The Year Ahead: European rising stars up for a busy season
Editorial
The emerging volleyball talent in Europe is set for an active 2022 season as all four Age Group continental championships and their multiple stages are set to take place over the next nine months, providing more than enough opportunities for the continent’s rising stars to develop their games.
Action is set to start as early as January 6 for the countries competing in the CEV U19 European Championship – Women and the CEV U20 European Championship – Men with the first round of matches. Two other rounds, in April and June-July, are scheduled for both divisions.
The Final Round for the U19 European Championship - Women is set to happen is Skopje, North Macedonia, from August 27 to September 4, and will reunite 12 national teams. Each of the last four editions of the tournament had a different champion, with Serbia, Russia, Italy and Turkey occupying the top of the podium respectively.
Russia will probably be represented by part of the generation that won last year’s U18 World Championship, most notably MVP middle blocker Natalia Suvorova and star setter Viktoriia Kobzar – star outside hitter Arina Fedorovtseva is also eligible to play. The presence of outside hitter Julia Ituma should make of Italy another one of the favorites.
The Italian cities of Messina and Reggio Calabria will host deciding stage of the U20 European Championship – Men from September 16-24. Russia dominated the most recent editions of the event, winning three out of the last five, but will face strong competition from other nations.
Poland, which took the title in 2016, is certainly among those after lifting last year’s U19 World Championship led by star opposite and MVP Tytus Nowik. Outside hitter Piotr Sliwka, the younger brother of world champion Aleksander, could also be on the roster. Also expect U19 vice world champions Bulgaria and Italy, who have a roster with massive pedigree that includes setter Mattia Bonifante and opposite Alessandro Bovolenta, to be in contention.
The CEV U21 European Championship – Women and the CEV U22 European Championship – Men will both have their inaugural editions this season, after a decision was made at the CEV Board of Administration last summer to o introduce a test event for an additional age-group competition in both genders.
The inaugural format will be composed of a single qualification round, set to happen in May, and the Final Round, which will take place in July in locations to be determined. Depending on the outcome of the test event, a second edition would then follow with qualifiers planned for July of 2023 and the respective Final Rounds held a year later.
Italy, who won last year’s U20 World Championship with great performances of setter Gaia Guiducci and libero Martina Armini, and Serbia, Russia and the Netherlands, who all made it the semifinals are among the favorites for the U21 European Championship. Teams like Belarus and France, who made it to the semifinals of the 2020 U20 European Championship, could emerge as potential dark horses.
For the U22 European Championship, Italy will probably be the frontrunners if they are able to count on every eligible player as that would include 2021 EuroVolley and U21 world champion Alessandro Michieletto. Russia and Poland, who got silver and bronze in the tournament also have talented generations while Belgium could be a surprising winner due to the presence of star outside hitter Seppe Rotty.