29/03/2012 16:07
Fribourg welcomes home matches of Swiss heroines
News from the National Federations
Zurich, Switzerland, March 29, 2012. Switzerland women’s national team will be debuting this May in the CEV Volleyball European League and the participation in this competition is seen as a fundamental step for the development of the group that will be going for some positive results as the country plays host – together with Germany – to next year’s CEV Volleyball European Championship.
Switzerland – which is currently ranked 108 in the world by the FIVB – will play its home round at “St. Léonard” sports hall in Fribourg, with its opponents in preliminary Pool B being Turkey, France and Bulgaria.
Fribourg was eventually allotted the organization of this home round this past February and the group around Gilles Seydoux will be working hard to guarantee the right pre-conditions for the Swiss heroines to score some home wins in front of a massive and jubilant crowd. “After the finals of the national cup were moved to Bern and organizing the All Star Game for 4 years, the Volleyball Association from Fribourg was longing for an opportunity to host another top event” says Didier Knopf. “Via the valuable support provided by the local authorities Fribourg will certainly turn into a perfect home for high-class Volleyball” he adds.
The local organizers are full of enthusiasm and have come up with some innovative ideas since the very beginning of the negotiations with Swiss Volley. “We have found in Gilles Seydoux and his group a strong partner to host this home round, which is pretty demanding as this is not that far away from the conditions that are required for a home phase of the European Championship” stresses Reto Hähnlein of Swiss Volley.
The home round in Fribourg will run through June 22-24, with Switzerland playing its first match against France, before testing out the likes of Turkey and finish its campaign with Bulgaria. The ticketing campaign is ready to start via a special website where different options are available (daily tickets or passes for the complete weekend, anyway kids aged from 0 to 12 will enjoy free entrance), see http://www.swissvolley-fribourg.ch
These days shall turn into a sort of test event for the 2013 CEV Volleyball European Championship that Switzerland – and namely the city of Zurich – will co-host together with neighboring Germany. “Even though we still have some 18 months to go before the start of the Championship we want to get as many people as possible already involved, i.e. fans, partners, volunteers etc.” singles out Reto Hähnlein. “It is important for us to draw some attention also from the French-speaking areas of our country” he adds.
“After friendly matches with Belarus, Great Britain and Germany, plus participating in the last edition of the Montreux Volley Masters, we finally can join a real competition” says head coach Svetlana Ilic. Another interesting website – which is conceived as a lead-up to the 2013 European Champs and a precious way to monitor the development of the Swiss national team – is available under this address: http://www.roadtoem2013.ch
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