Greece and Cyprus to host future age-group European Championships

Greece will return to host an age-group continental championship for the first time in more than three decades when they join forces with Cyprus to deliver the 2024 edition of #EuroVolleyU17W. Moreover, in three years’ time as well, Greece will be playing host to the final stage of #EuroVolleyU20M too. 

“We are delighted to see these National Federations taking the initiative to organise age-group championships. It is a proof that Volleyball is growing stronger all across Europe along with the level of engagement and dedication of everyone involved in our European Volleyball family. We have no doubt that together we will manage to deliver two successful competitions, offering young players the opportunity to compete at international level and to be inspired to continue their development.”

Aleksandar Boricic
CEV President 

The decision made by the CEV Board of Administration represents a real milestone – and is due to help the National Federations of Greece and Cyprus inspire as many youngsters as possible to play the game.

Greece had previously played host to an age-group European Championship only once – doing so in 1992, when the Hellenic Volleyball Federation delivered the U19 women’s competition – back then known as Junior European Championship – three years after hosting the 1989 edition of the FIVB Men’s U21 World Championship.

That was some sort of a ‘golden era’ for Greek Volleyball, which reached its climax when the country hosted the men’s World and European Championship in 1994 and 1995, respectively. After a long break, an international championship – actually two – will be taking place in Greece, this time providing the rising stars of European Volleyball with the opportunity to show their skills and initiate a hopefully long and successful international career.

Greek Volleyball fans will be able to witness a European Championship for the first time in more than three decades

“The hosting of European events is one of our goals as a federation. We would have organised the final phase of #EuroVolleyU18M together with Italy last year, but unfortunately, due to the pandemic, it was not possible for the event to go ahead. After the second consecutive appearance of our national teams at EuroVolley, time has come for our country to host an under-age championship so the Greek fans have the opportunity to watch the future stars of our sport.”

Georgios Karampetsos 
President of the Hellenic Volleyball Federation 

Cyprus, on the other hand, will be co-hosting a Volleyball competition of European magnitude for the very first time in history – despite delivering countless events for the Small Countries Division and many World and European age-group championships in Beach Volleyball as well. Moreover, Cyprus played host to the Games of the Small States of Europe (GSSE) in 1989 as well as in 2009 – with Volleyball featuring prominently on the event programme.

“With the support of the Cyprus Sports Organisation, we will work hard to deliver an event worthy of the expectations of CEV. We believe that youth events should focus on the young athletes. Our goal is to deliver a championship that will give our future stars the opportunity to compete, learn, improve their skills and become not only better players, but better people too. Our hope is that we can meet everyone’s expectations and when they return home, they will remember this event fondly.” 

Michalis Krashias 
President of the Cyprus Volleyball Federation 

The men’s national team of Cyprus did well at the EuroVolley 2021 qualifiers recording wins over Spain and Moldova

As of 2023, all age-group European Championships will feature as many as 16 participating teams – following a decision made earlier this year by the CEV Board of Administration aimed at providing further opportunities for youngsters to compete internationally at the highest possible level.

News:
CEV – European Volleyball