EUROPEAN LEAGUE ABOUT TO HIT THE ROAD

European League 2004

Luxembourg, May 19, 2004. Eight European top men’s teams have the honor to introduce a new European competition starting this week: the European League. From May 20 until July 11, the men’s national teams of Croatia, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, Slovakia, and Turkey will fight for the opening title.

The European League, organized with the support of the FIVB, will start a new era in European volleyball. While in the past the teams not participating in the World League had to arrange their own friendly matches, they now have the possibility to play in a high level competition.

The eight teams are separated into two pools of four teams each. The preliminary rounds are organized in a double round-robin, each team playing three double home and three double away matches. The two best ranked teams of each group will proceed to the final round, which will be held in Opava (CZE) from July 10-11.

Pool A is comprised of Croatia, the Czech Republic, Russia, and Turkey, where the favorites to proceed to the final are Russia and the Czech Republic. The latter impressed last week by winning all European Championship qualification matches in three straight sets, while Russia is one of the major candidates for Olympic gold later this year. Croatia is the outsider in this group, whereas Turkey will have to perform at their best in order to stand a chance to qualify.

The clear favorite in Pool B is the Netherlands who will play four times against Germany, Finland as well as Slovakia. However, the ‘Flying Dutchmen’ will be at a slight disadvantage in their second European League round against Slovakia given that this encounter follows the Olympic Qualification tournament in Madrid (ESP), their last chance to obtain a ticket to Athens. Coach Bert Goedkoop announced that he will unfortunately have to do without some of the stars.
Considering the rankings, Germany is definitely a candidate for a place in the finals. However, the German team did not convince last week during the European Championships Qualification rounds, ending up third in a pool of four. Finland on the other hand could turn out as the surprise given that they beat the strong team of Bulgaria in one of their qualification matches for the European Championships last weekend.

European League 2004

Pool A: Croatia, Czech Republic, Russia, Turkey.

Pool B: Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Slovakia.

Final Round:

July 10-11 in Opava, Czech Republic.

More on the web at www.cev.lu

Enjoy & Be There:
10-13 June 2004: Beach Volleyball European Championships Final, Timmendorfer Strand, Germany.
8-11 July 2004: Under 20 European BeachVolleyball Championships, Lendava, Slovenia.
10-11 July 2004: Final Four European League, Opava, Czech Republic.
29 July-1 August 2004: Under 23 European BeachVolleyball Championships, Brno, Czech Republic.
5-8 August 2004: Under 18 European BeachVolleyball Championships, Myslowice, Poland.
2 September 2004: Drawing of lots 2004-2005 Indesit European Champions’ League, Vienna, Austria.
3-11 September 2004: Women’s Under 19 European Championships, Bardejov, Presov, Slovakia.
4-12 September 2004: Men’s Under 20 European Championships, Zagreb, Croatia.

European League competition schedule