Germany and Ukraine to play for gold on Sunday
Beach Nations Cup Finals
Germany and Ukraine are the candidates to secure the women’s title of the fourth edition of the 2025 CEV Beach Volley Nations Cup Finals after the countries triumphed in the semifinals of the event held in Espinho on Saturday.
Germans and Ukrainians overcame the semifinal round of the event held at the Praia da Baía by taking down the national teams of Spain and the Netherlands, respectively, and are ready to play for gold on Sunday, in a series that will have matches at 14:30 and 15:30 local time – if needed, a golden set will follow.
The CEV Beach Nations Cup Finals gold medal match will feature two countries with different proflies in European beach volleyball, as while Germany has traditionally been a powerhouse in the region, having won a record nine EuroBeachVolley titles with their women’s teams, Ukraine is a rising force on the continent and can on Sunday achieve their first big success at this level.
The winners of Pool A in Espinho, Germany faced Spain for a spot in the final series and needed tie-breakers to win both duels. Sandra Ittlinger and Anna-Lena Grüne were the first to play, and they came back to take down Sofía González and Ana Vergara 2-1 (17-21, 21-18, 15-8).
The second duel between Germans and Spanish featured two teams that competed at last year’s Paris Olympics and had reigning EuroBeachVolley champions Svenja Müller and Cinja Tillmann topping Daniela Álvarez and Tania Moreno also in three sets (17-21, 22-20, 15-13) to confirm the German victory.
CEV Beach Nations Cup Finals – Women
Ukraine, which topped Pool B in Portugal, had a smoother ride against the Netherlands, taking the defending champions down with two sweeps. The first of them was earned by Valentyna Davidova and Anhelina Khmil, who handled Mila Konink and Raïsa Schoon in two sets (21-15, 21-18).
The second duel also went Ukraine’s way, with Maryna Hladun and Tetiana Lazarenko needing only two sets (21-19, 21-13) to beat Emi van Driel and Wies Bekhuis and confirm the Ukrainian victory.
On Sunday, the final series will start with Ittlinger/Grüne facing Davidova/Khmil at 14:30. One hour later, Müller/Tillmann will play against Hladun/Larazenko.
Introduced in the European beach volleyball calendar in 2022, the Beach Nations Cup is an exciting ‘country vs country’ competition which resembles the Davis Cup in tennis.