The Drawing of Lots which took place today at the Palazzo Reale in Naples, Italy in conjunction with the women’s own drawing of lots, has set up the stage for next year’smost anticipated continental competition for men, CEV EuroVolley 2023 revealing the structure of the four pools and giving us the first insight into what we can expect once first serve will be played.

The four hosts of the competition, Italy, Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Israel were allocated at the top of each pool that they will be hosting while also, in compliance with existing regulations, they were given the right to pick one team from the second pot to join their pool.

Thus, Italy chose Switzerland to join them in Pool A, Bulgaria chose Finland for Pool B, North Macedonia chose Montenegro for Pool C, while Israel chose Romania to join them in Pool D.

While all pools seem to be quite balanced on paper, several major clashes can already be foreseen, with Serbia being allocated to Italy’s pool A, Slovenia to Bulgaria’s Pool B, Poland and Netherlands both falling into Pool C and Olympic Champions France going to Israel where they will be facing, among others, the young and enthusiastic team of Türkiye.

The confirmed match schedule will be made available to fans soon, following careful considerations and discussions with all stakeholders.

fonte cev.eu

ps.: Format
The 24 National Federations are allocated equally in 4 Preliminary pools. In each Preliminary pool,
the four best placed qualify to the 1/8 finals.
In the 1/8 finals, the 8 winners qualify to the 1/4 finals.
In the 1/4 finals, the 4 winners qualify to the Semifinals.
In the Semifinals, the 2 winners qualify to the Gold Medal match and the 2 losers of the Semifinals
qualify to the Bronze Medal match,
In the Gold Medal match, the winner is the winner of the CEV EuroVolley 2023