Bulgaria and Ireland poised to welcome #EuroVolleyU20W Final Round

The 2024 U20 women’s European champions will be crowned later this summer in Sofia, at the end of a truly historic tournament that will run from August 5 to 17 in the Bulgarian capital city as well as in Dublin, Ireland. Volleyball Ireland will be writing history as the first National Federation from the Small Countries Association (SCA) to deliver the final round of a continental championship in any age group. 

The 16 participating teams – the two organisers plus 14 emerging from the two rounds of qualifiers held in late 2023 and 2024 – were drawn on Friday morning at the home of European Volleyball in Luxembourg to compose Pool I and II – whereby the tournament will be getting underway, with the top two from each group progressing to the subsequent semis and medal matches in Sofia. 

Dublin and Volleyball Ireland will welcome three real powerhouses – defending European champions Italy, 2022 runners-up Serbia and Poland, whose team finished in third place two years ago in North Macedonia. This means that all three medallists from the previous edition of the European Championship in this age group (formerly U19) will be taking to the court in the Irish capital – albeit with a group of younger players compared to those that contested the 2022 event in Skopje. Czechia, Finland, Ukraine, and Portugal complete Pool II – with Portugal making their historic debut in the final round of #EuroVolleyU20W after sensationally sweeping all their matches in a second-round qualifier that they hosted last week on home soil in Barcelos. 

Co-hosts Bulgaria will welcome their neighbours from Türkiye – usually a major force to reckon with in all age-group championships – plus MEVZA champions Croatia, four teams that reached the final round via last week’s second-round qualifiers – The Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, and Belgium – and Sweden, winners of the NEVZA Championship in this age group contested in October of 2023 and returning to the #EuroVolleyU20W Final Round for the first time since 1984!

Everything is set for a real Volleyball party both in Sofia and Dublin, with the detailed competition schedule for the pool stage of the championship due to be released next week after liaising with the respective organisers.