The European regional annual volleyball tournament that awards one place for men’s and women’s CEV Challenge Cup, the third-ranked continental club competition, has been canceled for one gender.
Volleyball.it reported that after many weeks of attempts to organize the WEVZA Cup, a tournament that should’ve qualified one club for the Men’s Challenge Cup 2022-23, the Western European Volleyball Zonal Association (WEVZA) communicated to the participants of this year’s edition that it was canceled. Namely, it won’t be held due to the withdrawal of the Swiss side CONCORDIA Volley Luzern. Thus, the necessary requirement for the tournament, which is the participation of teams from at least four different countries, wasn’t fulfilled. The clubs that remained in the competition were from Italy (Allianz Milano, Vero Volley Monza, and Top Volley Cisterna), Germany (Helios GRIZZLYS Giesen), and Spain (Río Duero Soria).
The WEVZA is a sub-section of the European Volleyball Confederation (CEV) and is made up of national federations of Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland. Interestingly, as many as four federations (Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and Portugal) hadn’t signed up any club to participate in the tournament.
The women’s 2022 WEVZA Cup hasn’t been canceled and will be played in Chieri, Italy.