Men’s U18 and Women’s U17 Middle European Championship set to begin in Maribor, Slovenia and Zadar, Croatia

Following the success of past week U19 Women’s and U20 Men’s Middle European Championships, starting tomorrow the U18 Men’s will begin at the Draš Center in Maribor, Slovenia. The tournament will also count as the 1st round qualifier for the same age group European Championships later on this year. Only a day later the U17 Women’s competition will begin in Zadar, Croatia.

Over the course of the next 3 days, all eight participating countries on the men’s side will battle it out to determine the Middle European Champion and also the first National Team from the zone to reserve a spot at the European Championships. In pool A, Austria, Croatia, Hungary and the host Slovenia will play against each other, while Pool B will have Cyprus, Czech Republic, Israel, and Slovakia in it. The top 2 teams from each pool will advance to the semifinal, while the bottom 2 will enter classification matches for 5th to 8th place.

The Women, who will begin their competition on Friday, will be playing a similar format, except that there will be a National Team less, a total of 7 split into 2 pools. In Pool A host Croatia will meet Czech Republic, Hungary and Israel, while pool B will feature Austria, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Also here the top 2 from each pool will advance to the semifinal, while the rest will play in classification matches.

All the schedules and results can be found on the CEV website:
U17 Women
U18 Men

All of the matches will also be livestreamed:
U17 Women: YouTube – Hrvatski odbojkaški savez / Croatian Volleyball Federation
U18 Men: YouTube – Nova KBM Branik Maribor