All six medals at last week’s MEVZA U20 volleyball zonal tournaments went to teams representing FIVB Volleyball Empowerment supported federations – Austria, Croatia, Czechia and Slovenia.
The Czech Volleyball Federation has received USD 210,000 in FIVB Volleyball Empowerment coach support for their national volleyball teams. Their women’s selections are working under the guidance of Greek coach Ioannis Athanasopoulos, while the men’s squads are coached by Jiri Novak. Another USD 6,000 has been granted for a national volleyball team coach development knowledge transfer program. The Croatian Volleyball Association is a beneficiary of FIVB Volleyball Empowerment targeted support. It has been allocated a total of USD 530,000 in coach support for Croatia’s national volleyball teams, in addition to USD 225,000 in volleyball equipment. The women’s youth selections capitalize on the coaching expertise of Serbia’s Svetlana Ilic. The Austrian federation has been funded with a total of USD 252,000 of FIVB Volleyball Empowerment coach support for its national volleyball teams and another USD 12,000 in national volleyball team coach development knowledge transfer programs. Argentinean coach Juan Ignacio Arenillas is working with the national teams. The Volleyball Federation of Slovenia has been allocated a total of USD 1,740,000 in national volleyball team coach support from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment. Their women’s teams benefit from their work with Italian coach Alessandro Orefice, while the men’s teams are training under Italian coach Fabio Soli’s supervision.
MEVZA U20 women’s volleyball zonal tournament in Maribor, Slovenia
Czechia, Croatia and hosts Slovenia finished first, second and third at the MEVZA U20 women’s volleyball zonal tournament in Maribor. Czechia also earned direct qualification to the 2027 CEV U20 Women’s Volleyball European Championship.
Czechia took the full nine points from their three Pool B matches to top the standings and advance to the semifinals, where they beat Pool A runners-up Slovakia by 3-1 (23-25, 25-14, 25-17, 25-14). In the trophy showdown, the Czech team (pictured in the photo; source: mevza.org) produced a 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-23) victory over Croatia to triumph as tournament winners.
Croatia lost only two matches at the tournament, both to Czechia. As Pool B runners-up, the Croatians moved on to the semifinals and achieved a 3-1 (25-19, 25-11, 21-25, 25-15) win over Pool A winners Slovenia to guarantee themselves a spot on the podium.
After losing their first sets of the competition in the semis, the home team bounced back with a hard-fought 3-2 (18-25, 27-25, 23-25, 28-26, 15-12) victory over Slovakia in the third-place game.
Slovakia, Hungary, Israel, Austria and Cyprus took the places from fourth to eighth in the final standings.
MEVZA U20 women’s volleyball zonal tournament: results, standings and statistics
MEVZA U20 men’s volleyball zonal tournament in Steinbrunn, Austria
Czechia, hosts Austria and Slovenia lined up with gold, silver and bronze at the MEVZA U20 men’s volleyball zonal tournament in Steinbrunn. The winners also booked a spot at the 2027 CEV U20 Men’s Volleyball European Championship.
Czechia stumbled in one of their pool matches, against Slovenia, but advanced to the semifinals as Pool B runners-up. They followed up with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-18, 25-22) shutout of Pool A winners Israel in the semifinals, and mastered another straight-set victory – 3-0 (25-23, 25-16, 25-21) over Austria – in the final showdown.
Austria also came to the semifinals as runners-up of their pool after losing to Israel, but then squeezed out a hard-fought 3-2 (20-25, 20-25, 25-20, 25-20, 15-12) reverse sweep of their semifinal against Slovenia.
The two pool winners ended up meeting in the third-place match, with Slovenia celebrating a 3-1 (23-25, 25-20, 25-16, 25-23) comeback win over Israel.
Israel, Luxembourg, Cyprus, Slovakia and Hungary, in that order, lined up in the places from fourth to eighth.
MEVZA U20 men’s volleyball zonal tournament: results, standings and statistics
