Fabulous battle sees four teams qualified for the Final Four in the 2024 CEV Men's European Golden League

Croatia, Czechia, Ukraine and Estonia are the four teams which are still alive in the 2024 CEV Men's European Golden League, making it to the Final Four, after the conclusion of the league round of the competition, which took place in the last three weeks.

Hosts Croatia, which will aim for the gold medal on 15 and 16 June, when they host the Final Four, are the only unbeaten team so far, with six wins out of six matches, including one hard-fought win against North Macedonia, 3:2, and a 3:0 win against Spain in Tournament 10, played in Osijek last weekend.

The match against North Macedonia, which had previously won a single match, was the hardest Croatia faced so far, having to rally from being down 2:1, to clinch the next sets, 25:21 and 15:12, to secure the win.

Against Spain, Croatia had issues once again, 27:25, 25:22 and 25:23, but came out unscathed, to finish first, with 17 points, and only six sets dropped, securing the first place in dominating fashion.

Czechia, the second-placed team, dropped their first match of this edition, 2:3, against Finland, on their home court in Karlovy Vary, after leading twice, 1:0 and 2:1, but failing to capitalise on that lead, after losing the next two sets, 22:25 and 11:15.

However, they bounced back, but also had issues in the last match against Romania, rallying from 1:2, with 25:20 and 15:13, in a hard-fought 3:2 win, which enabled them to take the second place, staving off a challenge from three teams, Ukraine, Estonia and Belgium, which all finished with four wins and two losses.

The hardest contested Tournament was the one played in Tarnow, where Ukraine, Portugal and Belgium all played for their lives, as Portugal were the one to concede two losses, 1:3 against Ukraine and 3:2 against Belgium, being tied after the first two sets in each match.

With Portugal (3-3) out of the picture, the battle between Ukraine and Belgium delivered another qualified team and it was Ukraine which came in front, despite conceding a 2:3 loss against Belgium. In fact, Ukraine secured a 2:1 lead after three sets, but dropped the next two, 25:27 and 11:15.

Yet having 13 points, four more than Belgium, despite both sides finishing with four wins and two losses was the decisive factor, as Belgium paid the price of winning three of their matches by a single set, which hampered their efforts.

The fourth qualifying place for the Final Four went to Estonia, which mounted a fantastic comeback in Tournament 7, after starting the last week with two wins and two losses. Two absolutely clear wins against Azerbaijan (25:14; 25:15; 25:17) and Luxembourg (25:9; 25:16 and 25:11) were decisive for Estonia, which finished with four wins and two losses, and 11 points, two more than Belgium.

Azerbaijan, the only team to lose all their six matches and with only two sets won, was the team which was relegated, while Spain, Finland and Portugal all finished with three wins and three losses, while Romania (2-4), North Macedonia and Luxembourg (1-5) finished ninth, tenth an eleventh respectively.

Croatia will face Estonia in the first semi-final, while Ukraine and Czechia are due to play for the second place in the final in the matches scheduled for 15 June.