Team Austria poised to begin Silver League campaign with mix of youth and experience

Team Austria will start their journey in the CEV European Silver League 2021 this Friday with a home game against Hungary in Amstetten. Two more matches will then follow on Saturday and Sunday against Croatia and Luxembourg, respectively. Next week a second round-robin tournament will be taking place in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg with a spot in the Final Four scheduled for June 5-6 in Skopje, North Macedonia, at stake.

Head coach Radovan Gacic has opted for an interesting mix of more established and younger players for this competition. Some top names are absent for various reasons. “Therefore, we are using the Silver League to provide opportunities to our younger players. We almost have to play with a completely new starting six because Alexander Berger and Paul Buchegger are taking a break and recovering from knee injuries, Niklas Kronthaler and Alex Tusch are both injured and Toni Menner cannot play for private reasons,” explains Gernot Leitner, President of the Austrian Volleyball Association.

Maximilian Landfahrer and Thomas Tröthann had made it clear some time ago already that they would miss the international season. Therefore, this year there is “a good opportunity to place our promising boys into the spotlight,” Leitner continues.

To prepare for the Silver League, Austria played two friendly matches with EuroVolley 2021 co-hosts Czech Republic and another two with Portugal, registering one win and one loss against each of these two opponents. “After our matches, Portugal qualified for the EuroVolley as the undefeated group winners, so this means that we are close to their level,” Leitner emphasises. Croatia, one of Austria’s opponents in the Silver League, has managed to qualify for EuroVolley as well.