Spain -Pool A (Scroll down for Spanish)
The Spanish national team made their first significant international appearances relatively late, emerging in the 1980s to participate in the European Championships in 1981, 1985 and 1987 and finishing 12th at all three tournaments. But it was the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, which finally provided a major boost for the sport in this country. The best Spanish players had undergone intense preparation in a training camp in the city of Granada and their efforts were finally rewarded when they finished a very creditable eighth. The team scored a similar success at the 2000 Sydney Olympics where they slipped into the top ten finishers at place nine. Spain made their first appearance at the World Championship in 1998 in Japan and finished eighth, but they slipped back to 13th position at last year's World Championship in Argentina. Since 1995, Spain has been a regular member of the World League family, a sign of recognition that the country belongs to the sport's leaders, and that their national team is more than up to the task of competing with the world elite. Spain were unlucky not to make it to the 2001 finals despite five wins in the preliminaries but last year they finally delivered. The Spaniards advanced comfortably to the finals and although they were missing their star player Raphael Pascual, they were elevated to a giant killer status when they pulled off a resounding victory over the ultimate winners Russia, and set them on the brink of possible relegation from the final four. This year, the World League finals will be held in Madrid, an occasion that the Spaniards will surely want to make the best of and to show their home crowd the finest side of the national team. Spain, currently ninth at the FIVB World ranking, will start the elite competition in Pool A, together with Russia, Poland and Venezuela, but as host to the final round, are guaranteed a place in the final eight. 

The squad: Alfonso Flores (Numancia Caja Duero), Jordi Gens (Niza, FRA) and Cosme Prenafeta (Unicaja Almería) Rafael Pascual (Perugia, ITA), Luis Pedro Suela and José Antonio Casilla (Unicaja Almería), Juan Carlos Vega (Festival Park), Manuel Sevillano (Numancia Caja Duero) and Kike de la Fuente (Piacenza, ITA), Gustavo Saucedo (Niza, FRA), Guillermo Falasca (Knack Roeselare, BEL) and Rubén Antequera (Park-Ky Menem, BEL) David Sánchez (PTV Málaga), Carlos Carreño and Juanjo Salvador (Unicaja Almería), José Luis Moltó (Kanck Roeselare, BEL), Manuel Berenguel (Unicaja Almería) and Alexis Valido (Friedrichshafen, GER).