Brotherhood on the court: Four brothers power Greece’s EuroVolley dream

Brotherhood has a very literal meaning for Greece at CEV Enel EuroVolley 2026 Men. As the Hellenic team continues its impressive campaign in Modena and prepares to return to the knockout stage for the first time since EuroVolley 2019, their squad features not one, but two pairs of brothers - Spyridon and Aristeidis Chandrinos, and Dimitrios and Stavros Konstantinos Mouchlias. Their family connection adds a unique dimension to a team that has already emerged as one of the revelations of the tournament.

Greece have made a strong statement in Pool A under head coach Konstantinos Christofidelis, producing the biggest surprise of the pool with an impressive 3-1 victory over bronze medallists Slovenia after also pushing world champions Italy hard. But while “brotherhood” is often used to describe team spirit in Volleyball, in Greece it takes on an additional meaning. The EuroVolley squad includes 25-year-old outside hitter Spyridon Chandrinos and his 23-year-old brother, libero Aristeidis, alongside 25-year-old opposite Dimitrios Mouchlias and his 18-year-old brother, outside hitter Stavros Konstantinos.

“It’s a very special experience. I have never experienced something like that. I mean, basically, Dimitris and I played in the same team at PAOK Thessaloniki two years ago, but now it’s even more special. It’s an awesome thing to have your brother as your teammate,” said the youngest member of the group, Stavros Konstantinos Mouchlias.

His older brother Dimitrios, who has emerged as Greece’s top scorer in Modena, shares the feeling.

“It’s an amazing feeling. It’s strange sometimes, you know, to just look around and see him on the court with me in the national team. I’m very, very happy for him. He’s improving a lot every year. He’s getting better and better. I try to advise him as much as I can, but overall, it’s a very happy feeling.”

The Mouchlias family could even have had greater representation in the Greek squad. The brothers’ love for Volleyball was passed down by their father, Nikos, who introduced all three of his sons to the sport.

“Our father did an amazing job. We are three brothers and all of us are playing Volleyball. We all love Volleyball, you know, it’s not that we do it because we have to. We love Volleyball, and he’s very happy that we followed in his footsteps. He was a professional player in Greece and also played for the national team. Our brother Vasilis also plays in the Greek league and, two seasons ago, when I came back from Germany, all three of us played at PAOK in Greece. We were all three together, in the same team, at the same club,” Dimitrios recalled.

Fortunately for the Mouchlias brothers, they do not share the same position, meaning there is little competition between them on the court.

“I started playing as an outside hitter. I didn’t choose the position, but I was thinking that it was actually good because I didn’t want to play the same position as my brother for this reason,” Stavros Konstantinos explained.

The Chandrinos brothers have a similarly strong Volleyball family background. Both Spyridon and Aristeidis were inspired to take up the sport by their parents, who also played Volleyball. Their family story even includes a younger sister, 16-year-old Maria, who plays as a setter.

“Sharing the court with my brother is something truly special. We’ve been playing together since we were kids, and we always dreamed of representing the national team together. At some point, I’d also love for us to play for the same club team again. My uncle was a libero, and my father played as an opposite hitter. My family definitely played a key role in getting me involved in Volleyball. Ever since I was a baby, my mother would bring me to the court in my stroller to watch the matches, so my brother and I practically grew up on the Volleyball court” - said Aristeidis Chandrinos.

“It’s an amazing feeling to share the court with my brother. I mean, everyone would feel amazing playing with someone you know and trust your whole life,” Spyridon Chandrinos said. “My brother and I started in exactly the same year. I was six years old and he was five because both our parents were players, so we kind of had to. We started at a very, very early age and we enjoyed it a lot. My dad was my idol. He was my role model on the court as well. Because I grew very fast and tall, I started to play outside hitter, while my brother had the predisposition to become a libero. To play as a libero, you need to be reactive and passionate, and my brother is exactly like this. If you watch the game, you can see he’s like this.”

The family ties have added an extra dimension to Greece’s impressive campaign, but their success in Modena is not simply a story about brothers. The Hellenic side have already shown that they are a team on the rise, capable of challenging some of the strongest opponents in Europe. They pushed world champions Italy hard before producing a stunning 3-1 victory over Slovenia, one of the regulars on the EuroVolley podium. Greece then continued their impressive run by defeating Sweden and Slovakia, completing the pool stage in third place with three victories.

“We are a national team that is pretty young in terms of age. Now we are growing as a team, both on and off the court. I feel this team, this generation of ours, will do great things. As you can see, we are playing well and we have beaten teams that are in the top five in the world ranking, so I have big expectations for us,” said Spyridon Chandrinos.

Dimitros Mouchlias, however, is keeping the focus firmly on the process. “Our goal is to play well and to get better in every game.”

For Greece, that journey is already taking them further than many expected. And with four brothers sharing the same EuroVolley dream, the word “brotherhood” has perhaps never felt more appropriate.