Luxembourg, Luxembourg, August 12, 2014. The host cities and the exact dates of all 2nd Round events of the 2014-2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup have now been determined. Interestingly four different islands in different parts of Europe will set the stage for the match-ups in the four different pools. This phase of the ground-breaking competition will start in Belgrade at the end of August and will finish in Mellieha, Edinburgh and Odense three weeks later.
The third largest Danish city of Odense, situated on the island of Funen, will provide the venue for the battles in Pool A. The national beach volleyball teams of Croatia, Hungary, Iceland, Luxembourg and Slovenia will take part in the men’s competition, while the host country will be represented on the women’s side in the company of Hungary, Iceland, Luxembourg and Slovenia. The matches are set to take place on September 20 and 21.
On the same dates, the sand of Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland on the island of Great Britain, will be the ground for the women’s teams of England, Ireland, Northern Ireland and host Scotland and the men’s teams of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Slovakia to fight for qualification to the 3rd Round from Pool B.
Yet another event will be held simultaneously, as the match-ups in Pool C will take place on September 20 and 21, in the village of Mellieha in the northwestern part of the island of Malta. The host country will participate in the women’s competition only, alongside Bosnia and Herzegovina, Latvia, Romania and Turkey. In parallel, the men’s tournament will feature the teams of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Israel, Moldova, Romania and San Marino.
The only pool that takes place on different dates is the one in Belgrade. On August 31 and September 1, immediately after the end of Serbia’s national championship finals, on the Danube river island of Ada Ciganlija, the men’s teams of Albania, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria and Lithuania and the women’s teams of Albania, Azerbaijan, Estonia and the host nation Serbia will compete in Pool D.
In each gender, the winners and the runners-up of each pool will join the 16 winners and runners up from the 1st Round and the 8 pre-qualified national teams into the 3rd Round, which take place in 2015 with the participation of 32 men’s and 32 women’s squads. 8 of them will qualify to the Semifinals in 2016 and 16 will move on to Round 4 which will also be held in 2015 and will determine the other eight semifinalists in each gender. The Final Round will take place in 2016 with eight women’s and eight men’s national teams vying for continental honors. The eventual winners of the CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup will earn quotas for the beach volleyball tournament of the 2016 Olympic Games, while another two countries will have a second opportunity to qualify for Rio via the Intercontinental Final Round that will also be held in 2016.
Click here for more detailed information on the competition.
Picture: One of the 1st Round pools took place in the beautiful setting of Schinias, Greece