30/08/2017 10:30
Last quarterfinalists to become known in exciting late Wednesday clashes
2017 CEV Volleyball European Championship - Men
Katowice / Krakow, Poland, August 30, 2017. The last two LOTTO EUROVOLLEY POLAND 2017 quarterfinalists will become known late on Wednesday as Poland will play against Slovenia in Krakow and France will face the Czech Republic in Katowice in a race for spots among the best eight teams of this European Championship.
Here are some key facts and stats ahead of these playoff encounters which start at 20:30 local time:
Poland vs Slovenia
Head-to-Head
- Poland and Slovenia will meet for the third time at the European Championships, after their two encounters in 2015.
- They first met in the pool stage, when Poland won 3-1. In the quarterfinals, Slovenia exacted revenge by eliminating Poland from the tournament in a five-setter. Slovenia went on to reach the final in which they lost to France.
- Those are their only encounters at any major tournament.
Poland
- Poland are aiming to become the first host nation to win the men's European Championship title since 2005, when Italy were co-hosts with Serbia and Montenegro.
- The last team to win the European Championship title in a tournament they hosted alone was the Netherlands in 1997.
- Poland's best result at the European Championship was winning the title in 2009, beating France by 3-1 in the final.
- Since the introduction of that stage in 2011, Poland have had to appear in the play-offs for the quarterfinals twice: in 2011 they beat the Czech Republic by 3-1, but in 2013 they were ousted by Bulgaria (2-3) in front of a home crowd in Gdansk.
- All of Poland's matches at this European Championship have been decided in straight sets: they started off with a loss to Serbia, but then emerged victorious over Finland and Estonia.
- The last time they won three consecutive matches in this competition without losing a single set was in 1995 in games against Romania, the Czech Republic and Greece.
- With 34 points, Michal Kubiak is the leading scorer for Poland in this final round so far.
Slovenia
- Slovenia started this European Championship final round with a 3-0 victory over Spain, but have lost their last two matches at the tournament - 0-3 against both Russia and Bulgaria.
- The last time they lost three consecutive European Championship matches in straight sets was in 2009 – to France, Spain and Slovakia.
- Slovenia's best result in this tournament came at its most recent edition in 2015, when they finished as runners-up.
- The last team to reach the final at successive European Championships was Italy in 2011 and 2013. They lost the final on both occasions.
- Slovenia have both won and lost once in the play-offs for the quarterfinals: a five-set defeat against Finland in 2011 and a straight-set victory over the Netherlands in 2015.
- In each of Slovenia's last 10 matches at the European Championships, the team that won the first set also won the match.
- Alen Sket leads Slovenia in scoring at this tournament with 33 points, ahead of Tine Urnaut and Toncek Stern with 32 each.
France vs Czech Republic
Head-to-Head
- France and the Czech Republic (including Czechoslovakia) will meet for the 14th time at the European Championships, with France winning five of their previous 13 encounters versus eight victories for their opponents.
- Their last encounters in the European Championships came in 2003 and 2005, when France won twice in straight sets in the pool stages of the finals.
- The last victory for the Czech Republic against France at the European Championships came in the 1999 pool phase (3-2).
- These sides met four times during the 2015 World League, with France winning all four encounters and losing only one set in the process.
France
- France are the reigning champions from the 2015 European Championship in Bulgaria and Italy.
- The last team to win back-to-back European Championship titles was Italy in 2003 and 2005.
- Since the introduction of the quarterfinals in 2011, only one reigning European champion failed to make it beyond that stage - Russia in 2015.
- France have 99 victories at the European Championships and could become the sixth country to win 100 matches.
- France have lost only one of their last nine matches at the European Championships - their opener in 2017 against Belgium (2-3).
- France have won at least one set in each of their last 26 European Championship matches since a 0-3 loss to Germany in 2007.
- Stephen Boyer has scored 51 points at this tournament, joint-third most of all players.
Czech Republic
- The Czech Republic hope to claim a spot at the top eight of a European Championship for the first time since 2001, when they finished in fourth place.
- They have lost 10 of their last 11 European Championship matches, including their play-off for the quarterfinals against Poland in 2011 (1-3).
- Their only victory in this run came over neighbours Slovakia in their opening fixture of this tournament.
- The Czech Republic could lose three consecutive fixtures in straight sets for the first time since a run of five in 1987 - 1991 (then as Czechoslovakia). The second fixture in that run was against France.
- Michal Finger is Czech Republic's highest scorer in this tournament with 42 points.
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