EuroVolleyW 2023: Germany ready to rock the European stage

A young and vibrant team of Germany under the guidance of charismatic coach Vital Heynen is gearing up for their home campaign at EuroVolleyW in Dusseldorf. After reaching the final stage of the VNL for the first time ever, they aim to rock on the European stage and return to the continental podium!

Germany, the host of Pool C, is among EuroVolley regulars, competing at every edition since reunification and winning in this period of time two silver and two bronze medals. In 2021, their campaign already finished in the eight-finals, but they will definitely spare no effort to reach the final stage this year. The last time they co-hosted the European Championships was back in 2013. It was also the last time they finished on the podium, winning silver medals. Here we are 10 years later… Will they be capable of repeating this feat? Since 2022 the team is led by Vital Heynen, who previously coached a star-studded men’s team of Poland, winning with them several medals, including the world championship title. A maverick coach with many trophies in his cabinet decided to switch to women’s volleyball, looking for new challenges with Germany’s national team and it seems that he is on a good way.

Although last year his team finished 14th at the World Championships, they are now ranked 11th in the FIVB World Ranking after reaching the VNL Finals for the very first time this summer. In the quarterfinal they lost 1-3 to Poland, but delivered a good performance overall, winning 7 out of 12 games in the preliminary phase. Eventually finishing 8th, they showed the big potential of this young and powerful squad. Libero Anna Pogany is one of the oldest players in Heynen’s lineup, at the age of only 29, once most of her teammates are a few years younger. Interesting fact is that their best scorer in the VNL campaign was Camilla Weitzel… 23-year-old middle blocker (6th best blocker in VNL 2023) who stepped up to the mark taking on the burden of German attack, strongly supported by wingers Lina Alsmeier (23 year-old), Lena Stigrot (28) and Hanna Orthman (24) who are key players in the German squad. 

It’s worth emphasizing that – so far – this summer Germany played without the opposite player, but in the opinion of many experts, they nailed it perfectly, keeping a high quality of their attack. It’s been a big merit of brilliant setter Pia Kästner, who balanced the game very well. They are young and fearless. In week 3 of the VNL preliminary phase, Leana Grózer made her international senior debut at this year's edition of the VNL at only 16 years old. Soon we will find out if the daughter of German superstar György Grózer is going to debut at senior EuroVolley, too.

At the 2023 VNL Germany won the Volleyball fans' hearts already during the teams' presentation (click HERE to see it!). We hope they will continue their cheerful one-of-the-kind show at EuroVolley, spreading positive energy all around the world. But who knows, maybe they will level it up, making their performance even more spectacular for the home crowd!

PS. Germany's third match in this year's Pool C (vs Sweden) will be their 100th match at the EuroVolley since reunification.