Estonia hosts U16 Men EEVZA tournament / European qualifier in Kääriku

This week, Estonia hosts from November 27 to 30 the Eastern European Volleyball Zonal Association (EEVZA) U16 Men’s Championship in Kääriku. The six participating teams will start their journey with the pool stage: Group A includes Ukraine, Georgia and Poland, whereas Group B features hosts Estonia, Latvia, and Azerbaijan. The EEVZA championship also counts as the first round of qualifiers for the 2025 edition of the European Championship in this same age group. 

After the group matches, the final ranking will be determined by a series of classification matches. The teams ranked from second to sixth will all advance to the next round of qualifiers scheduled for the spring of 2025, whereas the winners will be punching their direct ticket to the Final Round due to take place in the summer of next year in Yerevan, Armenia.

Live streaming of all matches will be available on the Baltic Broadcasting YouTube channel.

Argo Meresaar, head coach of the Estonian U16 national team, says he expects a good experience for his players. “This tournament is the first competition at this level for these boys and they will get a good experience. We have also done a summer camp together, so they know each other well enough. Estonia is not that powerful maybe, but we do have our strengths – a good setter and some boys who can attack at decent heights already,” said Meresaar. 

“With Latvia, it will definitely be a fundamental confrontation, typical for neighbours, where you would not want to lose. There is not much information about the opponents for such young teams, but I believe that Latvia is at a similar level to us and is playable. We will take it one game at a time and see how it goes. Overall, it will be also interesting to see the rising stars from different countries,” Meresaar added.