EUROPE’S ELITE FIGHT FOR EUROPEAN LEAGUE TITLE

European League 2006

Luxembourg, July 18, 2006. During the next five weeks eight of the best European men’s volleyball teams will compete for the European League title. In the third edition of one of the world’s leading volleyball competitions no real favourite can be named for the title. Given that the competition formula has recently been modified, the European League 2006 promises to be as exciting and intriguing as never before.

All of the eight participants, namely Croatia, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Slovakia, Spain and Turkey will host a preliminary round in the coming four weekends. Each week, four teams will play a tournament in one major European city, whilst the other four squads will show their best in a different hosting city of Europe. The Turkish capital Ankara and the Greek volleyball city of Lamia are the first two stops of the 2006 European League. During the following weekends renowned cities such as Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Zagreb in Croatia, as well as the German capital of Berlin, which recently celebrated the showdown of the football world championship 2006, will organise one of the European League legs. Once the eight pool play tournaments have been completed, the best three of the overall ranking as well as Final Four host Turkey will proceed to the Final Four, which is scheduled from 19th to 20th August in Izmir (TUR).

The Netherlands have already proven during the European Championship qualification tournaments earlier this year that they are back in business. Under the leadership of former setter and Olympic gold medallist Peter Blangé, the ‘Flying Dutchmen’ are capable of beating every team. Bringing the trophy back to the Netherlands would mean a lot to the ‘orange’ squad, as by winning the European League the Netherlands will regain the class ‘A status’ of the Dutch national Olympic Committee.

Germany, Greece and Spain are also teams to count on. Germany surprisingly managed to qualify for the world championship last year with head coach Stelian Moculescu pushing his players to their extremes. Greece has been a top team for many years but is still missing a major title. Could the European League 2006 be the breakthrough for the Greek formation? Performing on a consistent level, the Spanish team with its mix of experienced players and young talents has already proven high level volleyball in the recent past. After finishing third in the European League 2005, the Spaniards reached the semi-final of the European Championship 2005 in Rome (ITA), where they had to surrender to Russia. This year’s European League Final Four host Turkey was also present in last year’s Final Four in Kazan (RUS), where they lost the bronze medal match to Spain.

Croatia has demonstrated its ability of upsetting the favourite teams during the European Championship 2005, where they finished eighth. The performance of the Slovak men’s volleyball team is increasing continuously and it remains to be seen whether they will improve from last year’s position when they finished third in Pool 2. Although Estonia captured but two of the total 12 matches in the European League 2005 League Round, they are one of the upcoming teams in European volleyball and very likely to come up with a surprise.

The European League will start on Friday, 21st July with Spain vs. Germany and Turkey vs. Netherlands in Ankara (TUR). On the same day, Estonia vs. Croatia and Greece vs. Slovakia are scheduled in Lamia (GRE).

The match schedule can be viewed on www.cev.lu

More on the web at www.cev.lu

Enjoy & Be There:

19-20 August 2006: European League 2006, Final Four, Izmir, Turkey.
26 August - 03 September 2006: Junior European Championship 2006, Women Final Round, St. Dié and Metz, France.
06-14 September 2006: Junior European Championship 2006, Men Final Round, Kazan, Russia.
26 September - 01 October 2006: FIVB Grand Prix Qualification, Varna, Bulgaria.