Novi Sad, Serbia, July 1, 2014.  With the country quota matches about to kick off at the Strand venue on the banks of the Danube river, the 2014 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship Novi Sad Masters will officially get underway.  What gives this traditional event a more special importance this year is that for the first time it will also serve as a direct stepping stone towards the 2015 FIVB World Championship in the Netherlands.

With the new qualification system for the World Championships set in place by the international volleyball federation, continental quotas were introduced and 4 spots per gender were allocated to Europe.  The CEV has decided that these spots will be assigned to national federations whose duos are successful at the remaining Masters tournaments this year.

So the two finalists of the men-only € 25,000 Novi Sad Masters will earn tickets to the World Championship in the Netherlands, which for the first time in the history of the competition will be held in four different cities.  The other two men’s quotas will go to the winners of the next two Masters – in Biel/Bienne and in Baku.  These two events will also assign two women’s spots each to fill in Europe’s quotas on the ladies’ side.

The Tuesday afternoon schedule in Novi Sad will feature the country quota matches for the teams from Austria, the Czech Republic and Norway.  The 32-team qualification tournament will take place on Wednesday and the 24-team main draw will take off on Thursday with the final four games scheduled for Saturday, July 5.

A new main draw formula will be applied in a Masters tournament for the first time.  The 24 participating duos will be split into eight pools with the top two pairs from each pool moving on to the 16-team single elimination.

Novi Sad Masters action from the quarterfinals on Friday and the semifinals and the finals on Saturday will be internationally televised.  LAOLA1.tv has scheduled live streams from courts 1 and 2 throughout the duration of the tournament, starting with the country quota playoffs today.

Click here for more information on the tournament.