The Russian men’s volleyball national team – London Olympic Games champions – will play in GDYNIA Sports & Show Arena on 20 September, 2013 (starting time: 11 a.m.).
Our venue will host the 2013 CEV VELUX Volleyball European Championship Pool D games. The Russians will rival against the Bulgarians (the fourth team of London Olympics), the Germans, and the Czechs. In the experts unanimous opinion this is the strongest of the four groups that will compete in Gdynia, Gdansk/Sopot and the Danish towns of Odense and Herning to advance to the final stages of the Championship which will be held in Denmark and Poland.
The Men’s Volleyball European Championship is a biennial competition, There have been 27 tournaments since its first edition in Italy in 1948. This year Championship will be hosted by Poland and Denmark. Both countries will debut as organisers, even though the Women’s European Championship was held in Poland in 2009. However, Poland has a very different standing in European and world volleyball. It is a multiple medallist of numerous volleyball championships, and also the country where volleyball is one of the most popular sports. Denmark, on the other hand, has just embarked on this path and is trying to build up the same position of volleyball. This approach coincided with the new strategy of volleyball popularization implemented by the European Volleyball Confederation (CEV). Part of this strategy is to jointly host a European championship by two countries. Hence the 2011 Men’s Championship was held in Austria and the Czech Republic and the woman’s event in Italy and Serbia, this year events are in Denmark and Poland (men) and Germany and Switzerland (women), and the 2015 Championships are organized by Bulgaria and Italy (men) and Belgium and the Netherlands (women).
The Danish-Polish tournament will take place from 20 to 29 Spetember, 2013 in six cities: Odense, Gdansk/Sopot, Herning, Gdynia, Aarhus, and Copenhagen, with sixteen teams participating.
From 20 to 22 Spetember the national teams will compete in four pools, each composed of four countries:
Pool A (Odense): Belarus, Belgium, Denmark, Italy.
Pool B (Gdansk/Sopot): France, Poland, Slovakia, Turkey.
Pool C (Herning): Finland, the Netherlands, Serbia, Slovenia.
Pool D (Gdynia): Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Russia.
All pool winners will play in the quarter-finals and the teams which come second and third in each pool will compete in the play-off matches on 24 September as follows:
2nd team of Pool A versus 3rd team of Pool C (Aarhus);
2nd team of Pool C versus 3rd team of Pool A (Aarhus);
2nd team of Pool B versus 3rd team of Pool D (Gdansk/Sopot);
2nd team of Pool D versus 3rd team of Pool B (Gdansk/Sopot).
The playoffs winners will compete against the pool winners in the quarter-finals on 25 September as follows:
the winner of Pool A versus the winner of 2nd /C v. 3rd/A match (Aarhus);
the winner of Pool C versus the winner of 2nd /A v. 3rd/C match (Aarhus);
the winner of Pool B versus the winner of 2nd /D v. 3rd/B match (Gdansk/Sopot);
the winner of Pool D versus the winner of 2nd /B v. 3rd/D match (Gdansk/Sopot).
The semi-finals on 28 September and the final and 3rd place matches on 29 September will take place in Copenhagen.
The current champion is Serbia and Poland will defend its bronze medal. Poland is also the winner of the 2009 tournament and between 1975 and 1983 Polish teams came second for five consecutive championships, each time losing the final to the Soviet Union.
Two venues have been selected for the Polish part of the tournament: GDYNIA Sports & Show Arena, for six matches of Pool D, and Gdansk/Sopot ERGO Arena, for ten matches – six in Pool B along with two playoff matches and two quarter-finals. Both venues have already hosted important volleyball tournaments.
In GDYNIA Sports & Show Arena Polish volleyball players cleared their way for the 2010 Men’s Volleyball World Championship, defeating France, Slovakia and Slovenia in the qualification round in August 2009. In the same season Polish female volleyball players defeated the American, German and Dominican teams in one of their most successful World Grand Prix tournaments. And only last year GDYNIA Arena hosted the Men’s Junior Volleyball European Championship.
The timetable of the 2013 Championship can be found HERE
