Zadar, Croatia. The last bronze medalist Italy is clearly the biggest pre-favorite for Group C, in which they will face Belarus, Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, and Switzerland, respectively, in Zadar, Croatia. After finishing the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in sixth place, they surely focus on CEV 2021 EuroVolley and search for the top of the podium, like they have done before in 2007 and 2009.
Italy’s Paola Egonu and Miriam Sylla
Even though Italy is most likely to finish the group as the leader, co-hosts Croatia will probably secure a spot for the Round of 16 and try to push the limits by using their home-court advantage. Slovakia wants to achieve the results they got two years ago: They managed to beat Belarus and Switzerland at CEV EuroVolley 2019 and succeeded to qualify for the Round of 16, where they lost to Italy with a score of 3-0. While Belarus will compete at EuroVolley five times in a row, at the same time, Hungary is in their fourth consecutive European Championships. Switzerland also wants to increase their winning ratio in their CEV EuroVolley history and try to qualify for the successive rounds.
Pool C hosts Croatia will be hoping to go far in the tournament
Italy
– The champions of the European Championships in 2007 and 2009, Italy, took the bronze medal in 2019 CEV EuroVolley with defeating Poland without losing a set. This was also Italy’s 100th victory in the history of EuroVolley.
– CEV EuroVolley 2021 is Italy’s 21st consecutive appearance at European Championships, while they managed to place in the top eight in each of the last 20 tournaments.
– They have a perfect winning record against three of their opponents in the group: Italy has won all three matches against Switzerland at the previous EuroVolley editions. They also defeat Belarus two times and Slovakia once.
– Italy won their last four matches against Croatia at European Championships. They faced Hungary only one time in 1985 and lost the game by 3-2.
Croatia
– Making their debut in 1993, the hosts of Pool C, Croatia participated in every European Championships except for 2003.
– They have not won the title yet; however, they finished second and won the silver medal at three consecutive EuroVolley in 1995, 1997, and 1999. They are the team with the most second-place finishes without winning the championships at EuroVolley.
– Croatia finished 11th in overall standings both in 2017 and 2019 EuroVolley’s. At the last championships, they win the match in straight sets against Hungary in the group stage.
– Croatia lost their last two matches versus Belarus and four games against Italy.
Hungary
– Hungary will compete at the European Championships fourth time in a row and 18th in total. They failed to qualify for EuroVolley from 1989 to 2013.
– With one silver and three bronze medals, Hungary won four medals in their EuroVolley history. All of these four medals came in between 1975 and 1983.
– At the 2019 European Championships, Hungary placed 20th with one victory in five matches. In their opening match, they recorded a 3-0 clear win against Estonia. After then, they lost all of their remaining four games.
Slovakia
– CEV EuroVolley 2021 will be Slovakia’s fifth appearance at the European Championships. Their best result was 11th in 2003.
– In 2019, Slovakia managed to defeat Switzerland and Belarus in the group phase. With a total of three victories, they qualified for the Round of 16. By losing to Italy in straight sets, Slovakia finished the tournament in 12th place.
Belarus
– Belarus compete in their fifth consecutive European Championships and their 10th in total. Their best performance was seventh in 2017.
– They were 22nd out of 24 teams at the 2019 European Championships. They lost all their five matches, including defeats against Slovakia and Switzerland.
Switzerland
– After 1967, 1971, 2013, and 2019, Switzerland will participate in the EuroVolley for the fifth time.
– They placed 19th in 2019 CEV EuroVolley. They beat Belarus on the group stage.
