Reigning world and European champions Italy made an emphatic start to the men’s 2023 CEV Volleyball European Championship, which they are co-hosting with Bulgaria, Israel and North Macedonia from 28 August through 16 September. In Monday’s opening match in Bologna, the home team mastered a convincing 3-0 (25-17, 25-18, 25-15) victory over Belgium.
Close to 9,000 fans in the sold-out stands at the Unipol Arena (pictured in the main photo; credits: cev.eu) cheered on as outside hitter Alessandro Michieletto with 13 points and middle blocker Roberto Russo with 12 led their team to success.
Italian opposite Yuri Romano spikes through the Belgian block (Photo credits: cev.eu)The other four teams in Pool A - Estonia, Germany, Serbia and Switzerland - will get their EuroVolley 2023 campaigns started on Wednesday, with the remaining matches in the pool hosted by the Italian cities of Perugia and Ancona.
The Bulgarian coastal city of Varna hosts the matches in Pool B. The home team and Spain are set to open the round-robin tournament on Tuesday, with Croatia, Finland, Slovenia and Ukraine joining the action on Wednesday.
Wednesday’s EuroVolley programme also features the opening game in Pool C, in which North Macedonia will entertain Denmark in its capital Skopje. Czechia, Montenegro, the Netherlands and Poland are the other members of the pool.
Pool D in Tel Aviv will get underway with Tuesday’s game between hosts Israel and Greece. The pool also features the teams of France, Portugal, Romania and Türkiye.
After the pool stage, the 33rd edition of the continental championship will continue with the eighthfinals and the quarterfinals, split between Varna and the Italian city of Bari. The top four teams of the final standings in each pool will advance to the playoffs.
The Final Four showdown is set to take place in Rome. The Italian capital will host the two semifinals on 14 September, as well as the bronze medal match and the final on 16 September.
Co-hosts Italy are the big favourites to win the tournament. They have already done it seven times in the 75-year-long history of the competition, most recently at the previous EuroVolley edition in 2021. Slovenia, runners-up of three of the last four European Championships, Poland, reigning Volleyball Nations League champions and bronze medallists of the previous two EuroVolley editions, and reigning Olympic champions France are also expected to be among the main podium contenders.
All EuroVolley 2023 matches are streamed live on EuroVolley.tv.
Source : fivb.com
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