FIVB
CEV Senior Vice President Aleksandar Boricic (SRB) and CEV Vice President Jan Hronek (CZE) were also in attendance, together with ESOC President Pierre Mulheims (LUX).
By opening the meeting Mr. Meyer recalled that the winners and runners-up of the women’s competition will qualify for the 2014 FIVB World Grand Prix while the winner of the men’s division will get the right to join the intercontinental qualification round scheduled for this summer and that will eventually attribute one spot for the 2014 FIVB World League.
“Especially since we are somehow obliged to play tournaments and not home and away matches due to calendar constraints, we do invite all National Federations to work intensively for the promotion of the European League. We need to attract more spectators and make sure that we keep the value of this competition that we introduced a few years ago with the intention to make it one of the highlights of the summer season. We have decided to open it to all interested National Federations but I can already guarantee that after the 2013 season we will draw the line and carry out a thorough analysis to identify the measures to be adopted to maintain and possibly increase the value of the European League as well as its appeal for sponsors, TV, media and fans” said Mr. Meyer.
The men’s tournament will be joined by a total of 12 teams – Montenegro will celebrate their debut in the competition – divided into three groups of four teams each; four round-robin tournaments per Pool will be played in June and early July with the first-ranked team of each prelim Pool plus the organizer (Turkey) eventually making it to the final four. If the organizer of the final four is one of the first-ranked teams at the end of the prelims, the second-ranked side with the best score across all Pools will qualify for the final four.
The composition of the Pools for the men’s competition – determined by taking into account the European ranking as well as the way teams were assigned to the prelims in the past seasons – reads as follows:
Pool A: Slovakia, Belgium, Austria, Denmark
Pool B: Spain, Czech Republic, Montenegro, Hungary
Pool C: Turkey, Portugal, Israel, Belarus
The calendar of the League Round reads as follows:
June 13-16: tournaments in AUT, HUN, and BLR
June 20-23: tournaments in DEN, ESP, and ISR
June 27-30: tournaments in BEL, MNE, and TUR
July 4-7: tournaments in SVK, CZE, and POR
The final four – to be played in Bursa, Turkey – is scheduled for July 13-14, 2013.
As for the women’s competition, 8 teams are set to participate being subdivided into two groups with four each. Round robin tournaments will be played here as well with the organizer (Bulgaria), plus the first-ranked teams of each Pool and the second-ranked with the best score qualified for the final four. If the organizer finishes first or second in the prelims, then the first and second-ranked teams of each Pool will compose the starting field of the final four.
The composition of the Pools for the women’s competition – determined by taking into account the European ranking as well as the way teams were assigned to the prelims in the past seasons – is:
Pool A: Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary
Pool B: Germany, Serbia, Israel, Belgium
The calendar of the League Round reads as follows:
June 13-16: tournaments in TUR and BEL
June 20-23: tournaments in HUN and SRB
June 27-30: tournaments in ROU and GER
July 4-6: tournaments in BUL and ISR
The final four – to be played in Bulgaria, the venue is still to be determined – is scheduled for the weekend comprised between July 11 and 14 (exact dates to be communicated at a later stage).
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