Olympic medalists represent Switzerland in Spiez
Futures in Europe
After stops in Spain and Italy over the last three weeks, the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour gets to Switzerland, the third European country to host a Futures event in 2025, this week.
The double-gender tournament held at the lakefront Spiezerbucht between Wednesday and Sunday will present the home fans with a great opportunity to support in person the country’s top players, as two of the four athletes who took Switzerland to the podium at the last two Olympics will be in action this week.
Anouk Vergé-Dépré, who took bronze at the Tokyo Games, in 2021, and Tanja Hüberli, who finished third last year in Paris, are among the main attractions of this week’s event as they continue to look for progress with their new partners.
A 2020 European champion, Anouk, 33, ended her longtime partnership with Joana Mäder, who took a break from the sport to become a mother, at the end of last season. In 2025, she has been playing with her younger sister Zoé, who represented Switzerland last year in Paris, and the two have a pair of ninth-place finishes in Elite tournaments held in Brazil to show for in their first events as partners.
Beach Pro Tour Spiez Futures – Women
Hüberli, 32, also had to look for a new partner in 2025 after Nina Brunner, with whom she took bronze in Paris and won two European titles, took a break in her career. She picked up 19-year-old Leona Kernen, a Spiez native, and the two had a promising start, taking silver in their debut, in a Challenge event in Mexico – they got fifth and 13th in the following Elite events.
Seeded first and second, the Swiss duos are the favorites to fight for gold in Spiez, but Germans Karla Borger, a two-time Olympian, and Hanna-Marie Schieder, who won a Futures event in Cervia two weeks ago, are also in the mix.
The women’s tournament in Spiez will count on 27 teams from 12 countries. Hosts Switzerland will have seven duos, followed by the Netherlands (4), Czechia (3), the United States (3), Norway (2), Poland (2), Belgium, Canada, Estonia, Germany, Hungary and Latvia.
On the men’s side, Switzerland will also have a strong squad as they attempt to keep the gold medals at home. The home country will have four teams starting directly in the main draw, including top-seeded Yves Haussener/Julian Friedli, second-seeded Marco Krattiger/Leo Dillier and third-seeded Adrian Heidrich/Jonathan Jordan.
Fourth-seeded Polish Jedrzej Brozyniak/Piotr Janiak, fifth-seeded Austrians Felix Friedl/Florian Schnetzer and sixth-seeded Czechs Tadeas Trousil/Matyas Dzavoronok stand out as the main threats for the home sides.
As many as 28 teams are entered in the men’s tournament, with 13 countries represented. Switzerland have the most entries, with six, followed by Austria, Czechia and Poland, with three each, Germany, Hungary, Italy and Lithuania, with two, and Australia, Belgium, Canada, Greece and Scotland, with one.
Beach Pro Tour Spiez Futures – Men
The women’s tournament will start on Wednesday, with the qualifier, and will continue with the main draw pool play on Thursday, the elimination rounds on Friday and the semifinals and medal matches on Saturday. The men’s event will follow a similar schedule, but beginning on Thursday and ending on Sunday.
The Beach Pro Tour Futures events in Europe are run by the CEV in close cooperation with Volleyball World and provide teams from the continent with several opportunities to compete and gain valuable international ranking points.