Croatian teams start preparations for upcoming U16 and U17 qualifiers

Zagreb, Croatia. The U16 women’s and U17 men’s national teams of Croatia have started their preparations for the second round of their respective European qualifiers, which will be taking place in Zadar in early May.

The members of Team Croatia have come together to prepare for the upcoming #EuroVolleyU16W qualifier

“We gathered for a second time in Zadar for the upcoming qualifier and through this tournament we want to secure a place at the European Championship. We will try to use the home-court advantage and qualify. We know our rivals and we hope to win to achieve the first goal we have set for this good generation of players. Compared to the first gathering before the MEVZA qualifier, we made some changes to the line-up, so we hope to perform better than we did in the previous tournament.”
Miodrag Stojakovic
Head coach of Croatia U16 women’s national team

Back in March, at the MEVZA qualifier held in Zadar as well, Croatia finished the competition in fourth place – behind Czech Republic, Slovenia and Hungary.

The coach of the men’s U17 national team, Antonio Surac, also changed the composition of the group compared to the MEVZA qualifier. In Zadar, Croatia are due to play strong opponents such as France, Latvia and Belarus. After the first day of the camp, he shared his impressions:

“We have changed some players and we hope that this will bring us success. We looked at the rivals and they are all very strong. I can promise that we will do our best and that we will fight, and we will see if this will be enough. After the first training, we will know the current state of our players, as the coronavirus has further disrupted our plans. There is no real rhythm, no constant training, and there are always some interruptions, but in the end, we hope for a positive outcome.”
Antonio Surac
Head coach of Croatia U17 men’s national team

With some changes from the previous qualifier, Croatia hope to reach the final stage of #EuroVolleyU17M

Croatia ended the MEVZA qualifier in fourth place as well after losing the third place match to the Czech Republic. Slovenia beat Austria 3-1 in the final to secure the only ticket at stake to make it straight to the Final Round scheduled for later this summer in Albania.

News:
HOS – Croatian Volleyball Federation
CEV – European Volleyball