Spain and the Netherlands to fight for EuroBeachVolley women’s crown and ticket to LA28

Whoever emerges victorious from Sunday’s gold medal match in the women’s competition at the CEV EuroBeachVolley 2026 will crown themselves European champions for the very first time in their careers. Spain’s Tania Moreno Matveeva and Sofia Izuzquiza caused a real sensation with their come-from-behind semi-final victory over World champions Tina Graudina/Anastasija Samoilova of Latvia. Raïsa Schoon and Katja Stam of the Netherlands did the same fighting back from one set down in their semi with France’s Clémence Vieira and Aline Chamereau. On Sunday, there is even more at stake than ‘just’ a EuroBeachVolley crown – since the eventual winners of the gold medal match will also secure a spot for their National Olympic Committee to compete at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. 

In the first semi-final, two teams were vying for their second opportunity to play for the EuroBeachVolley crown. Last year, France’s Clémence Vieira and Aline Chamereau had sensationally reached the gold medal match – whereas Dutchwomen Raïsa Schoon and Katja Stam had contested the ‘grand finale’ back in 2021 in Vienna when the event was held shortly after the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Vieira and Chamereau emerged victorious from a closely fought first set (21-19) before Schoon/Stam responded swiftly in the second (21-14). The tie-break was a cat-and-mouse game with both teams successfully completing their side-out up to 8-all. This is where Vieira and Chamereau broke away for the first time with two straight points and as they seemed to pull away, Schoon and Stam responded with four unanswered points of their own, including two aces by Schoon. A French time-out did little to turn the tide and Schoon/Stam eventually sealed their victory after a truly entertaining final rally, closed out by Stam with a powerful spike (15-12). 

Schoon added: “We did believe in ourselves until the very end and when the tiebreak started, we just told ourselves that it was ‘just’ another 15 points and we would take it one rally at a time.” In the final, Raïsa will try to improve on her own silver medal from 2021 – and on another five such medals in the collection of her family, with four belonging to aunt Rebekka de Kogel-Kadijk and one to her mom Debora. 

A large partisan Latvian crowd came together for the second semi-final. What started as a routine match for reigning World champions Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova (21-13), soon turned into an impressive performance by Tania Moreno Matveeva and her only 20-year-old partner Sofia Izuzquiza. They have been playing together for a few months only – but they showed incredible resilience and maturity – this especially applies to Izuzquiza – as they mounted an impressive comeback. They rushed to a 4-0 advantage in the second set and they never looked back (21-14) before they trailed twice by two points in the tiebreak (6-8, 8-10). This is where Izuzquiza rose to the occasion, showing phenomenal composure for someone competing at this level for the very first time with a massive contribution across the whole board.

The Spaniards scored seven points in a row to silence the Latvian fans with each rally and eventually celebrate a truly impressive achievement for such a young partnership. 

On Sunday, Moreno Matveeva will contest her second EuroBeachVolley final – she previously won silver in 2023 in Vienna with former partner Daniela Alvarez Mendoza when the Spaniards lost to Switzerland’s Tanja Hüberli and Nina Betschart (now Brunner).