Several novelties presented at the MEVZA Meeting in Katowice

Parallel to the men’s EuroVolley Final Four in Katowice previous week, the CEV also hosted the annual CEV Congress. For the National Federation delegates this meant that next to the program of the European Federation program, they also met with the MEVZA representatives with an emphasis to have a look at the recent activities and further improve the future.

Improved Media Work

In the recent years, MEVZA made big steps forward in the Media department. The MEVZA League has been covered by its external partner SportLive and we have seen more than a 140 Press Releases multiplying itself across the media channels of the Middle European countries.
All other events, including CEV European Cups, and all Underage and Beach events are covered by MEVZA’s own Media department generating up to several thousand page views per day and/or per event.

In order to reach to be more agile in the communication and to better reach the younger generations, MEVZA has two active social media accounts that are continuously organically growing through constant sharing of relevant content. As expected, the biggest reach is achieved through on-site coverage of the Underage events (winning pictures and “selfies”, game videos, post-game talks, behind the scenes…) and through “Highlight Wednesday” (a quiz with approximately 10 questions, highlighting a certain topic, National Federations, and/or all MEVZA League clubs).

MEVZA President Karl Hanzl (AUT) addressing all attendees during the meeting in Katowice, Poland.

Beach and Underage Competitions

Despite difficult times due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the constant changing restrictions towards organising events, MEVZA was able to run all the Indoor and Beach competitions planned for 2021.

The Girls U16 & Boys U17 Middle European Championships were held in Zadar, Croatia and also counted as the 1st round qualifier for the respective age groups European Championships. A few months later, Maribor, Slovenia hosted the U18 and U19 championships concluding the Underage Middle European Championships in 2021. 

Beach Volleyball presented two festival like venues in Hartberg, Austria and Budapest, Hungary, both hosting two different age-groups (U16 & U18 in Austria and U18 & U20 in Hungary).
The senior Beach Volleyball Championship were held for the first time in Israel at the iconic location in Ramat Gan. 
All events were highly anticipated from the participants, awaited with big enthusiasm and resulted in great participation numbers, some even record breaking. 

Rejuvenated MEVZA League

The 2021/22 will again feature both a men’s and women’s league. A total of 15 clubs from 5 countries (this season marks also the return of Slovakian teams to the competition) will compete firs tin a regular league format, after which a Final Four decides the Middle European Champion.

Men’s opening match will be on 30th September with an Austrian duel between UVC Holding Graz and Union Raiffeisen Waldviertel. Women on the other hand, had to postpone a few matches due to Covid-19, marking the opening match on 9th October with a Slovenian derby between OK Calcit Kamnik and Nova KBM Branik Maribor. 

Under Consideration are New Competitions for 2022/23

A Beach Volleyball Club League and a Youth club tournament in Porec, Croatia were also presented. Exact form and period of both competition will be decided by the MEVZA Executive Committee.

A new MEVZA Cup format competition proposal for 2022/23

Austrian Federation (ÖVV) President Gernot Leitner counts the MEVZA League as marketing diamond of the MEVZA. Nevertheless, he wishes for a new competition format – tournaments instead of League. MEVZA will start a discussion with National Federations and clubs as a preparation for the 2022/2023 season.