Rising stars ready to shine at #EuroVolleyU17W and #EuroVolleyU18M following DOLs

After completion of the Drawing of Lots held earlier today in Luxembourg, the stars in the making of European Volleyball know more about what their journey in the final stage of this year’s #EuroVolleyU17W and #EuroVolleyU18M will look like. As many as 12 teams will contest each tournament in July, with the Czech Republic and Georgia playing host to the women’s and men’s competition, respectively.

Apart from the teams representing the host countries, another 11 have reached the final stage of the competition in each gender through a series of zonal and continental qualifiers contested in late 2021 and early 2022. Italy will be trying to retain the #EuroVolleyU18M title claimed by a previous generation two years ago with their pool including the likes of Germany, Bulgaria, Poland, Greece, and Slovenia. On the other hand, hosts Georgia will be taking on 2020 silver medal winners Czech Republic, as well as the teams of Belgium, France, Finland and Serbia.

The competition in Tbilisi will run from July 9 to 17 and coincides with the first time an age-group continental championship has ever taken place in Georgia. The Caucasus country previously co-hosted EuroVolley Women in 2017 together with their neighbours from Azerbaijan.

As for #EuroVolleyU17W, the Czech cities of Hradec Kralove and Prostejov will welcome the rising stars of European Volleyball from July 16 to 24. The home favourites will be testing themselves against Serbia, Bulgaria, Germany, the Netherlands and Croatia in Pool I. Turkey, Italy, Slovenia, Poland, Hungary, and Finland compose a highly competitive Pool II.

Both host cities have a rich Volleyball tradition – with the women’s team of Prostejov a regular contestant of the elite CEV Champions League for many years. Russia won gold at the last edition of #EuroVolleyU17W held in Montenegro, but they will not be able to defend their title, as they are currently not eligible to enter European competitions. Turkey and Serbia finished second and third, respectively, in 2020.

The detailed match schedule for the pool phase of both championships will follow in due course. The top two sides from each pool will play crossed semi-finals and the subsequent medal matches, while the teams ranked third and fourth will be continuing their journey in the classification matches for places 5 to 8.