Georgios Petreas"We want to play with all our strengths to prove once again to ourselves that we can compete against top teams. Who wouldn't want to be in our position? You don't play with teams like this every day"
team captain (GRE)
Tuomas Sammelvuo"Greece play a very different style of Volleyball than we do. They also have good serve and may risk a lot with it. This is not going to be an easy match."
head coach (RUS)
Overview
In the first knock-out stage match in Ljubljana the reigning champions Russia face Greece, who qualified as the fourth team of Pool A, with just one small point difference putting them above the fifth placed Portugal. Greeces Athanasios Protopsaltis has been one of the Final Round’s top three receivers so far, with 129 receptions and an average of 39,8%.
Head-to-Head
Russia (including as Soviet Union) have won all their previous seven European Championship matches against Greece.
These nations most recently clashed in the European Championship in 2003, when Russia came twice from behind to claim a five-set victory over Greece in the group phase. Sergey Tetyukhin (24 points) was Russia's top scorer. Nikolaos Roumeliotis (20) scored most points for Greece.
These teams' only previous European Championship knockout tie was in the 1987 semi-finals. Soviet Union beat Greece in straight sets (15-5, 15-5, 15-12) in Ghent to reach the final.
Russia
Defending champions Russia are hoping to claim a record extending 15th European title (including titles won as Soviet Union). Italy (6) are the only other nation to have won more than three European trophies.
The last team to win the European Championship in back-to-back editions were Italy in 2003-2005. Soviet Union won nine European titles in a row from 1967 to 1987.
Russia are one of four teams to have reached the quarter-finals in each of the last four editions of the European Championship, alongside Bulgaria, Italy and Serbia.
Russia have won 20 of their last 21 European Championship matches, including all five in this year's edition. The only exception in that run was a straight-set defeat against Italy in the 2015 quarter-finals.
Russia can win 12 European Championship matches in a row for the first time since 1991 to 1993 (as Russia and Soviet Union).
Dmitrii Volkov (59) is Russia's leading scorer in this year's European championship. Victor Poletaev follows on 48 points.
Only Nimir Abdel-Aziz (24) from Netherlands and Jan Hadrava from Czech Republic (21) have scored more aces in this year's European championship final round than Volkov (12).
Greece
Greece are aiming for their second European Championship podium finish, after a third place in 1987.
Greece will play their first European Championship knockout match since 1995, when they followed up a straight-set defeat against Poland in a 5th-8th place qualification match with a five-set victory over Germany in the seventh-place decider.
Greece won just one of their five group stage matches in this year's European championship, a 3-1 win over Romania on 16 September.
Nikos Zoupani has scored 72 points for Greece in this year's European Championship final round, more than any of his teammates. Athanasios Protopsaltis follows on 67 points.
Zoupani was Greece's top scorer in four of their five group stage matches. Protopsaltis scored a team-high 22 points in their final fixture against Portugal (3-1 loss).
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Match Polls
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Officials
First RefereeBlaz MARKELJSLOSecond RefereeEldar ZULFUGAROVAZE
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Venue Information
The Stožice Arena, which opened the 10th of August 2010, is the biggest multipurpose arena in Slovenia with the full capacity of 12,480 visitors. It is a home to basketball team KK Olimpija Ljubljana, volleyball team ACH Volley Ljubljana and handball team RK Krim Ljubljana, and several national teams, among them the volleyball national teams. It has been also holding many music concerts and manifestations. Capacity: 12500
- How To Attend
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Watch Live
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Team
Previous Games
| 23/09/2019 | vs. |
1 - 3 | L | Go to Match Centre |
| 21/09/2019 | vs. |
3 - 0 | W | Go to Match Centre |
| 18/09/2019 | vs. |
3 - 0 | W | Go to Match Centre |
- All Time
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15Competitions Played
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6Titles
- Competition
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7Matches Played
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6Matches Won
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86%Win %
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19Sets Won
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593Points Won
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53%Attack %
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48%Reception %
Team
- Birth Date: 1995
- Birth Place: Samarskii Region
- Height: 201 cm
- Birth Date: 1988
- Birth Place: Makeevka
- Height: 218 cm
- Birth Date: 1995
- Birth Place: Chelyabinsk
- Height: 196 cm
- Birth Date: 1995
- Birth Place: Tiumen region
- Height: 176 cm
- Birth Date: 1988
- Birth Place: Kuzmolovsky
- Height: 202 cm
- Birth Date: 1995
- Birth Place: Kobrin
- Height: 207 cm
- Birth Date: 1994
- Birth Place: Altayskiy kray
- Height: 208 cm
Recent Results
Gallery
Disclaimer
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Russia first quarter-finalists in Ljubljana
The combined total number of points scored by both teams throughout the entire match.
The total length of the match, from the first serve through until the last point has ended.
Total number of people in attendance at the venue – taken at the end of the second set.
The combined total number of successful spikes achieved by both teams throughout the entire match.
An average of the two team service reception percentages from the complete match.
The number of successful point winning blocks of RUSSIA compared to GREECE.
RUSSIA number of service aces compared to GREECE
Errors leading to points of RUSSIA, next to those from GREECE
Tuomas Sammelvuo"I am happy that we have finished the game this quickly. Our attack was a lot higher than opponents’ defensive blocking throughout the game so I am happy for our stability during the game - we have improved that during the tournament. Now we wait for our opponent and focus on Monday."
head coach (RUS)
Igor Kobzar"It's very good that we won 3-0. We saved our energy for the next round. We will see who will be our opponent and we have to prepare really well. It will be e though game in the quarter-final and we have to focus and play really strong. "
team captain (RUS)
Menelaos Kokkinakis"We knew before the match that Russia is one of the greatest and biggest teams. They've won many gold medals. We tried at least to be happy that we are here, to play against this team. They were really respectful towards us, we tried our best to enjoy the match but unfortunately we lost. Good luck for hem in the future."
libero (GRE)
Athanas Protopsaltis"For sure Russia is a contender for medals, they are a very strong team. They got on the court very seriously and that showed that they deserve all our respect. It was a really nice game for us, and a big joy to be here after 10 years. It's amazing to be in Slovenia, people here love sports so it was a really good experience for us."
outside-spiker (GRE)
