18/03/2021 12:00
Ljubljana to host next European Volleyball Gala and Champions League DOL!
News from the CEV
Luxembourg, March 18, 2021. The capital city of Slovenia, Ljubljana, will be playing host to the 2021 edition of the European Volleyball Gala, the annual celebration of the stars of the sport and a unique opportunity for members of the Volleyball family to come together in an atmosphere of friendship and conviviality. The event will be taking place on October 1 and the programme includes the Drawing of Lots for the 2022 edition of the elite CEV Champions League Volley as well.
Ljubljana has truly cemented its role on the Volleyball map throughout the past few years, doing so especially through the hosting of CEV EuroVolley 2019 Men matches, with the all-time record of attendance for a Volleyball game held in Slovenia broken a number of times at the iconic Arena Stožice. The passionate Slovenian crowd pushed the home side towards reaching the gold medal match after edging heavyweights such as Russia and Poland in the process. The semi-final game with reigning world champions Poland eventually registered the highest record of attendance at an amazing 11,425 spectators.
Moreover, the Slovenian capital has been playing host to a Beach Volleyball World Tour tournament for many years, doing so with much success even in the summer of 2020, when the Ljubljana 1-Star event coincided with the return of competitive action since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. The iconic Congress Square in Ljubljana downtown always provides players and fans alike with a truly special event experience.
In hosting the European Volleyball Gala 2021, Ljubljana follows in the line of other iconic European cities, such as Vienna, Rome, Moscow, Budapest and Sofia – where previous editions of the event have taken place.
A huge Volleyball party involving more than 11,000 fans unfolded in Ljubljana back in 2019 during a history-making edition of CEV EuroVolley Men
“Slovenia has become an exemplary success story in the world of Volleyball, not only through the success of their athletes, and especially of their men’s national team, but through the ability that they have shown multiple times to organise major events. We all still cherish memories from the truly unforgettable experience we had during EuroVolley 2019 and I am sure our Slovenian friends will once again be up to the task and wonderful hosts to our Volleyball family later this year. I very much hope we will be able to celebrate in early October, among other things, the success of our athletes at the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics,” says CEV President Aleksandar Boričić.
“I believe that the CEV Board of Administration entrusted the organisation of the Gala event to Slovenia as a result of our hard work and dedication in recent times and the successful delivery of many Volleyball events, especially EuroVolley 2019,” says Metod Ropret, President of the Volleyball Federation of Slovenia. “So far eminent capitals such as Rome, Moscow, and Vienna have organised the event and it is a great honour for us that we will be hosting the cream of European Volleyball in Ljubljana.”
The Mayor of Ljubljana, Zoran Janković, says, “I am glad that the CEV has recognised Ljubljana as a sports city and placed it alongside world capitals such as Moscow, Rome, and Vienna, which have already hosted the gala. I am convinced that the Volleyball Federation of Slovenia, under the leadership of President Metod Ropret, will deliver this year’s event in a superb manner. Ljubljana is a city that promotes sports at all levels, and in the past, we hosted matches of the highest quality. The most recent such experience was in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic paralysed the whole world, when Arena Stožice hosted EuroVolley and we are extremely proud of that. For me, Ljubljana is the most beautiful city in the world and I believe that it will also enchant the participants of the gala event. A place that is clean, green, safe, and friendly and where different people live together in coexistence will certainly not leave you indifferent.”
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