Continent’s young stars ready to go in Baden
U22 European Championship
Two weeks after the 2025 senior European champions were crowned in Düsseldorf, it’s time to determine the top teams on the continent at the youth level, and the first age group to get on the sand will be the U22, which will be in action this week in Baden, Austria.
This week, the Austrian city will host the event for the third time in the last decade, having also staged the competition in 2017 and 2022. The venue will be the iconic Strandbad, which last weekend hosted a Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Challenge event.
The last step in the continental age group ladder, the U22 EuroBeachVolley will feature players with relative international experience, who have been competing and getting results at the senior level.
The best example of the high level of the tournament is the presence of 20-year-old Latvian blocker Kristians Fokerots, who is set to appear at the U22 EuroBeachVolley having already triumphed in the senior edition of the tournament – he was crowned as a European champion last year, playing alongside Olympic medalist Martins Plavins.
CEV U22 European Championship – Men
This week, Fokerots will be looking to win a continental title in a fourth different age group after having triumphed in the U18 European Championship in 2022 and in the U20 and senior levels in 2024. His partner will be 21-year-old Olivers Bulgacs.
French blocker Téo Rotar also gets to Baden boasting a solid resumé for a 21-year-old. A member of the French team that triumphed at the CEV Beach Nations Cup last year, he’s also a U19 world champion and a U20 European champion playing with Arthur Canet, who will be by his side this week in Baden – the two took bronze in the age group in 2024. Competing regularly on the Beach Pro Tour since 2024, he’s won a pair of medals in Challenge events this season.
Austrians Tim Berger and Timo Hammarberg seem to be the next in line to make a splash at the senior level. The 2022 U20 European champions have medaled at the Futures level, but already showed they can do more, making it to the quarterfinals in three Beach Pro Tour Elite or Challenge events and the European Championship in 2025.
Tim’s younger sister Lia and her partner Lilli Hohenauer are among the favorites to contend for the title in the women’s event in Baden. The reigning U18 European champions, the Austrians won gold in a Beach Pro Tour Futures event last month.
CEV U22 European Championship – Women
Ukrainians Yeva Serdiuk and Daria Romaniuk, who were fourth in the U22 EuroBeachVolley last year, have been even more successful at the international level. The two have been appearing on the Beach Pro Tour regularly since 2024 and won three golds at the Future level – they also made their EuroBeachVolley debut two weeks ago in Düsseldorf.
The three teams that made it to the podium last year in Termal will also be back looking for more silverware – Czech twins Anna and Katerina Pavelková, who won gold, Polish Malgorzata Ciezkowska and Urszula Lunio, who got silver, and Latvians Līva Ēbere and Deniela Konstantinova, who earned silver.
As many as 29 nations will be represented in the U22 European Championship, which will have 32 teams per gender in contention. They will be split into eight pools of four, with the pool winners advancing directly to the Round of 16 and duos ranked second and third making it to the Round of 24.
Pool play will be held between Thursday and Friday, with the elimination rounds following on Saturday. The semifinals and medal matches are scheduled for Sunday.