Luxembourg, August 24, 2018. On Saturday and Sunday 12 #EuroVolleyW matches will be played to finalise the pool standings after four out of six legs of the 2019 European Championship Qualifiers, as the last two legs are set to take place in early January 2019. Belgium, Croatia, Greece, France and Finland have kept the slate clean thus far and they will surely look to extend their winning streak to guarantee themselves a place in the Finals. You can follow the matches via the live streams on Laola1.tv or through social media using the hashtag #EuroVolleyW.

Pool A

Iceland vs. Israel

•    After their 3-0 home win earlier this week, Israel play Iceland once again, this time in Kopavogur, with the result of this fixture very likely to determine who finishes third in the pool. After three rounds, Belgium lead the way with three wins in as many matches followed by Slovenia with a 2-1 win-loss record.
•    The last two qualifying games will take place next January, with Israel playing away in Belgium before they host Slovenia at home.
•    Iceland, on the other hand, are yet to record their first win in the competition – and are yet to win a set.
•    Jóna Guðlaug Vigfúsdóttir, the most experienced player of the Icelandic team and the captain as well, will not play the match due to an injury from the previous match.



Borja Gonzalez Vicente, coach of Iceland: “We have the team to win against Israel tomorrow. We just have to believe in it.”

Giuseppe Cuccarini, coach of Israel: “We are feeling very good about the match on Sunday. After two losses to Slovenia and Belgium, we won 3-0 against Iceland. We are planning on doing the same here tomorrow.”

Slovenia vs. Belgium

•    Slovenia and Belgium met only three days ago when the teams played the third round match of #EuroVolleyW qualifications in Antwerp. The Yellow Tigers claimed a 3-0 victory, but the young Slovenians proved to be a tough opponent, who will be looking for revenge in the repeat of their matchup coming up in Maribor on Saturday evening.
•    Alessandro Chiappini and Gert Vande Broek made no changes in their selections, although Slovenia’s head coach will not be able to rely on his first libero Maja Pahor, who cannot play due to a minor head concussion she suffered after she was hit by a ball during the match in Antwerp.
•    Slovenia has one of the youngest, if not the youngest, teams in the competition with the average age of 20.42 years old.
•    Slovenia’s best scorer at this stage is Iza Mlakar with 39 points in three matches, while Britt Herbots and Kaja Grobelna have collected 36 and 35 points respectively for Belgium.
•    Belgium top the charts in Pool A with three clear wins against Iceland, Israel and Slovenia. With a fourth win in a row, the Belgian team could secure their ticket to the 2019 #EuroVolleyW Finals. Slovenia is also in a good position to qualify for what would be their second European Championship appearance after their historic debut in 2015.



Tina Grudina, player of Slovenia: “Belgium are the favourites for the match, but we already proved we can play high-level Volleyball, too. We need to reduce the number of mistakes and look for a chance to take at least one set or two; we could even surprise the opponents. I hope a lot of people will come to Tabor hall, as they can surely expect a good match.”

Anita Sobočan, player of Slovenia: “I am really looking forward to playing the match against Belgium in front of the home crowd, and I hope we will be able to raise the level of our performance. I think we can hope for a good match and with a little bit of luck, which wasn’t on our side in the first match, we could maybe even surprise our opponents.”

Pool B

Albania vs. Switzerland

•    The Albanian women’s national team has not claimed any wins in the first three rounds of these European qualifiers, while Switzerland sit in second place, with two victories and only one loss.
•    Team captain Erblira Bici is the best scorer of Albania in these qualifiers with 50 points, while Laura Kuenzler has tallied up 47 points for Switzerland this far.
•    Switzerland claimed a 3-0 victory in the first match between these sides three days ago in a game played in Schönenwerd.

Erblira Bici, Albanian captain: “It takes a little patience to achieve positive results, as ours is a team with many young girls and it focusses very much on the future. We are working hard and playing all these matches gives us the opportunity to consolidate the group. I believe that we will be doing better in the next games in January. However, we will play against Switzerland to win, as when playing away, we showed that we are growing as a team and in terms of our performance as well.”

Austria vs. Croatia

•    The Austrian women’s national team start into the second half of the European qualifiers with a home match versus pool leaders Croatia.
•    In the first leg on Wednesday in Zagreb, the Austrian women performed very well for the first two sets. Unfortunately, the team did not manage to take at least one set from the three-time #EuroVolleyW silver medal winners and number 19 in the world ranking.

“We paid our due for the lack of routine,” says head coach Svetlana Ilic. With support of the home crowd, the side of team captain Srna Markovic is looking for revenge on Saturday. Every set can be crucial in vying for second place in the group. Ilic: “We have nothing to lose! I hope that we can take the chance and do not repeat the same mistakes we committed in the first two sets in Zagreb.”

Pool C

Norway vs. Montenegro

•    The Norwegian team needs to prove to themselves that they are better than the previous results may show.
•    They have lost three matches in a row this far.

Matt van Wezel, head coach of Norway: “Montenegro should be our target. We played poorly in the first two sets in Montenegro, but showed that we could match them when we play at a higher and more constant level. Having three set balls in the fourth set to take the match into a fifth and deciding set and then losing 25-27 was tough for the girls to digest. However, we plan on showing that we are better than what the results have showed so far.”

Greece vs. Ukraine

•    Greece return to Volos where they opened the #EuroVolleyW qualifiers last week with a 3-0 sweep of Montenegro, after scoring two victories on the road over Norway 3-0 and Ukraine 3-0.
•    Greece are one of only three teams, alongside Belgium and France, to retain a perfect record after three match days, without having dropped a single set.
•    Greece’s Anthi Vasilantonaki leads the overall scorers’ table on average points per set across the whole competition with 6.78. She is second in absolute numbers with 61 points in three matches (nine sets).
•    Nadiia Kodola is Ukraine’s best scorer thus far in the competition with 30 points (or 3.33 per set) after three matches (nine sets).



Guillermo Naranjo Hernandez, coach of Greece: “It will be a totally different game. Ukraine have a strong team with great experience. In our away game, our plan worked and things developed exactly as we wanted but now Ukraine have had a few days to adapt to our style of play – as we had to theirs. I believe it will be a long game.”

Gariy Yegiazarov, coach of Ukraine: “We played very badly in Ukraine against Greece. We have watched many videos with our errors and we will try to correct them. All our players now have great resolve and seek revenge.”

Pool D

Denmark vs. Portugal

•    Portugal won the first match 3-0 at home, but Denmark pushed the Portuguese in the two first sets.
•    Six players from Denmark have home court in Holtehallen in the Danish League with their Club, Holte IF.
•    Halfway in the qualification, it is a must-win for Denmark, if they still want to be in the race for a ticket to #EuroVolleyW.

Sven-Erik Borch Lauridsen, head coach of Denmark: “Both teams know each other better today than they did Wednesday. We know exactly what to do different, and so do Portugal, so I predict a very even match. We are very keen to win the sets we deserve. I hope we will win three.”

Manuel Almeida, head coach of Portugal: “I expect a more even match than our last encounter. We have much respect for the Danish team, so with the support of their home fans, I know it will be a very tough match. This means that we have to be better than we were Wednesday to claim the victory.”

•   The New Volleyball Arena in Tbilisi will host two matches on Saturday as the Georgian women's National team will face France, while the men will be locking horns with Belarus.
•    All four teams arrived on Friday morning and have acquainted themselves with the local conditions in their respective training sessions.
•    Georgia lost in France, but hope to use the home-court advantage to claim a revenge and stop the French winning streak, which has been lasting for three rounds already.

Laurent Delacourt, assistant coach of team France: “We know that it’s very good that we won against Georgia at home 3-0, but we didn’t come here with the idea that it will be easy to do the same here, in Georgia. We know that our opponents have a good serve and they will use it against us but we will try to do our best and see the result tomorrow.”

Tinatin Tchautchidze, middle blocker of Team Georgia: “Unfortunately we lost against France at their home and now we hope on our fans and we will do everything we can to make them happy tomorrow.”

Pool E

Sweden vs. Finland

•   Finland and Sweden also clashed Wednesday, with the 'White and Blue' coming out as victors after a hard-fought battle which ended 3-1 (20-25, 25-15, 26-24, 25-14) in favour of the home team in Helsinki. Sweden are now looking for a quick revenge as they head home to Umeå.
•   19-year-old superstar Isabelle Haak of Team Sweden is the top scorer of the #EuroVolley qualification after three legs. The hard-hitting opposite has recorded a total of 79 points during the 13 sets she has played this far.
•   Fanny Åhman, libero of Team Sweden, will play on her very home soil as she represents Umeå-based club IKSU.

Jonna Wasserfaller, captain of Team Sweden: “We know what we are capable of and that we can compete on this level. We showed that both against Czech Republic last week and Finland a couple of days ago. If we play at our highest level, we win. That is just the way it is. The key is to play at that high level during longer periods of time, and at the same time make our slumps both fewer and shorter.”

Estonia vs. Czech Republic

•    Estonia lost to Czech Republic 0-3 on Wednesday in Jablonec nad Nisou and are looking for revenge on home court.
•    Czech Republic have one win and five points from three matches and sit in second place in Pool E, while Estonia are third with one win and four points, so the game has a lot at stake when it comes to qualification to the #EuroVolleyW Finals. Finland lead the way in the group with three wins in as many matches and seven points.
•    Estonia will be playing without one of their leaders Anu Ennok, who has back problems.

Andrei Ojamets, head coach of Estonia: “There is no time to change things drastically between the two games. Our main goal is to rethink some things in our heads. Everything is still possible but the question is how much do we believe in ourselves and what are we willing to do to achieve our goals. It would be nice to finish with a good effort on home soil. I am not even talking about winning but finishing these games with a good vibe.”

Zdenek Pommer, head coach of Czech Republic: “We are back in the game after the 3-0 win over Estonia and we showed we can still play and earned the respect of our opponents. In Estonia we have to continue the same way.”

Pool F

Bosnia & Herzegovina vs. Spain

•    Bosnia and Herzegovina are hosting Spain in the city of Lukavac.
•    This is not the first time the Bosnian team is playing against Spain this year. These two teams locked horns at the Mediterranean Games earlier this summer as well as last Wednesday in another #EuroVolleyW qualifier. Spain emerged victorious from both matches. Since this is the first time these two teams are playing in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the organisers are expecting a great match.
•    It is the very first time that the city of Lukavac is playing host to such an important Volleyball event.
•    Bosnia and Herzegovina are expecting a great atmosphere and support from the crowd, since many Volleyball fans and young Volleyball players from all over the country have announced their arrival.
•    With two wins to their name already and an eventual victory over Spain, the team of Bosnia and Herzegovina would be close to qualifying for the Final Round of the European Championship, which would be a historic achievement for the Balkan country.



Anđelka Radišković, player of Bosnia and Herzegovina: “We are expecting great support from the crowd in Lukavac, and I would also like to emphasise the great atmosphere we have in the team. We are very familiar with the Spanish team, and we know their weaknesses. We need to give a maximum effort in order to win, to be fully concentrated and pumped for the match.”

Goran Nešić, head coach of Bosnia and Herzegovina: “We have analysed the Spanish team, and we also went through our match played on Wednesday with Spain. We know their weaknesses very well and what we need to correct in our game in order to win. I believe in my players and in the crowd that is coming to support us too.”

Latvia vs. Romania

•    Inguna Minusa, a former European Beach Volleyball champion in 2009, is at the helm of the Latvian team.
•    It is the very first senior European qualification for most of the Latvian players.
•    The Latvian national team is a young one – the average age standing at 23.
•    Their team captain, for a second term, is Elvita Dolotova.