Italy: Hungarian Setter Vilmos Szabo to Cisterna.“I’ve always followed the SuperLega: It’s a dream come true”

Vilmos Szabo, known to everyone as Vili, is a new player for Cisterna Volley.
He comes from Hungary, was born in Szeged, and will turn 24 on August 11.
He is the club’s sixth signing ahead of the new SuperLega season, following Chinese middle blocker Shikun Peng, Colombian opposite Amaranto, libero Filippo Federici, and outside hitters Giulio Magalini and Lorenzo Magliano. They join returning players Alessandro Fanizza (setter), Tommaso Barotto (opposite), Daniele Mazzone (middle blocker), Jacopo Tosti (middle blocker) and Filippo Lanza (outside hitter).
To complete the roster available to coach Morato for the 2026–2027 season, Cisterna still needs only one outside hitter, one libero and one middle blocker.

For Vilmos Szabo, playing in Italy’s top volleyball league is not only a dream come true, but also an important message for young Hungarian players: “With hard work and determination, it’s possible to reach the most important, demanding and beautiful league in the world. I’ve always followed your league and I know a lot about the teams and players. In fact, this season I watched almost every SuperLega match as well as many Serie A2 matches.
When my agent told me there might be interest from Cisterna, I simply said to him: ‘Accept the first offer they make you, anything is fine with me.’ And that’s exactly what happened. The day he called to tell me the deal was done, I was driving to practice. I smiled and daydreamed throughout the entire training session. People kept asking me what had happened, but I didn’t even answer them. My mind was somewhere else, in the world of dreams coming true.
What do I do when I’m not playing? Nothing, really. Volleyball is simply my hobby as well. I watch every match and try to improve by observing others. I always try to learn from the best.”

Vili has visited Italy as a tourist before, but now he returns to stay as a professional volleyball player. In Hungary he has won three league titles and five national cups, and he is naturally part of the Hungarian national team setup.

Before moving to Italy, however, Vili has another important goal to achieve: “There’s not much left to do. I just have to defend my thesis, so with one last effort I’ll finally graduate. In what? Economics, which is my passion. I’ll come to Cisterna as an economist.”

Volleyball runs in the Szabo family.
“My mother played at the highest level, including for the national team, and now she is one of the best referees in the country. We followed her example and dedicated ourselves to volleyball – by ‘we’ I mean my brother, my sister and me.”

Vilmos Szabo is a complete setter, effective in quick plays through the middle and determined in every aspect of the game.
“I believe my greatest strength is my willingness to fight and the amount of work I’m prepared to put in day after day, year after year, to grow and improve. Italy is now the highest level where I can continue developing, because SuperLega features the most technical volleyball in the world.
When I started playing at the age of 17, I immediately focused on becoming a setter. I wanted only one thing: to become an international-level volleyball player. Given my physical characteristics, I knew I would never become a dominant attacker, so I chose to be a setter. At that age, the only way to become a good setter is to touch the ball endlessly. That’s how my mentality was shaped.
My jersey number is 1, although I originally wore number 7. But when I ended up on the same team as my brother, I had to choose another number because seven was his. So I decided to wear number 1.”

Source: press release

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