Photo source: CSV – Confederación Sudamericana de Voleibol
The national teams of Chile and Colombia, both benefiting from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment support, celebrated gold and bronze on the men’s volleyball podium at the Santa Fe 2026 South American Games in Argentina. The home team settled for silver.
The Federacion de Voleibol de Chile has been allocated USD 609,000 in FIVB Volleyball Empowerment coach support for their national volleyball teams. The men’s selections benefit from the expertise of Argentinean coach Nicolas Ippolito. The program has also granted Chile a total of USD 298,500 in volleyball equipment.
The Federacion Colombiana de Voleibol has so far been granted USD 399,000 in FIVB Volleyball Empowerment coach support for their national volleyball teams, in addition to another USD 92,500 in volleyball equipment and USD 6,000 for a national team coach development knowledge transfer program. The Colombian men’s national teams are coached by Italian expert Paolo Montagnani.
Chile cruised through the men’s volleyball tournament at the South American Games undefeated, dropping only a set in four matches played. After sweeping Pool B with shutouts of Peru and Paraguay, they went on to master a 3-0 (25-17, 25-20, 25-22) win over Colombia in the semifinals. In Friday’s gold medal showdown, the Chilean squad achieved a 3-1 (25-20, 22-25, 25-20, 25-20) victory over hosts Argentina, who had won the other semifinal by 3-0 (25-18, 25-14, 31-29) over Peru.
Colombia produced a straight-set win over Bolivia to finish Pool A runners-up to Argentina. Then they recovered from the semifinal loss to Chile with a 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-23) sweep of the bronze medal playoff against Peru.
Peru, Paraguay and Bolivia finished fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively, in the final standings of the six-team tournament.
