CEV, Luxembourg. After assessing and confirming the ability of the local organisers to host the event according to the measures recommended by national and international authorities to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, the CEV is delighted to announce that the Final Round of the U19 Women’s European Championship will be taking place as per the original plans. The event will run from August 22 to 30 in Zenica (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Osijek (Croatia) with participation of 12 national teams.
The National Federations of Bosnia & Herzegovina and Croatia have confirmed their readiness to play host to the tournament and will be making sure that all measures and precautions are in place to guarantee the safety and well-being of players, officials, court personnel and all other people involved.
The event will coincide with the much-awaited return of international Volleyball since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic back in March. The top two teams from the event will secure their participation in the 2021 edition of the FIVB Women’s U20 World Championship.
Since the CEV had to cancel the second and third stage of the qualification process due to the coronavirus crisis, next to the teams representing the host countries, as per decision of the CEV Board of Administration, another ten have secured their participation by virtue of their position in the latest European Ranking for this age group. These have all confirmed the wish to use their respective slot. Therefore, the following teams are due to compete in Zenica and Osijek in late August: Russia, Italy, Turkey, Serbia, Germany, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Belarus, France and Poland plus organisers Bosnia & Herzegovina and Croatia.
The Drawing of Lots to determine the composition of the two preliminary pools will be taking place next week at the CEV headquarters in Luxembourg – and the relevant match schedule will follow shortly afterwards accordingly.
Italy (pictured above) are the defending European champions in this age-group after they beat Russia in the gold medal match of the 2018 edition held in Albania, with Poland completing the podium after their victory over Turkey in the bronze medal game.
Sources:
CEV – European Volleyball
