Eight-finals in Bari to start with Italy against North Macedonia and the Netherlands against Germany

Four teams will earn the status of EuroVolley 2023 - Men quarterfinalist on Saturday night, joining France and Romania at this stage of competition, as the knockout stage will start also on the Adriatic coast in Bari. Two co-hosts of this year's edition, Italy and North Macedonia, will lock the horns in the first eighth-final match-up held at Palaflorio Bari. Later that night, the Netherlands will take on Germany, battling to stay in the quest for the European crown. The last two eighth-finals are scheduled on Sunday.

Italy and North Macedonia will face each other for the first time at the EuroVolley. The reigning European and world champions, Italy, are naturally the EuroVolley 2023 top contenders, aiming for their eighth title. The team around coach Ferdinando de Giorgi enjoyed the flying start of the competition, sparking the crowds in Bologna, Perugia and Ancona. The defending champions won all five games, dropping two sets in their last pool match against Germany. The star-studded line-up is highlighted not only by the excellent Simone Gianneli or the powerful Alessandro Michieletto. Italy's leading points scorer is - so far - Yuri Romano, who tallied in the pool stage 67 points, once Roberto Russo has recorded 15 kill blocks - second-most behind only Israel's Genadi Sokolov (16). It's worth adding that Italy are on a 14-match winning run at the European Championships, since losing 0-3 to France in the 2019 quarter-finals. 

North Macedonia completed the pool stage in 4th place. Victories against Denmark and Montenegro were extremely precious for the team around Joshko Milenkoski as, for the first time in history, the team made it to the knockout stage. However, it's worth emphasising that they achieved it in their third EuroVolley appearance. North Macedonia captain and leader, Nikola Gjorgiev, scored in the pool phase as many as 65 points and will definitely do his best to hammer an insane number of points in the clash against Italy. The game is scheduled at 18:00 CEST.

Later on Saturday evening, the fans gathered at Palaflorio Bari and in front of TV all around the world will have an opportunity to enjoy one of the European classics - the game between the Netherlands and Germany. The two teams are not strangers to each other, as they have previously met on several occasions, including five games at the European Championships since reunification - four of them were won by the Netherlands. The most recent EuroVolley encounter between these nations at the European Championships was in 2019, when Germany won 3-1 in Apeldoorn in the finals. However, the Netherlands and Germany faced each other already this summer in the Volleyball Nations League and then the Netherlands won 3-0 in Ottawa. So we definitely should expect a tight battle.

The Netherlands, under the guidance of coach Roberto Piazza, completed the pool phase in Skopje in second place with four wins, losing only to the FIVB World Ranking leaders - Poland. However, they managed to win a set against the Poles. The Oranje hope to finish their medal drought that lasted since 1997 when they won gold on home soil. In the two most recent editions of EuroVolley (2019, 2021) they reached the quarter-finals, but couldn't make it to the last four. Nimir Abdel-Aziz is The Netherlands' leading points scorer in this tournament with 85 points. He was also the topscorer of EuroVolley 2021 (173), and now can count on the strong support of other spikers, Bennie Tuinstra and Fabian Plak.

Although Germany finished 3rd in Pool A, they were the only team who managed to win a set - or even two - against Italy. In the last match of the pool stage, Germany, with their brilliant game and unstoppable Moritz Karlitzek played a thrilling five-set battle against Germany, proving that they are capable of putting in danger even the most demanding opponents. Since the reunification, Germany have reached the top eight in 11 of their 14 European Championships participations with a second place in 2017 as their best result. In the last two editions, they made it to quarterfinals. György Grozer is Germany's leading points scorer in this tournament with 81 points. He already surpassed his tally of 74 at the 2021 European Championships, when he was Germany's leading scorer. The eighth-final game between the Netherlands and Germany will start at 21:00 CEST.