Ivan Zaytsev

Ivan Zaytsev is an Italian professional volleyball player of Russian origin, born on 2 October 1988 in Spoleto, Italy, where his father, the Olympic champion volleyball player Vyacheslav Zaytsev, was playing at the time. Nicknamed lo Zar, the Tsar, he started out as a setter in 2004, moved to the outside hitter role and later played as an opposite spiker, and he was already playing in Serie A1 at sixteen. He obtained Italian citizenship in 2008, debuted for the Italy national team that year and later captained it, winning bronze at the London 2012 Olympic Games and silver at Rio 2016. His club career has run through Roma, Latina, Macerata, Dynamo Moscow, Al-Arabi in Qatar, Perugia, Modena and Civitanova.