Everything you need to know about CEV European Golden League - M&W
Preview
As the club season reached its end with the #SuperFinalsTurin, the tournament we all have been waiting for is finally here. The 2023 edition of the CEV European Golden League - Men and Women, is set to start on May 27, with as many as six men’s and three women’s games taking place.
The Golden League will again feature 12 teams per gender. The competition has a double round-robin system with teams playing each other twice - once at home and once away. And as every year, there is much at stake, including € 125,000 for the eventual winners in each gender and the right for the two finalists in each gender to qualify for the 2023 edition of the FIVB Volleyball Challenger Cup taking place this summer. And the team finishing last will move down to the Silver League in 2024.
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Competition Format:
League Phase
The 12 participating teams are divided into three pools (Pool A: Türkiye, Portugal, Romania, Denmark; Pool B: Ukraine, Belgium, Croatia, North Macedonia; Pool C: Finland, reigning champions Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia). During the League phase, the teams will contest a double round-robin in their groups, starting on May 27.
Final Four
After completion of the pool phase on June 18, a country to be announced soon will be hosting the men’s Final Four where the home favorites will be vying for top honors together with the three pool winners. If the host country is among the pool winners, the best second ranked team across all pools will qualify.
The Teams
Pool A: Türkiye is the biggest name in this pool with seven podiums, including two titles in 2019 and 2021., and they are the highest-ranked team in the competition. They are also the runners-up in the last year’s edition of this competition. Last year’s European Silver League winner Romania is also in that pool and they will have a tough task.
Not to underestimate is the team of Denmark who are the CEV Volleyball European Silver League 2021 winners but also the team of Portugal who are the 2010 winners of this competition.
But, Denmark is definitely looking for some improvement in the standings, as Danish players finished in 10th place, while Portugal was sixth together with Estonia.
Pool B: This interesting pool features 2017 European League champion Ukraine and 2013 winner Belgium, but also the teams of three-time silver medalist North Macedonia and two-time silver medalist Croatia. The Croatian team delivered their best performance last year at the CEV European Golden League where they won the bronze medal. Ukraine finished fourth and lost to the Croatian team in the third-place match so they are going to be looking for revenge this year.
The underdog in this pool is definitely North Macedonia. Their team was in the 14th place in the last year’s edition of the competition and will have a tough job in this group.
Pool C: The most competitive pool would be this one since it features the two-time winner (2004 and 2022) Czech Republic, two-time winner (2016 and 2018) Estonia, two-time winner (2008 and 2011) Slovakia, and 2005 silver medalist Finland.
Last year all eyes were on the team of the Czech Republic and in the end they won the competition. This time the situation is the same, but everybody will want to see if some of the other teams can put a stop to the Czechs and their good domination.
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The CEV Volleyball European Golden League will be very exciting since last year’s winner France is set to defend its title in 2023. Croatia will not be joining this year since they have shared third place with Romania last year, but they still qualified for the 2022 Challenger Cup as hosts. In the end they were the winners of the Challenger Cup and are this year competing in the international Volleyball elite at the VNL.
Competition format:
League phase
Nine teams will take part in the 2023 edition of the competition. The teams are divided into three pools (Pool A: Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sweden; Pool B: Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania; Pool C: France, Ukraine, Hungary).
Final phase
The semifinals are going to be played on the 24th and 25th of June (home matches) and on the 28th of June (away matches). Finals are going to be played on the 6th (home matches) of July and the 9th of July (away matches).
The Teams
Pool A: The biggest name in this group is the team Belgium and they are more than ever eager to battle their way back to the Volleyball Nations League since Croatia took the spot last year. Belgians are a major contender for the title since they have spent a few years in the Volleyball Nations League.
Sweden is promoted this year to the Golden League since they won the Silver League in 2022. They will also have Bosnia and Herzegovina in the group. They won the Silver League back in 2021 and are in the Golden Elite since then. In the final standing, Bosnia and Herzegovina took sixth place last year and Sweden tenth.
Pool B: In this group, the biggest name is the Czech Republic which is last year’s silver medalist and two-time winner (2012 and 2019). Last year’s semifinalist Romania is ready to fight for the trophy. The pool’s underdogs are Slovakia, as they finished in ninth place in 2022, and they are ready to deliver some surprises to tie the situation in the group. But, they were runners-up back in 2016.
Pool C: France claimed a historic women’s title in 2022 and they are ready for it again. This time they are in the pool with another two former European League winners – Ukraine, who was a gold medalist back in 2017, and Hungary, who won this competition back in 2015. Both Ukraine and Hungary performed well last year finishing in fifth and seventh place so they are not to be underestimated.
Don’t miss out on all the action from the national teams on EuroVolley.TV where you can enjoy high-class Volleyball battles at the beginning of the national teams’ season.