13/06/2018 19:53
Budapest poised to host #EuroLeagueW Finals
2018 CEV Volleyball Golden European League - Women
Budapest, Hungary, June 13, 2018. The iconic ‘Papp László Sportaréna’ in Budapest is getting ready to host the Volleyball show of the year in women’s European Volleyball - the Golden #EuroLeagueW Finals. The best four teams in the competition will lock horns on Thursday and on Friday to decide who will take the gold medal.
Hungary, Bulgaria, Finland and Czech Republic reached the Final Four of the tournament after six exciting legs and are now ready to enter the court and show their best. Apart from that, the winners and the runners-up will take part in the inaugural FIVB Challenger Cup together with another four teams from other continents. The ‘prize’ is even bigger for the eventual winner of the Challenger Cup as they will replace the lowest-ranked ‘challenger’ in the 2019 edition of the FIVB Volleyball Nations League.
On the other hand, hosting the Final Four of the 2018 CEV Volleyball Golden European League – Women is a rehearsal for Hungary, who will be co-hosting together with Turkey, Poland and Slovakia #EuroVolleyW due to take place next year.
Bulgaria vs. Finland
• Bulgaria and Finland will feature in the first semi-final.
• Finland played in the Final match of the 2017 CEV Volleyball European League – Women, but finished second (Ukraine, who did not reach the Final Four, were crowned champions back then).
• Bulgaria claimed five wins out of six matches in Pool A and finished in first place, followed by the strong team of Azerbaijan.
• Finland, on the other hand, recorded four victories in Pool B and they are the team that played most sets in the League Round – as many as 27, scoring a total of 451 points.
• Piia Korhonen from Finland was the best scorer for her team in the League Round, putting 95 points to her name (third best scorer in the Pool stage overall).
• Gergana Dimitrova was shining for Team Bulgaria, scoring 90 points, which make her the sixth best scorer in the Pool stage.
• Bulgaria have claimed European League silver in 2010 and 2012; on top of this, they won bronze in 2009, 2011 and 2013.
Ivan Petkov, head coach of Bulgaria: “This trophy, that I am looking at right now, is very beautiful. Of course, we are happy to be here and to play in the Final Four of the #EuroLeagueW. Our main goal is winning the trophy, but I must say, that we respect a lot the other teams, so we will see what tomorrow will bring.”
Hristina Ruseva, captain of Bulgaria: “Our team is really young and tomorrow we will show our spirit. I hope that we will make a good game. Everything here is very good, very well organized – the sports hall is great. We had a practice already, played two friendly sets vs. Hungary, but of course, we will see what will happen tomorrow.”
Tapio Kangasniemi, head coach of Finland: “Bulgaria are a strong team and we know it already. We had goals set in our team, one of which was to be here, to reach the Final Four and we are happy about that. We want to be better every day, not only as a team, but as individuals as well.”
Pauliina Vilponen, captain of Finland: “This journey for us has been amazing so far –we had tough matches, but amazing at the same time. We want to give our best here. It is a real challenge being here. As everybody said – everything is perfect here and we hope that many people will attend the matches.”
Hungary vs. Czech Republic
• Czech Republic is the only team to proceed to the Final Four without a single loss. During the Pool stage, they did not allow any other team to outclass them and finished first in Pool C, collecting 17 points.
• Czech Republic were also the first to secure their spot in the Final Four.
• The host of the tournament - Hungary, were competing in Pool B, being second in the eventual standing with four victories and two losses.
• Hungary’s women team were crowned European League champions in 2015 after a Golden Set win vs. Turkey.
• The Czech Republic, on the other hand, won European League gold in 2012 and finished fourth the year before.
Jan De Brandt, head coach of Hungary: “We are really happy to be the host of this event and to organize the Final Four of #EuroLeagueW, but we want to do something more here, to achieve something more. If you are the organizer, you have only one goal – to play the final. Czech Republic is a strong opponent, so it will be a tough match tomorrow.”
Renata Sandor, captain of Hungary: “This is the first time we also play here, in this arena and we are really excited. We want to show what we can and how we can play. Of course, we are happy that we showed that we can be here not only because of hosting the event. We will try to give our best and we hope, that the home crowd will be supporting us with all the tickets being sold out.”
Zdenek Pommer, coach of Czech Republic: “The arena is really beautiful and we are excited to be here as all the other teams. We hope to continue on the winning path.”
Barbora Purchartova, captain of Czech Republic: “We are well prepared. We are a good team, really motivated and excited to be here.”
Zsolt Ludvig, Secretary General of the Hungarian Volleyball Federation: “I hope that we are well prepared and I would like to say Welcome to Budapest, to our capital, to all the teams that are here. We are very happy to be organizing the finals and I think it’s a milestone in our history. It will be also very helpful for our experience having in mind that we are co-hosting the European Volleyball Championship next year. We are testing ourselves, testing the hall. I hope that everybody will enjoy their stay here – not only from a volleyball point of view, but also enjoying the Hungarian style of living. Regarding the semi-final match vs. Czech Republic - we have met them many times on the court – I hope that Team Hungary will solve their small problems and we expect our public to be the seventh player. We hope to play the final. In my office we have the trophy that we won in the European League in 2015, but there is still place for another one.”
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