Category profile
- Dominance
- 84
- Peak
- 92
- Longevity
- 86
- Honours
- 88
- Statistics
- 88
Career timeline · Titles per season
| Season | Titles per season | Share of career |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 55 | |
| 2009 | 60 | |
| 2010 | 65 | |
| 2011 | 70 | |
| 2012 | 75 | |
| 2013 | 80 | |
| 2014 | 85 | |
| 2015 | 90 | |
| 2016 | 95 | |
| 2017 | 94 | |
| 2018 | 92 | |
| 2019 | 91 | |
| 2020 | 90 | |
| 2021 | 89 | |
| 2022 | 87 | |
| 2023 | 86 | |
| 2024 | 85 | |
| 2025 | 83 | |
| 2026 | 82 |
Data sources
- FIVB results archive
- Olympedia
- National federation records
Figures come from public records and are normalised per sport. See the methodology for category weights. Method
Why Paolo Nicolai ranks #45 in Volleyball
Paolo Nicolai ranks 45th among Volleyball athletes on GOAT Rank and 2660th of 4013 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 87.4 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 84, Peak 92, Longevity 86, Honours 88, Statistics 88. Those categories are normalised against the full Volleyball reference universe of 308 records, not a shortlist, so the position reflects the whole sport rather than a handful of famous names.
The record covers 2008–present with 19 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 2016, which sets the Peak component at 92. Peak is the defining strength of the profile at 92 out of 100, and it carries 20% of the final score. The underlying career record includes olympic medals 1, european titles 2, world tour titles 8, world championship medals 1.
Immediately ahead sits Ivans Bugajenkovs on 87.6, a gap of 0.2 points. Directly behind is John Hyden on 87.3. The position moves whenever the verified record moves: new titles, new seasons or a corrected source all feed straight back into the same formula, and every change is dated on this profile.
Paolo Nicolai GOAT Score explained
- Dominance84/100 · weight 25%
- Measures how far Nicolai stood above the field while competing. Scored 84/100 against the full Volleyball cohort.
- Peak92/100 · weight 20%
- Rates the best sustained stretch of the career, centred on 2016. Scored 92/100.
- Longevity86/100 · weight 20%
- Rewards staying at that level over time: 18 years of competition and 19 recorded seasons. Scored 86/100.
- Honours88/100 · weight 20%
- Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 88/100.
- Statistics88/100 · weight 15%
- Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 88/100.
Top Nicolai comparisons
Paolo Nicolai — frequently asked
- Is Paolo Nicolai the GOAT?
- Not on the current data. Paolo Nicolai ranks 45th in Volleyball with a GOAT Score of 87.4, behind Karch Kiraly on 95.4.
- What is Paolo Nicolai's GOAT Score?
- 87.4 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 84 (25%), Peak 92 (20%), Longevity 86 (20%), Honours 88 (20%), Statistics 88 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
- Where does Paolo Nicolai rank all time?
- 2660th of 4013 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 45th within Volleyball.
- Paolo Nicolai vs Ivans Bugajenkovs: who ranks higher?
- Ivans Bugajenkovs, on 87.6 against Paolo Nicolai's 87.4 — a margin of 0.2 points.