Norway return to the top of the men’s podium
Beach Nations Cup Finals
Norway became the first country to repeat as CEV Beach Volley Nations Cup champions by prevailing in the men’s tournament of the 2025 edition of the event, which came to an end on Sunday in Espinho.
The Beach Volley Vikings dominated the event held between Thursday and Sunday at the Praia da Baía and returned to the top of the podium after taking gold in the inaugural edition of the event, in Vienna, Austria, in 2022.
Norway faced the Netherlands in the decisive series and triumphed in the golden set after the countries split wins in the first two encounters to join Germany as the winners of this year’s edition of the tournament.
The Dutch started the final ahead after Rio Olympic bronze medalist Alexander Brouwer and Paris Olympian Steven van de Velde topped Hendrik Mol and Mathias Berntsen in two sets (21-11, 21-17) in the first match of the series.
CEV Beach Nations Cup Finals – Men
The second duel was not completed as Dutch defender Yorick de Groot went down with an injury during the first set and could not return to the court to join partner Stefan Boermans against Olympic, world and four-time European champions Anders Mol and Christian Sørum, who earned a forfeit victory.
With the score leveled, a golden set was needed to determine the champions, and both countries used mixed lineups, with Boermans and Brouwer representing the Netherlands and Anders Mol and Berntsen pairing for Norway. At the end, the Norwegians were better and secured the title with a 15-12 victory.
With the victory in Espinho, Norway also earned an extra spot in the upcoming 2025 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship, which is going to be held from November 14-23, in Australia, through the continental pathway.
Earlier, in the semifinals, Norway overcame Spain with a pair of sweeps, while the Netherlands prevailed over Austria with a three-set and a straight-set victory.
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.