 against Serbia. Four matches, four victories, and a perfect record of points – this put coach Grbić's Polish team in the top of the Nations League.

Things were a bit more difficult during the tournament in Chicago. Poland started with a 2-3 loss to the world champions Italy, then defeated the Canadians 3-2, defeated the Americans 3-0, and suffered a second loss, 1-3 to Brazil. Ultimately, after two tournaments, Poland is second in the VNL 2025 standings. Brazil is in first place with one more win than the Poles. Third-placed Italy, on the other hand, has the same number of wins as Poland.

The final tournament of the intercontinental phase of the 2025 VNL will be a home game for Poland. Coach Grbić's team will perform at the Tricity Ergo Arena during the tournament from July 16-20.

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