03/02/2014 16:53
Record number of 44 countries register for second edition of CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup, CEV calls for bids to organize first round tournaments
2014-2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup
Luxembourg, February 3, 2014. The 2014-2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup will feature teams from a total of 44 countries, with 40 represented in both genders. This accounts for 80% of the CEV member countries, with a terrific increase since the inaugural edition that came to a close in 2012 shortly before the London Olympics where 31 and 32 National Federations had registered for the men’s and women’s competition respectively. The CEV is currently looking for organizers of the first round tournaments scheduled for May/June; applications have to be submitted by February 14 at the very latest. The relevant Terms and Conditions are attached at the very end of this news.
“These are terrific figures” says CEV President André Meyer, “which follows on the great success of the inaugural edition. The CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup has triggered a real breakthrough for the sport in many countries and we are confident that this positive trend will continue as the second edition gets underway later this year. We hope many National Federations will come up with their bids to host one of the tournaments scheduled for the first and second round. We expect Beach Volleyball will further flourish in Europe and reach unprecedented standards via the second edition of the CEV Continental Cup.”
The 2014-2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup is set to get underway later this year as per the competition format that was approved last September by the CEV Board of Administration in Copenhagen.
Once again, as it was the case in 2012, the eventual winners of the Continental Cup will participate in the Beach Volleyball tournament of the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro while another two countries will have a second opportunity to qualify to the Olympics via the Intercontinental Final Round that will also take place in 2016.
The 2014-2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup will feature teams from the following countries: Albania, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta (only women), Moldova (only men), Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino (only men), Scotland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden (only women), Switzerland, Turkey, and Ukraine.
The following countries will be making their debut in the competition after missing on the inaugural CEV Continental Cup leading up to the 2012 London Olympics: Albania, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, Moldova, and San Marino. After Great Britain participated in the 2010-2012 edition, this time the home countries England, Northern Ireland, and Scotland have registered for the competition.
The basic principles for the 2014-2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup read as follows:
- Each Federation participates with two [2] teams per gender
- The Competition will be divided into six [6] rounds including a Semi-final and Final Round with the first [1st] Round starting in May/June 2014
- The top eight [8] National Federations from the CEV Country Ranking as of December 31, 2013 will move directly to the third [3rd] Round, in order to provide a more even level of competition in the first [1st] and second [2nd] Round
- To ensure more opportunities for all countries to progress in the competition, a Losers stage is planned after both the first [1st] and third [3rd] Rounds
- Semi-finals and Finals are planned to be played without the athletes having already qualified a spot for their National Federations via the FIVB Olympic Ranking
The first round is scheduled for May/June 2014 and there will be a total of 8 tournaments whose composition will be determined via a Drawing of Lots scheduled for February 22.
As per the CEV Country Ranking (as of December 31, 2013), the following countries will skip the two opening rounds of the 2014-2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup:
Men: Netherlands, Poland, Italy, Germany, Latvia, Spain, Austria, and Russia
Women: Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Italy, Russia, Switzerland, Czech Republic, and Spain
A second round starring all losers of the first round is scheduled for August/September 2014.
The competition will then continue as follows:
2015
- 3rd Round with 8 tournaments, starring the NFs qualified through Rounds 1 & 2, plus the top 8 NFs from the CEV Country Ranking (see above)
- 4th Round with 4 tournaments between Losers of the 3rd Round
2016
- Semi-finals and Finals featuring 16 and 8 countries respectively.
Picture: Norway won the inaugural edition of the Men's Continental Cup whose Finals were held in Alanya, Turkey in late June 2012
2014-2016 CEV Continental Cup - Organising Terms Conditions.pdf
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