38 teams to contest European League 2024
News
As many as 38 national teams from 24 National Federations have registered for participation in the 2024 edition of the CEV European League across the Golden and Silver divisions, this way showing their desire to perform on the international stage and their appetite for highly competitive matches. These will be extremely important to contest as national teams prepare for the eagerly anticipated EuroVolley 2026 qualifiers, with the first batch of such matches due to follow later in the summer of 2024.
The competition format has been modified compared to previous editions with the League Round spread across three and four weekends in the Golden and Silver League, respectively. This concept provides all participating teams with the opportunity to host a tournament on home soil – and to play two matches on the very same weekend before their own fans against two different quality opponents. This new formula significantly reduces travel costs, and it is a fair one at the same time as well, allowing all participants to promote their national teams on home soil. The Golden League will be reaching its climax with a Final Four organised in Croatia and in Czechia for the men’s and women’s competition, respectively. Final matches will be played in the Silver League bypassing any semi-finals after completion of the League Round.
Further details including the detailed competition schedule are available in the respective Official Communications for the Golden League (click here) and Silver League (click here).
Aleksandar Boričić“With the introduction of the new international ranking, every single match counts and this very much applies to those played in the European League as well. We are especially satisfied with the impressive participation numbers recorded in the women’s European League. We continue to study ways to see how we can support National Federations and help them grow the sport, which obviously also goes through the promotion and the achievements of their respective national teams."
CEV President
The competition schedule takes into consideration the current position of the participating teams in the respective European ranking and accounts for a series of matches that are likely to be closely fought and hence highly entertaining for the audience in the arenas as much as for those following the competition on TV or via Internet streaming.
Teams will be vying for a share of the prize money at stake (€ 225,000 in each gender for the top four teams of the Golden League, and € 65,000 per gender for the top two finishers in the Silver League), and the CEV has also introduced additional financial bonuses to encourage the use of the challenge system, LED advertising and to reward high attendance at the venues. Moreover, as usual, the winners of the European Silver League will move up to contest the Golden League in 2025.
In 2023, Türkiye and Ukraine won the men’s and women’s Golden League, whereas the Silver League ended with the triumphs of Latvia and Estonia in the men’s and women’s competition, respectively. The national teams of Iceland will be making their historic European League debut in 2024 – with both contesting the Silver League, as the European League continues to expand its reach and horizons and to grow since its establishment 20 years ago.
