Stars in the making poised to contest #EuroVolleyU18M after DOL

The rising stars of European Volleyball will convene later this summer in Sofia and Plovdiv for the Final Round of this year’s #EuroVolleyU18M, with the competition due to run from July 10-21 and to involve 16 teams. The Drawing of Lots to define the composition of the groups whereby the continental championship will get underway was held on Thursday morning at the home of European Volleyball in Luxembourg, with the 16 teams previously divided into seven cups according to the European ranking in this age group.

The team representing Bulgaria, whose previous generation finished third at the last #EuroVolleyU18M held in 2022, will play Poland, 2022 silver medal winners France, Türkiye, Finland, Austria, Ukraine, and Portugal – with Pool I therefore comprising some traditional volleyball strongholds and teams from other National Federations whose youth and junior programmes have attained remarkable achievements over the last few years. 

Defending champions Italy (albeit with a different group of players than those victorious in 2022) were seeded at the top of Pool II by virtue of their leading position in the U18 men’s European ranking. The ‘Azzurrini’ will take on Czechia, Belgium, Slovenia, Greece, Romania, Spain, and Estonia in Plovdiv. Estonia returns to contest the Final Round of #EuroVolleyU18M for the first time since the 2007 edition held in Austria. 

The top two teams from each group will progress to crossed semi-finals followed by the medal matches, which will be all contested in Sofia. Italy are the two-time U18 men’s defending European champions following their successes in 2020 and 2022. Previously, Germany had won the continental event in 2018. 

The detailed competition schedule for the pool stage will be released next week.