A magnificent location will be arranged in Berlin to welcome the European elite

Beach Volleyball - European Championship Tour

Berlin, Germany, January 22, 2010. The European Beach Volleyball elite will resume this summer to Berlin for the real highlight of the season, i.e. the European Championship Final powered by smart. This competition will be also the only international Beach Volleyball tournament taking place in Germany – which stands out as the real European “Mecca” for this discipline – in the 2010 season, so great efforts are being performed to set up a magnificent venue and promote the event on a large scale.
An official press conference was held yesterday in the German capital city featuring also Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann, the very first European pair ever to seize the World Championship title last year in Stavanger, Norway. “The European Championship Final in Berlin will be the real climax of our competitive season – says Brink – and we worked out our training schedule keeping in mind that goal”. A total of 32 teams will be competing in Berlin next August 11-15 with a stellar prize money standing at 200'000 € being at stake.
Local Tournament Director Siegbert Brutschin is absolutely pleased with the venue and location that were finally defined along with GSM, the Swiss-based marketing agency that is responsible for the management and promotion of the European Championship Tour: “The main railway station (ndr Ostbahnhof) is located nearby and this will help very much our fans in avoiding any troubles to join us. This year we’ll be also playing in front of the O2 World, a multi-purpose arena that stands out as one the best facilities of that kind all over Europe. Moreover, all Beach Volleyball fans will have free entrance to the centre court as well as to the various side courts”.
After Timmendorfer Strand (2004) and Hamburg (2008), this will be the third time that the European Championship Final is played in Germany. “Since 1995 Berlin has been regularly included in the international Beach Volleyball calendar and we are proud that this tradition will continue via the European Championship Final” says Mr. Werner von Moltke, President of the German Volleyball Federation. He is certainly hoping for a great home show of the German teams, after Jonas Reckermann seized the European crown already in 2004 along with then partner Markus Dieckmann. Local heroines Sara Goller and Laura Ludwig will also try to double up their gold medal from Hamburg 2008 after having missed a second title in a row this past September in Sochi (Russia) in a thrilling final match against Latvian pair Minusa/Jursone.