Inaugural #EuroVolleyU22M ready to kick off in Tarnow
Preview
The city of Tarnow, in Poland, is ready to host the maiden edition of the #EuroVolleyU22M as the final stage of the much anticipated tournament is set to kick off on July 12 through 17.
As many as eight teams (hosts Poland are joined by the seven best from the Qualifiers stage) will lock horns in a battle for a first ever title as Europe’s rising stars will take the stage, competing for a very first time in the European Championship in this age group. With a decision of CEV BoA from 2021, and with the aim to help young players in their transition from underage to senior teams, the inaugural edition of the competition will feature players born on January 1, 2001 or thereafter.
Final Round
The Final Round in the southeastern Polish city will feature the eight best teams, divided into two pools of four teams each (single round robin).
Pool I will feature the host team, who finished third at the 2021 U21 Worlds, while the reigning world U21 champs of Italy will start their journey to a much desired title on the European stage from Pool II.
Formula
The two best placed teams from each pool will play crossed semi-finals, while the remaining teams will leave the tournament. On the Final day, the bronze and gold medal matches will take place.
Regarding the pool positions criteria, the first factor to take into consideration is the matches won, next the ranking points, the match sets quotient/ration, match points quotient/ratio and the “head to head” results.
The Road to the Final Round
21 European teams across six pools entered the qualifiers battles in late May. In each pool, the first placed team qualified to the Final round and the remaining one place was filled by the next best ranked team across all pools.
The hosts
The hosts from Poland qualified directly to the Final Round. Counting on players as the best middle blocker of the U21 Worlds, Karol Urbanowicz and opposite Dawid Dulski, the hosts are eager to show their best in front of home crowds.
Pool A
Reigning U21 World Champions from Italy, led by some of their promising players as Tommaso Stefani, disappointed with straight-set wins their opponents from Israel, Portugal and Ireland.
Look out for…
Stefani (4.75 points/average per set in the qualifiers campaign), together with setter Paolo Porro and libero Damiano Catania, were one of the pillars in the Italian squad in September 2021, when the team claimed the Gold at the Worlds on home soil in Sardinia. Big star, Alessandro Michieletto will miss the Final Round, due to his duties with the senior team at VNL. However, Italy, probably with the help of Tommaso Rinaldi as well, remain the big favourite for the title.
Pool B
Serbia, who last year did not make it to the Final Round of the U21 Worlds, were impeccable in their qualifier campaign in Latvia. They finished on a clean slate, with two victories of 3-0 against Latvia and Faroe Islands respectively.
Look out for…
Dusan Nikolic became best scorer for his team in the qualifiers campaign, finishing with 5.2 points average per set, and might very well cause problems to his opponents.
Pool C
Türkiye did their job right, grabbing the much coveted ticket to the Final Round. On home soil, they proved better than the other teams - Ukraine, Denmark and Iceland. The Turkish team finished with two victories of 3-0, and one of 3-1 (against Ukraine).
Look out for…
Kaan Gürbüz (4.4 points/average per set) and Efe Bayram (4 points/average per set) are two of the main weapons of the inspired Turkish team. Gaining experience with the senior team as well (Bayram got his chance at the Final Four of the Golden #EuroLeagueM), the two, supported by Ahmet Tümer and Mirza Lagumdzija will look for surprising all and reaching the highest position possible.
Pool D
The hosts of the Qualifier in Sofia, Bulgaria could not respond to the high expectations, and lost the qualification-deciding match against France. Les Blues outclassed the young Lions at 3-0 in the direct clash between the two teams, and booked their ticket to the Final Round, remaining unbeaten without a set lost.
Look out for…
Guided by promising setter, Kellian Motta Paes (player of Paris Volley), Ibrahim Lawani led the way for his team during the qualifications, with an average of 3.5 points per set. Grégory Gemping (3.33 pts/аverage per set) also called the attention.
Pool E
The Netherlands proved the best team in Pool E, in the company of Slovakia, Azerbeijan and Kosovo.The Dutch left no doubts over their dominance in their three games, seizing two victories at 3-0, and one at 3-1.
Look out for…
Martijn Brilhuis is currently topping the charts in the Best Scorers ranking - 50 recorded so far, with an average of 5/per set.
Pool F
With two wins, Austria became the best team in the group. Crucial for the first place in the pool was the game against Montenegro, won by the Austrian players at 3-2.
Montenegro will contest the #EuroVolleyU22M Final Round as well, finishing as the best runner-up across all groups in the qualification round.
Look out for…
Michael Czerwniski is top scorer for team Austria so far (5.25 points/average per set), and will be looking forward to revealing his full potential at the Final Round.
As for the inspired team of Montenegro, who became the first men’s under age team from the country to proceed ahead after a qualification round, they can count on the fourth best scorer in the current standings - Djordje Jovovic, who has a 4.88 points/average per set.
Where to follow
Many interesting matches coming up next, as some of the future stars of men’s European Volleyball will fight for this first ever title. Follow the action live on EuroVolley.TV (from semifinals on), and keep updated on the dedicated webpage&on our social media channels.