Men's European Championship 2017

  • According to Polish media CEV should give us this competition today :wavy: the are no more candidates and presentation looked good ^^

    Gold medal - World League 2013 Prediction Game
    Bronze medal - World League 2012 Prediction Game

  • The draw for the qualifications has been announced by CEV.


    Teams which qualified to the finals directly:


    Poland (host)
    France (reigning European champions from 2015)
    Slovenia (European vice-champions)
    Italy (Bronze medallists in 2015)
    Bulgaria (4th)
    Russia (6th)
    Serbia (7th)


    Round 1:


    Pool 1: Sweden, Azerbaijan, Switzerland, Georgia
    Pool 2: Austria, Luxembourg, Moldova, Lithuania
    Pool 3: Israel, Hungary, Norway, England


    Round 2:


    Pool A: Germany, Spain, Montenegro, 2nd best runner-up from Round 1
    Pool B: Finland, Portugal, Denmark, Winner of Pool 1
    Pool C: Belgium, Greece, Ukraine, Best runner-up from Round 1
    Pool D: Slovakia, Croatia, Latvia, Winner of Pool 3
    Pool E: Netherlands, Turkey, Belarus, Winner of Pool 2
    Pool F: Czech Republic, Estonia, Macedonia, Romania


    Round 3:


    E2 vs. B2
    A2 vs. C2
    D2 vs. F2


    No organizers from any of the two preliminary rounds have been announced.

  • Depending on the squad Turkey will send, on the preparation of the Belarussian team and on the development of the Czech youngsters, Pools E and F look really competitive. Netherlands, Turkey, and Belarus might be joined by Austria, so it will be even more interesting. But we've had the discussion earlier on during the previous European qualifiers, the middle level in Europe is getting higher and these kinds of tournaments will be increasingly challenging.

  • The 2017 edition is supposed to be the last event with 16 teams. CEV announced today that they play an expansion of the European Championship. Although a bit off-topic, as of the 2019 continental tournament there are supposed to be 8 more teams in the final round, making the total number 24.


    I don't know if it is the right thing to do. On one side, even with 16 teams there have always been some that could not meet the expectations. On the other, we could easily enumerate some decent teams that missed, for instance, the last ECH. Those could be Montenegro, Portugal, Spain, Ukraine, Greece, FYR of Macedonia, Turkey, and Romania. Now, whether they would really make the championship more interesting...

  • Don't count on it ;) :D


    As i see, they lost two sets to Moldova and even one again Luxemburg :whistling: . That doesn't look too promising for the next round......


    By the way, the fact that germany needs to play qualification still makes me shake my head :|


  • As i see, they lost two sets to Moldova and even one again Luxemburg :whistling: . That doesn't look too promising for the next round......


    By the way, the fact that germany needs to play qualification still makes me shake my head :|



    Sure, Austria would need more in terms of quality and persistence to go through 2 or 3 qualification rounds. They have a mountain to climb and yet CEV's decision to increase the final round participants to 24 as of ECH 2019 will favour teams like Austria. However, we have discussed many times here that the middle European level has been on a slow but steady increase. You might say the Austrian results are far from impressive but let me remind you that they beat Bulgaria's B team (not quite a group of tourists) in a friendly tournament in Hungary before the qualifiers. Also, Moldova with Bahov lost 2-3 and 1-3 to Finland in the qualifiers for Euro 2015. Back then they beat Austria twice in the same group, so Austria's results are surely a step ahead. Luxembourg might be still unknown but you would be surprised to find out the number of registered clubs and players they have over there. And soon they might start picking points in these qualification rounds (even if we ignore for a moment their win against Lithuania).


    Let's move on to the group in Norway. Takvam, Friedrichshafen's latest signing, and his teammates almost beat Israel with Shafranovich, Katzenelson, and Sokolov. Hungary with Padar, Gergye, Nagy, Kaszap, and Szabo finished last in the group, even behind England! People shouldn't judge names anymore as the volleyball map is expanding ;) The qualifiers in Europe, be it for an ECH or a WCH, are getting more and more interesting every time.

  • [...]so Austria's results are surely a step ahead.[...]


    One big fact is the return of Philipp Schneider. So now they really can play with 6 (+1) professionals on the court.


    [...]Let's move on to the group in Norway. Takvam, Friedrichshafen's latest signing, and his teammates almost beat Israel with Shafranovich, Katzenelson, and Sokolov.


    Not to forget the promising opposite Jonas Kvalen ...


    Hungary with Padar, Gergye, Nagy, Kaszap, and Szabo finished last in the group, even behind England!


    I just wonder why Baroti didn't play.


  • As i see, they lost two sets to Moldova and even one again Luxemburg :whistling: . That doesn't look too promising for the next round......


    By the way, the fact that germany needs to play qualification still makes me shake my head :|


    Moldova took 2 sets to Finland, 2nd match was really close (Suomi won 2 sets by 2 pts margin), beat AUT twice so they arent bad team at all. Schneider wasn't in first plan for these qualies and joined team in Luxembourg after one MB picked up injury.


    HUngary is the biggest disappointment but it seems they are far behind even to mediocre teams...

  • Hungary with Padar, Gergye, Nagy, Kaszap, and Szabo finished last in the group, even behind England!


    English team obviously had some fun, while Hungary, well.... :D


    Concerning Austria, i probably overestimated their level a bit while underestimating Moldova. But still, I thought austrian guys might be already be a bit further up the ladder.

  • The 2nd round of ECQ is around the corner!


    Just out of curiosity - who will be the head coach of Germany in this tournament? On the official website it still says Heynen, who I believe has signed a contract with Belgium... Is that correct?

  • Just out of curiosity - who will be the head coach of Germany in this tournament? On the official website it still says Heynen, who I believe has signed a contract with Belgium... Is that correct?


    Heynen will still be in charge for this tournament. His contract in Belgium starts in January. We talked about this in the German NT thread.

  • Latvia - Croatia 3-0.. I expected something more from Croatia.



    For those which are familiar with conditions around male CRO NT this is nothing unusual. I knew we can't do nothing with Krnić and Močić as setters coz Zhukouski has back injury. Krnić is out of serious volley for several years, Močić is poor player so I can say Zhukouski's is Croatian key player. Not Omrčen. Our reception is poor for decades but with Galić we are hitting rock bottom. Still, the biggest problem is coach Šimunčić or better to say his tactical knowledge. We earned spot on last ECH mostly due Zhukouski-Omrčen axis. Now Zhukouski is out, Omrčen isnt getting good balls as Krnić is old and slow player. Šimučić doenst have authority over Omrčen, who is having poor tournament, and he is afraid to subb him with monster Raič.


    Preparatios were handled poor, we starteted a week later than all teams and haven't played enough matches to gain match practice. Guys traveled to Poprad with a bus, 14 hrs of driving, Simply logistics for male team isnt the same as for women.

  • For those which are familiar with conditions around male CRO NT this is nothing unusual. I knew we can't do nothing with Krnić and Močić as setters coz Zhukouski has back injury. Krnić is out of serious volley for several years, Močić is poor player so I can say Zhukouski's is Croatian key player. Not Omrčen. Our reception is poor for decades but with Galić we are hitting rock bottom. Still, the biggest problem is coach Šimunčić or better to say his tactical knowledge. We earned spot on last ECH mostly due Zhukouski-Omrčen axis. Now Zhukouski is out, Omrčen isnt getting good balls as Krnić is old and slow player. Šimučić doenst have authority over Omrčen, who is having poor tournament, and he is afraid to subb him with monster Raič.


    Preparatios were handled poor, we starteted a week later than all teams and haven't played enough matches to gain match practice. Guys traveled to Poprad with a bus, 14 hrs of driving, Simply logistics for male team isnt the same as for women.

    Most Croatian problems are known for decades and yet they always manage to create some new ones :( I didn't know about Zhukouski's injury, it was unnatural not to see him in the match group. Two things really surprised me. First, I thought Omrcen had retired. Second, there must be some other setter in the domestic league to call up instead of Krnic. I liked the latter when he was still an active player, no question about that, but taking him to the qualifiers now and giving him a starting-six spot is a mockery towards the team. Croatia will host the second tournament this week and I hope for some better results at home at least. It doesn't matter they lost chances to qualify, a win against Israel is a must. For those who follow middle-class European volleyball, the Latvians should be no strangers and would be interesting to follow in the eventual play-offs.


    Not too many upsets in the other pools. I thought Montenegro might work it out better against Germany at home. A sounding 0-3 was disappointing. Spain and Montenegro know each other well due to the 2016 World League, the Spaniards almost won in Podgorica. The play-off sport in Pool A will be decided on Saturday in Spain when the two teams meet again.


    Portugal already looked a bit improved during the World League, so their 3 wins in Pool B shouldn't come as a big surprise. The slip against Sweden yesterday might be very crucial, however. Siltala played little against Portugal, Finland practically performed with a new OH line-up - Helenius and Seppanen. It is obvious their new generation is not as great as the retiring one, hence the balanced matches of Finland against theoretically weaker opponents (or such against which Finland would have had no problems 5-6 years ago). Looking forward to watching Finland at home, they are obliged to take the rematch versus Portugal or they would be one of the toughest runner-ups otherwise.


    Pool C proved that it is never easy to have Ukraine as an opponent. Ukraine has always managed to produce some decent players and has almost always stolen points from European qualifiers. They almost beat Greece in Kozani and you might even expect that Ukraine will fight the Greeks for the play-off spot on Sunday in Belgium. Even if Greece has better individual skills overall. I even feel sorry Ukraine has only managed to reach the ECH finals once in recent years (2005), perhaps they might get lucky with the format expansion as of 2019.


    Czech Republic is one of the most solid teams in the qualifiers. And with a foot in the final round already. The rematch in the Netherlands between the hosts and Turkey should also be very entertaining.