Women’s EuroVolley Qualifying Tournament Begins Wednesday

2019 European Championship Final Qualifying Tournament – WOMEN

• August 15th, 2018-January 9th, 2019
• Home-and-home, double round robin
• Schedule & Standings

The final leg of qualifying for the 2019 CEV Women’s European Volleyball Championships begins on Wednesday, where 24 teams divided into 6 pools will vie for spots at next year’s continental championship tournament.

• Bookmark the VolleyMob Qualification Tournament landing page to keep up with the tournament.

Half of the field for the championship tournament are already determined, with 4 (Turkey, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia) qualifying as host countries, with 8 more (Serbia, Netherlands, Azerbaijan, Italy, Russia, Belarus, Germany, Bulgaria) qualifying via placement at the 2017 championship.

That leaves 12 spots remaining, and the next 24-best ranked teams in Europe were split into pools in a serpentine system, based on their rankings. Each pool will be played in a double-round-robin, home-and-home, between August 15th and January 9th. The top 2 finishers in each pool will automatically advance to the European Championship (the qualifier will not be played out any further than that).

The top team in the tournament and most likely to come through to compete for a European podium next year is Belgium, who are ranked #13 in the world and #7 in Europe. The Belgians won 4 matches to place 13th in this summer’s Nations League tournament. The country’s two-headed hitting monster of Kaja Grobelna and Britt Herbots, who are just 22 and 18, respectively, are starting to come into their own as an international force. Belgium has strength at every position on the court, if limited depth, and really are a team that just needs more experience – for that reason, playing in this qualification tournament might be more of a benefit than a hindrance to their overall development as a team.

The team that eliminated them in pool play at the 2017 European Championships, The Czech Republic, will also play in this qualification tournament, as will Croatia, who are ranked #19 in the world.

The Pools: