European Championships 2015 - hosts Italy and Bulgaria

  • Looking for Pools..

    Wait! Poland is Host lol

    Bulgaria as always- even as Host is in Death Group lol

  • What death group? I think massacre is being prepared for Germany :lol:

  • What death group? I think massacre is being prepared for Germany :lol:


    :wavy:
    Bulgaria. Again. How boring..... :box:


    ECH this year is only two weeks after World Cup. Lets see how that will influence the roster and performances of participating teams (Russia, Poland and Italy). For most of the other teams there is still the olympic qualification tournament in January, so this ech might be less important for some other teams as well.


    So the teams who take this tournament most serious regarding preperartion and squad selection might stand a good chance. I guess we will see one or another surprise this time.....

  • A (Sofia): Bulgaria, Germany, Czech Republic, Spain/Netherlands
    B (Turin): Italy, France, Croatia, Estonia/Sweden
    C (Varna): Poland, Belgium, Belarus, Slovenia/Portugal
    D (Busto Arsizio): Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Finland


    Ok, so finally it is Busto Arsizio instead of Milano. I thought it would be in Milan because Mediolanum Forum was chosen. Anyway, it is still close. Fortunately I could go to both venues. Someone knows if the ticket sales website is already released? I have tried to find, but there is no information. Even no official website. In the other hand, Women´s website is well organized.

  • Ok, so finally it is Busto Arsizio instead of Milano. I thought it would be in Milan because Mediolanum Forum was chosen. Anyway, it is still close. Fortunately I could go to both venues. Someone knows if the ticket sales website is already released? I have tried to find, but there is no information. Even no official website. In the other hand, Women´s website is well organized.

    There is no website because our federation is involved in the organization. There will never be a website for the event if it depends on the Bulgarian side, the chance is that the Italians prepare something. This is why the Women's ECH is better organized as of right now.


    Also, no, it's way too early to offer tickets. I guess they will not be released until spring or summer. The tournament starts in October, after all.


    A few words from me about the draw. I have always wanted Bulgaria to host such an event, even if we don't quite have the preparation or the facilities to do so. More about the draw ceremony, to give you an instance, comes in the next paragraph. However, after years of being sent to tough groups, we could finally take at least some partial advantage. I will tell you why. On Sunday at home I tried to "arrange" the draw in a way that would be acceptable for the hosts. Here I mean Bulgaria. The Italians shouldn't have a say in the next 20-30 years after what they did at their home WCH in 2010. What my "draw" looked like was: Pool A (Bulgaria, Belgium, ...), Pool B (Italy, France, Finland, ...), Pool C (Poland, Germany, ...), Pool D (Russia, Serbia, ...). As you can see, my opinion overlaps with the Bulgarian federation's in this case. Perhaps they allowed a fair draw indeed only when they drew Germany to Bulgaria and instead sent Belgium to Poland. Now you will say that Germany is a very tough opponent, that Poland is a reigning WCH and so on. But it was the same path Bulgaria had in Denmark and Poland less than two years ago and it worked. Besides, Bulgaria won't play worse at home in comparison to the fiasco at the WCH. Poland also won't be the same team without Zagumny, Wlazly, ... And we have a good recent history against these two, so why not? That being said, our group and quarterfinal pool are not easy, no question about it, Konstantinov will have to sweat a lot. But to me Pool D remains the real "Group of Death" after yesterday's draw.


    I couldn't watch the ceremony, but you can read everywhere in our media, including a post by the Italian journalist Sandro Filippini, that there were a lot of blunders. Spelling mistake on the initial tournament banner, malfunctioning microphones, inadequate presence by the long-time national television volleyball host Sasho Yovkov, even more inadequate translation by the woman on stage. The list can go on. In comparison to the Polish organization when drawing the lots for the WCH, this one surely looked less professional. It actually reminds me of the CEV Champions League ceremonies in Vienna.

  • Carlo Magri, the president of the Italian Federation, stated yesterday after the ceremony that Milan's sports hall "Pala Lido", not "Mediolanum", was considered to stage Pool D. However, "Pala Lido", currently under construction, will have not been finished by the time the tournament starts in October, this is why the sports hall in Busto Arsizio, situated appr. 30 km away from Milan, will be used.

  • Thank you so much for the answer. Oh, what a pity! So I guess the only thing I can do is wait. I also thought it was too early, but ticket sale website for the Women´s Chamionship is already available. Bulgaria is a bit far from Italy, that´s why I wanted to organize everything in advance.

  • Sorry Leonardo, we tried hard to change the federation's management, but they have friends at high places /corruption here reaches the top/. Unfortunately bulgarians are very peaceful people and Ganev is not feeding the fishes for his crimes neither Lazarov is doing jail time for stealing 90% of the budget of the federation every year.

  • The program for the group stage has been announced.


    Pool A


    09.10 CZE - NED, BUL - GER
    10.10 NED - GER, BUL - CZE
    11.10 GER - CZE, BUL - NED


    Pool B


    09.10 CRO - FRA, ITA - EST
    10.10 EST - FRA, ITA - CRO
    11.10 CRO - EST, ITA - FRA


    Pool C


    09.10 POL - BEL, SLO - BLR
    10.10 BEL - BLR, POL - SLO
    11.10 BLR - POL, BEL - SLO


    Pool D


    09.10 SVK - SRB, RUS - FIN
    10.10 SRB - FIN, RUS - SVK
    11.10 FIN - SVK, SRB - RUS

  • The Netherlands with a huge step towards the ECH. I doubt Spain can do a miracle. The first legs of the other two pairs are scheduled for today.

  • 5/23-24 Q Third Round

    Spain v Netherlands 0-3

    Estonia v Sweden 3-1

    Slovenia v Portugal 3-0

  • Sweden at home can turn around rivalry.

    In Estonia after 1st set lost next 3 sets after hard fight.

  • The Netherlands, Estonia and Slovenia with the last 3 vacancies for the European Championship. Portugal was very close to a Golden Set. Now we have the complete list of participants. I will update the tournament schedule.

  • Q Third Round

    Spain v Netherlands 0-3 1-3

    Estonia v Sweden 3-1 3-0

    Slovenia v Portugal 3-0 2-3

  • I watched Slovenia x Portugal.


    I expected more from Slovenia. I think they have some good players and could be in better level.


    I hope they can win EL and play WL next year. :super:

  • For all those interested, you can now buy tickets for the games in Italy. The pools there feature Italy, France, Croatia, Estonia; the other one includes Russia, Finland, Slovakia, Serbia. The information was released by CEV here. Still nothing on the Bulgarian side.

  • Here is the latest information regarding the organization of the forthcoming European Championship as released today by Bulgarian media. The tournament's CEO, also part of the Bulgarian Volleyball Federation which is the main organizer of the event, states that the organization is NOT behind schedule even if (1) there are no tickets available for sale, (2) there is no official tournament website, (3) and there are no sponsors for both the competition and the national team. Just for the record, the NT jerseys have had no sponsor imprinted this summer yet due to the obvious reluctance of companies to invest in the federation's business. The only certain information which was revealed today was that the maximum price of tickets for the elimination round and the final stage in Sofia will cost 30 levs (= 15 euro). This could be valuable information for those willing to watch the games live. The max price for the Bulgarian group in Sofia will be around 10 euro, whereas for the group in Varna (Poland, Belgium, Slovenia, Belarus) it will be around 8 euro.