Austria, Croatia, Lithuania, Slovenia and Spain to battle in Nations Cup Pool E

After Switzerland claimed the first spot in the 2023 CEV Beach Volleyball Nations Cup Finals on the men’s side on Saturday, five other countries will attempt to do the same between Monday and Tuesday, when the competition in Pool E takes place in Madrid – watch the Finals live on CEV’s YouTube channel.

The Spanish capital, which is hosting Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Futures tournaments on back-to-back weekends this month, will welcome teams from Austria, Croatia, Lithuania, Slovenia and hosts Spain as the Pool E Preliminary Round takes place at the Puerta de Hierro Beach Volleyball centre.

Of the five nations in contention, only one will move forward to the Finals, which will take place later this year. As many as 35 European nations have entered the 2023 Nations Cup and only the seven pool winners and host country of the Finals will compete for the title in a few months.

Hosts Spain won't be able to count on the entirety of their top team in the event after 35-year-old Adrián Gavira had to deal with a health issue. The three-time Olympian contracted dengue fever while competing on the Beach Pro Tour in Brazil and was in the hospital for five days, but even after being released, wasn't cleared by the doctors to play.

Because of that, his longtime partner Pablo Herrera will join forces with 25-year-old Alejandro Huerta Pastor, one of the winners of last weekend's Beach Pro Tour Futures event in Madrid. His regular partner and brother Javier will then pair with 21-year-old Antonio Saucedo to form the second Spanish dup in the tournament.

Austria, on the other hand, needed to do some maneuvering to get the second team that will play alongside Robin Seidl and Moritz Pristauz this week in Madrid. With Martin Ermacora recovering from injury and Alexander Horst unavailable due to personal commitments, their partners, Philipp Waller and Julian Hörl will join forces this week.

Leading Lithuania this week in Madrid will be Patrikas Stankevicius and Audrius Knasas, who won gold in two Beach Pro Tour Futures events in Europe last year. The country’s second team, formed by Robert Juchnevic and Artur Vasiljev, also had success at Futures level in 2022, winning silver and bronze in events in Poland.

Croatia will be represented in Madrid by the teams of Mario Jurkovic/Tin Devald and Jurica Skorkin/Hrvoje Zelenika while the duos of Jan Pokeršnik/Alan Košenina and Klemen Šen/Nejc Zemljak will be the ones playing for Slovenia.

Created in 2022, the Nations Cup brings added weight in 2023 and 2024, serving as the European pathway in the qualification system for the beach volleyball tournament of the Paris 2024 Olympics – the countries that win the 2024 Finals among the men and the women will each earn a spot in the Games.

The Nations Cup has a different competition format, promoting ‘country vs. country’ battles. Each nation is represented by two teams and the duels take place in a best-of-three format, with the decider, if needed, being a 15-point golden set.