Italy: Lega Pallavolo Serie A – League Awards and Performance Awards for the 2025/26 Season

The clubs competing in the 2025/26 Serie A Credem Banca season have cast their votes to select the best Italian Under-23 players, coaches and referees of the year. All awards refer to the 2025/26 season.

2025/26 LEAGUE AWARDS

36th “Costa-Anderlini” Award – Best Coach
Named in honour of Angelo Costa (1918–1977), one of the greatest coaches in Italian volleyball history, who led Ravenna to the first four Italian men’s championship titles, and Franco Anderlini (1921–1984), who guided Modena to eight league championships between 1957 and 1974 before coaching the Italian Men’s National Team from 1975 to 1977.

• Angelo Lorenzetti (Sir Susa Vim Perugia) – SuperLega Credem Banca
• Simone Di Tommaso (Abba Pineto) – Serie A2 Credem Banca
• Antonio Polimeni (Domotek Reggio Calabria) – Serie A3 Credem Banca

“Gianfranco Badiali” Award – Best Italian Under-23 Player
Named after Gianfranco Badiali, who played for Falconara, the club where he developed as a player. He passed away prematurely in 1988 following an illness. The Falconara sports arena bears his name. He earned 35 caps for the Italian National Team, making his debut in 1985 in a victory over the Netherlands.

• Luca Porro (Valsa Group Modena) – SuperLega Credem Banca
• Manuel Zlatanov (Consar Ravenna) – Serie A2 Credem Banca
• Marco Fedrici (Personal Time San Donà di Piave) – Serie A3 Credem Banca

“Ilario Toniolo” Award – Best SuperLega Referee
These awards recognize the best referees in SuperLega and Serie A2/A3, and are dedicated to the memory of two distinguished former Italian volleyball referees.

• Umberto Zanussi

“Cesare Massaro” Award – Best Serie A2/A3 Referee
These awards recognize the best referees in SuperLega and Serie A2/A3, and are dedicated to the memory of two distinguished former Italian volleyball referees.

• Andrea Clemente

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INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE RANKINGS

“Andrej Kuznetsov” Award – Regular Season Top Scorer
Named in memory of Andrej Kuznetsov (1966–1994), the Soviet (later Russian) volleyball player who played in Italy for Lazio, Capurso Gioia and 4 Torri Ferrara. He tragically died in a road accident near Francavilla al Mare on 30 December 1994. The municipality of Gioia del Colle, where he helped the local club earn promotion to Serie A1, dedicated one of its sports halls to his memory.

• Aleksandar Nikolov (Cucine Lube Civitanova) – SuperLega Credem Banca: 450 points
• Arinze Kelvin Nwachukwu (Sviluppo Sud Catania) – Serie A2 Credem Banca: 469 points
• Riccardo Mian (Conad Reggio Emilia) – Serie A3 Credem Banca: 386 points

Best Server

• Robertlandy Simon (Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza)

Best Receiver

• Marco Gaggini (Sir Susa Vim Perugia)

Best Opposite

• Paul Buchegger (Valsa Group Modena)

Best Middle Blocker

• Giovanni Sanguinetti (Valsa Group Modena)

Most Service Aces

• Paul Buchegger (Valsa Group Modena): 62 aces

Most Winning Blocks

• Thomas Beretta (Vero Volley Monza): 44 blocks

Most Successful Attacks

• Aleksandar Nikolov (Cucine Lube Civitanova): 369 kills

Source: Legavolley

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