The 64 beach volleyball teams that will compete in the A1 CEV EuroBeachVolley presented by Swatch, from August 11-15, in Vienna, now know how their paths to continental glory will start as the tournament’s drawing of lots was completed on Thursday in the Austrian capital’s town hall.
The draw was conducted by popular sports journalist Karoline Rath-Zobernig and oversaw by CEV supervisor Oguz Degirmenci, who were joined at the stage by some of Austrian top players, including two-time European champion Clemens Doppler and his partner Alexander Horst, Rio 2016 Olympian Robin Seidl and the country’s women’s top team of Katharina Schützenhöfer and Lena Plesiutschnig.
“I’d like to thank the city of Vienna and the Austrian government for being able to host the European Championships this year,” said ACTS CEO and Founder Hannes Jagerhofer. “Organizing an event of this magnitude in the uncertain conditions we had until not long ago was a real challenge and our team couldn’t have done it without their support and also from our sponsors, who once again trusted us to do something special. We’re building a really nice venue in downtown Vienna and I can promise it will look spectacular.”
The 32 teams in each gender were allocated in eight different pools and the first stage of the tournament will feature a Modified-Pool-Play-Format. Pool winners will advance directly to the Round of 16 while the teams that finish second and third in each of the eight groups will have to play an extra elimination match before it.
