Polish cities received their nominations as the CEV 2017 Volleyball European Championship – Men hosts

CEV 2017 Volleyball European Championship – Men will take place in Poland from August 25 till September 3. The event will be hosted by four cities: Krakow, Gdansk, Katowice and Szczecin. Today their representatives received nominations from the hands of CEV Senior Vice President Renato Arena and Polish Volleyball Federation President Jacek Kasprzyk.

CEV 2017 Volleyball European Championship – Men will take place in Poland from August 25 till September 3. The event will be hosted by four cities: Krakow, Gdansk, Katowice and Szczecin. Today their representatives received nominations from the hands of CEV Senior Vice President Renato Arena and Polish Volleyball Federation President Jacek Kasprzyk.

- Polish volleyball fans, best in the world, deserve the very best tournament organised in our country. We will everything we can to make it happen. I want to thank the CEV for entrusting us with organising this championship. I would also like to thank our Minister of Sport and Tourism Witold Banka for the Ministry’s constant financial support which allows all our national teams to conduct their preparations to the highest standards. My thanks go to the host cities for their trust and for choosing volleyball as the sport they want to promote. We will make sure for this to be another great event in our country – said the PVF President.

Jacek Kasprzyk and Renato Arena officially signed the agreement between CEV and PVF for the organisation of the 2017 European Championship. It will be the third time for Poland to host the most important volleyball event of the Old Continent. In 2009 the country organised the women’s tournament and four years later co-hosted men’s European Championship with Denmark.

PVF President informed the media taht the Drawing of Lots ceremony will be held in Krakow’s Slowacki Theatre on November 15.

The conference in Warsaw was also an opportunity for PVF Marketing Director Tomasz Redwan to officially present the new Poland Volleyball logo. Like the previous one it will continue to represent the moral and ethical values exceeding a simple pursuit of sport success but in a fresher, more attractive form.

On behalf of CEV President Aleksandar Boricic I would like to welcome everyone to this conference which is the very beginning of the CEV 2017 Volleyball European Championship. I am happy to be here with you. Poland is the centre and heart of Volleyball “religion”, as we could see so many occasions and international events. I was here in 2009 and later and I witnessed the fantastic atmosphere at the tournaments and the wonderful crowd of supporters. I hope to see it again in 2017. This Championship will close an era in the history of the event. Starting from the next edition in 2019, the new leadership of the CEV decided for a new formula, with 24 teams and a possibility for a greater number of hosts to be used – said Senior Vice President Renato Arena.

Jaroslaw Stawiarski, Secretary of state at the Polish Ministry of Sport and Tourism confirmed the support for volleyball in Poland. – We are very happy to host the CEV 2017 Volleyball European Championship in our country. Poland knows well how to organise great events. We saw it recently during the 2016 European Men's Handball Championship and I think that this kind of thing is in our blood. I have no doubt that the next year’s EuroVolley will go down in history just like in 2009, 2013 and 2014. The Ministry will continue to support the training programs for volleyball, which truly is a beautiful sport with great fans, who know how to create a family-like atmosphere in the stands. Congratulations to the PVF on the new logo. I wish for it to be a mark of success for our players – a success similar to that of 2014.

Mirosław Blaszczyk, CEO of TV Polsat: We will be broadcasting another great volleyball event. Just like with previous ones, we will show not just the events from the court, but also everything that will happen around our national team. We will give attention to those who take part in preparing our players for the tournament. We want to be in the host cities and see how they live the CEV 2017 Volleyball European Championship. This translates to many hours of broadcast for the fans.

Andrzej Trojanowski, Director of Gdansk City Mayor’s Office for Sport, underlined the importance of volleyball in the city’s promotion plan: - Our Ergo Arena was opened with a volleyball match of Poland vs. Brazil. From then on, we hosted other spectacular volleyball events, both international and organised by Poland’s own PlusLiga. We have a superb venue and an experienced team of professionals for this event to become a success.

We are very glad that Szczecin can organise a big volleyball event of this format for the first time. I would like to give my thanks to President Jacek Kasprzyk and the Federation for entrusting us with EuroVolley 2017. We will not let you down. This may be the first event of this scale in our city, but Szczecin has proud volleyball traditions. Poland’s Chamipion Chemik Police plays in ORLEN Liga. Their matches are played in Szczecin and are very popular with the fans. We cannot wait for this volleyball holiday to start – said Piotr Krzystek, Mayor of Szczecin.

Mariusz Skiba, Deputy Mayor of Katowice also thanked the PVF for bringing top-level volleyball back to Spodek Arena: - The legendary venue will see another great volleyball festival. We all remember the magical moments from Poland’s victorious games of the 2014 World Championship finals, played within Spodek’s walls. Starting from this season we have our own team in PlusLiga and we will be promoting the upcoming EuroVolley not only in the city, but also in our whole voivodship. Those who come to Katowice will not be disappointed.

Krzysztof Kowal – Director of Sports Infrastructure Management Board of Krakow: - Krakow stands strong with volleyball. Tauron Arena’s inaugural event was also a World League match of Poland vs. Brazil. Every year we host a major volleyball tournament, such as Champions’ League Final Four and World League Final Six. We have the biggest state-of-the-art venue with an exceptional atmosphere, praised by people like Brazil’s Bernardo Rezende. These are reasons enough for us to stick with volleyball.