World champion player writes book insulting runner-up team

Volleyball has been rocked again. This time, it was off the court, surrounding the offensive comments made by Italian female volleyball player Danesi towards Turkish players.

Danesi (number 11) caused outrage when he insulted his Turkish colleague - Photo: REUTERS

Anna Danesi is the captain of the Italian women's volleyball team that recently won the 2025 World Cup. She angered the volleyball world with her insulting comments about the Turkish duo Vargas and Karakurt.

"Vargas and Karakurt were physically fit, impressive players, with short haircuts and tattoos. They also tried to intimidate you with aggressive hand gestures. They were really bad, always showing their teeth and roaring," Danesi writes in her recently published book.

This book was written before Italy beat Türkiye in the final of the Women's Volleyball World Cup. It was a dramatic 3-2 victory, and Vargas was the best player of the match.

However, the two teams often meet in major tournaments. In the past year alone, the two teams have met a total of 5 times.

In his newly published book, Danesi describes his journey to winning the 2024 Paris Olympics. In that tournament, Italy beat Türkiye both times, including the group stage and semi-finals.

Despite being the winner, Danesi caused outrage by using condescending and offensive words to refer to his defeated opponent.

"Even when facing Türkiye at a neutral venue, their crowd put a lot of pressure on them. It felt like hell. And their players (Vargas and Karakurt) were wild, showing their teeth, screaming, it looked terrible.

But we kept our composure. We don't win with appearances. Even tigers turn into cats when their opponents show their trump cards," Danesi wrote.

Karakurt (left) and Vargas - Photo: FIVB

Immediately, the Turkish media published Danesi's full comments. And Turkish fans were extremely angry when their team's stars were described in such a malicious way. Even neutral fans felt that Danesi was a bit too harsh, unnecessarily.

"Is it necessary, Danesi? You are a world champion, an Olympic champion, everyone knows the Italian team is good, but you shouldn't insult your opponents like that," a fan commented on social media.

Turkish fans are famous for their passionate, sometimes violent, support for their team. In football, Turkish stadiums are filled with flares and intense pressure.

However, this is considered a distinct culture in sport , as long as it does not go beyond the security framework. The world's top fans always accept this pressure, and few are as vocal in their attacks on their opponents as Danesi.

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HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/cau-thu-vo-dich-the-gioi-viet-sach-xuc-pham-doi-a-quan-2025091709500678.htm