Aleksandar Boričić: The base of cities in Poland is really incredible

- In Poland you try to find one city among many other places, with perfect conditions and modern halls. Your situation is totally different than in other European countries – said Aleksandar Boričić, President of the European Volleyball Confederation (CEV).

- In Poland you try to find one city among many other places, with perfect conditions and modern halls. Your situation is totally different than in other European countries – said Aleksandar Boričić, President of the European Volleyball Confederation (CEV).

PZPS.PL: We have finished the Drawing of Lots ceremony. What are your thoughts on this event?

The Drawing of Lots was very good - not too long, which was very important, especially for the guests from all national federations, who came here first and foremost to get the information about when and where, in which pool, against which teams they will play. For them it’s very exciting and it’s the essence of a ceremony like that. Sometimes we get long speeches, a lengthy event and it’s not good. In Krakow, the event was short, the performance was excellent and I am really impressed. It was a model of how the Drawing of Lots can be prepared.   

In the last years Poland was an organiser of many volleyball tournaments. Can we say that our country is the heart of European volleyball?

Poland is organising many international events on the continental and world level. We must, however, learn something else. In Poland there have been many fantastic events but we must go outside. We want to promote volleyball not only in one country. We don’t want to organise volleyball events only in the host country, but also for this country. This is and should be an honour for the hosting nation. I hope that in the next years we can involve many more countries than we did up until now.

When I was talking with CEV Senior Vice-President Mr. Renato Arena, he said that Poland is following the “volley-religion”. Do you agree with him?

Yes. First of all, Polish people are the best educated volleyball fans. They are very positive, always like to support the teams in a beautiful way. They of course support their Polish national team, but they like to cheer other teams too. Players who have a chance to play in front of Polish fans always have a great opinion of them.

During the Drawing of Lots ceremony, the Host Cities of EUROVOLLEY POLAND 2017 were presented. Have you seen all of them in person?

Yes, I’ve visited all of them. I have been to many Polish cities. The Polish Volleyball Federation should be very happy to have a completely different situation than other countries. In many of them it is very difficult to find more than one, maybe two cities which can be hosts of a big volleyball event. In Poland you rather have the opposite problem. You try to find one city from among many more places with perfect conditions and modern halls. If you have, I don’t know, ten, twelve or fifteen cities, then it is very difficult to choose. 

Do you have your favourite Polish city?

Katowice has been my favourite city for many, many years. Now Krakow has probably the best conditions, with their fantastic competition hall. This city is very rich in history and culture. Everywhere in Poland Host Cities are really hospitable. But for many years Katowice was the heart of all volleyball activities. Many World League matches have taken place in Spodek arena, always before a full house. It was famous for volleyball.  

The Preliminary Round Pool composition was announced on Tuesday. What do you think of Pool A, where Poland and Serbia are going to play each other?

When Poland was the organizer of the 2014 World Championship, I was the president of the Volleyball Federation of Serbia. I was very glad that our countries could play the opening game. Then came the great result for Poland at the beginning and also at the end of the tournament. Now I am the CEV President and for me each and every one of the sixteen participating teams is the same. And my wish is that the gold medal will go to the truly best team in the end.  

In 2019 a new formula will be introduced for the organisation of the European Championship. What was the main reason for the decision?

We need more than sixteen teams competing at the highest level in Europe. Our continent is the strongest part of the world in terms of volleyball. We have many good teams and we must give a chance to more than sixteen nations to participate and compete. It will be more exciting for the fans and the national federations. The second thing is the way of organising the European Championship. Now we have one or two countries which are acting as organisers, in 2019 we will have the opportunity to have up to four host countries. The last thing is the promotion of volleyball in new European countries.

And who will be the eventual medallists of EUROVOLLEY POLAND 2017?

The best three teams… (laugh).