Parade of stars to feature at EuroBeachVolley in Düsseldorf

A host of elite teams, including Olympic, World, and European champions will be competing at this year’s EuroBeachVolley in Düsseldorf later this month. The entries include the top names in the sport as well as a variety of up-and-coming duos – youngsters who have been making a name for themselves in the age-group championships and are now eager to test their skills against the ‘cream of the crop’ in international Beach Volleyball. This coming Monday, July 7, the 32 teams per gender will be drawn across eight pools for the group stage of the competition. The Drawing of Lots will be streamed live on the CEV’s YouTube channel starting at 4 pm CEST. 

The men’s tournament is especially filled with major stars of the game, including reigning Olympic champions David Åhman/Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden, whose resume includes EuroBeachVolley titles in 2022 and 2023, Norway’s Anders Mol/Christian Sørum, Olympic champions at Tokyo 2020, world champions in 2022 and winners of an unprecedented four straight European titles between 2018 and 2021. Reigning world champions Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner of Czechia, last year’s sensational EuroBeachVolley winners Martins Plavins/Kristians Fokerots of Latvia and Paris 2024 Olympic silver medallists and home heroes Nils Ehlers/Clemens Wickler of Germany are among the other names to headline the entries. 

Spanish Beach Volleyball legend Adrian Gavira returns for the 14th straight year to the continental stage, this time with his new partner Alejandro Huerta after contesting the event 15 times with the now-retired Pablo Herrera. The two Spaniards triumphed with EuroBeachVolley gold back in 2013 in Klagenfurt, Austria. Alexander Brouwer of the Netherlands, a World champion (in 2013) and Olympic bronze medallist (in 2016) with Robert Meeuwsen, continues his quest for continental gold with new partner Steven van de Velde. 

The men’s competition features teams from 16 countries, with Germany contributing with the largest contingent (six) followed by the Netherlands and Switzerland with three apiece. 

The women’s tournament is joined by as many as six former European champions, including titleholders Cinja Tillmann and Svenja Müller of Germany, who emerged victorious last year in The Hague. Latvia’s Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova are two-time European champions (2019 and 2022), and former ‘Queens of Europe’ are also Switzerland’s Tanja Hüberli and Anouk Vergé-Dépré, albeit not with their current respective partners. 

Among the 14 countries involved, Germany leads the way in terms of entries for the women’s event as well with as many as seven teams. Lithuania, the Netherlands, and Ukraine contribute with the second-largest contingent, as each of these nations will be represented by three teams. 

According to the EuroBeachVolley Entry Ranking, the top seven teams plus the highest-ranked team representing the host country – Germany – will head the preliminary pools. The entries are topped by Mol/Sørum for men and Italy’s Valentina Gottardi and Reka Orsi Toth for women. Gottardi won silver last year in The Hague with former partner Marta Menegatti, who has taken a break from competitive sport to focus on family life. 

The event in Düsseldorf will run from July 30 to August 3 at the iconic Rochus Tennisclub, a place where many tennis legends competed in the past. This time the stars of Beach Volleyball will be taking centre stage and the event has already generated much enthusiasm, with all tickets sold out for the matches scheduled for the last three competition days. 

For further information, visit the official event website https://eurobeachvolley.cev.eu/en/2025/