Presenting Pool B of #EuroVolleyW

The only matches of 2017 women’s EuroVolley to be held in Georgia are those in pool B, which are being played at the New Sports Palace. First opened in 1961, it was renovated ten years ago and is often used for basketball matches. It has a capacity of around 3,000 and is the biggest indoor arena in the country.

Georgia

Georgia are making history in 2017 as they compete at the EuroVolley finals for the first time. As co-hosts of the competition, their spot was guaranteed and have never qualified before, having been part of Soviet Union until 1991. At the 2017 European League, Georgia finished 12th of the 12 teams competing having previously ended 6th of six competing teams at their previous appearance in 2015. As of August 2017 they were ranked =115 by FIVB and have never competed at the World Championship. 

Italy

Italy are two-time gold medallists in this competition, having finishing top of the podium in 2007 and 2009. In the run-up to those successes they also won silver in 2001 and 2005. They have failed to live up to those heights in the tournaments since then and most recently finished 7th in 2015 after losing to eventual winners Russia at the quarter-final stage. That result meant Italy had to go through the qualification process to reach the 2017 finals and they topped their second round pool ahead of Ukraine, Austria and Latvia to progress to this stage. Italy narrowly missed out on gold at the 2017 World Grand Prix after losing to Brazil in the final of Group 1’s Final Six in Nanjing, China, to take the silver medal. 

Croatia

Croatia reached the finals of EuroVolley by winning their second round qualification pool ahead of Slovakia, Portugal and Israel. Two years ago they progressed from the pool stage but went out in the play-offs as they lost to 2017 Pool B rivals Italy. Their best results came in the late 1990s as they won three successive silver medals in 1995, 1997 and 1999 in what have been their only podium finishes. Since then their best run came in 2013 as they went all the way to the quarter-finals before coming up against a strong Germany team. The team came 11th in the World Grand Prix’s Group 2, earlier this year.  

Belarus

After the split of Soviet Union, Belarus competed at the European Championship for the first time in 1993 and finished 8th in the 12-team competition, which is their joint-best finish to date along with their showing in 1995. They reached the 2017 finals by winning Pool F in the second round of qualifying ahead of Czech Republic, Slovenia and Greece. Two years ago they were knocked out by Poland after reaching the play-off stage of EuroVolley and they were ranked sixth at the 2017 European League.