The Hague Futures concludes the 2022 international season

A Futures tournament set to take place in The Hague, the Netherlands, will bring the 2022 beach volleyball international season to an end as teams from Europe and other continents are set to compete at the Sportscampus Zuiderpark from Tuesday to Friday.

Used as a training facility for a variety of sports, the state-of-the-art facility was built in 2017 and had a massive impact on Dutch beach volleyball since then, serving as the headquarters of the country’s national team players and also hosting events, such as the 2018 CEV EuroBeachVolley.

The Netherlands will become the 13^th different European nation to host a Beach Pro Tour Futures event in 2022, the inaugural season of the event – as many as 21 tournaments have been held in the continent since May.

The last event of the season has attracted teams from three continents as duos from Europe, Asia and North America are entered in the tournament that will start on Tuesday with the men’s and women’s qualifiers and will continue until Friday, the penultimate day of the year.

Europe has the vast majority of teams entered to compete in The Hague, with the continent accounting for 48 of the 56 duos that registered. As many as 21 European nations will be represented, with the Netherlands (12 teams) leading the way, followed by Austria, Belgium and Lithuania (four each), the Czech Republic, Germany and Norway (three each), France, Italy and Poland (two each), and Denmark, England, Spain, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia, Türkiye and Ukraine (one each).

Dutch defender Matt Immers is arguably the most successful player entered to compete in The Hague this week. The 22-year-old spent most of the Beach Pro Tour season with Stefan Boermans and the two won gold at a Challenge event in Agadir, Morocco, and made a semifinal appearance at the Elite16 level in Hamburg, Germany.

Immers, who also competed in this year’s EuroBeachVolley in Munich, will join forces with 30-year-old Erik Nijland for this week’s event and the two form the top-seeded duo on the men’s side.

The Netherlands have three teams guaranteed in the main draw while Oman and Germany have two each, with duos from Ukraine, Austria, Belgium and Denmark completing the list. The four remaining main draw spots will be contested by the 16 tandems who are in the qualifier.

The women’s tournament has two Dutch duos at the top of the entry list, with Brecht Piersma and Emi van Driel leading the way, followed by compatriots Pleun Ypma and Wies Bekhuis. Both duos will be making their first appearances together this week.

Another highlight of the women’s tournament in The Hague will be the return of German defender Kim van de Velde (formerly Behrens). Married to Dutch player Steven van de Velde, she gave birth to the couple’s first son in March and will make her first appearance in an international tournament since the 2021 EuroBeachVolley – her partner will be Chenoa Christ.

With teams from The Netherlands, Japan, Lithuania, the United States, Austria and Switzerland completing the top 12, duos from 14 different countries will be in action on Tuesday’s qualifier.