Pool C Preview: Co-hosts Germany and Türkiye aim for strong starts

The Burg-Wärchter Castello in Düsseldorf will be the host of Pool C of the CEV EuroVolley 2023 Women and co-hosts Germany will be buoyed by the fact that they secured the last medal, clinching the silver medal in the premium European competition when they last hosted it, in 2013.

Yet Germany will have their work cut out, despite boasting a favourite status in the pool as they are due to face one of the favourites for the title, Türkiye, who will be coming in full of confidence, after securing the title at the recently ended 2023 FIVB Volleyball Women’s Nations League.

Azerbaijan, Czechia, Sweden and Greece will be the other four sides competing in this pool, but all four will likely try to secure the last two qualifying places, as Germany and Türkiye look like strong bets for the top two places.

Germany have been one of the most consistent teams at the CEV EuroVolley Women over the last years, finishing in the top 10 in seven consecutive editions of the competition before ending up on the 11th place in 2021, when they were eliminated by the Netherlands, 1:3, in the Round of 16.

The co-hosts also delivered some good results in the 2023 FIVB Volleyball Women’s Nations League, when they made it to the final round, but lost against Poland in the quarter-finals, 1:3, to end up on the eighth place.

They will surely find a strong challenge from Türkiye, which bolstered their squad with opposite spiker Melissa Vargas, who made her debut for the national team in 2023 and subsequently earned the MVP award at the 2023 FIVB Volleyball Women’s Nations League this summer.

Vargas is likely to be pivotal for Türkiye’s success in the CEV EuroVolley 2023 Women, as the powerhouse aims to extend their streak of consecutive medals won, which started with the bronze in 2017, continued with the silver in 2019 and with the bronze in 2021.

In fact, over the last three editions of the European premium competition, Türkiye lost only six of the 25 games played, underlining their penchant for challenging for the trophy, one which has eluded them in the 16 editions they featured in the competition.

For the last two remaining places for the knockout phase, four teams will battle it out, with only Sweden making the cut in the previous edition, when they made it through to the quarter-finals, their best-ever result at the CEV EuroVolley Women. The Scandinavian side will make back-to-back appearances in the competition for the first time since 1971, therefore their lack of experience might be exploited by the rivals.

While failing to make the cut for the final tournament between 2003 and 2017, Greece are back in the game for the third time in a row, but they need to improve their standard, after securing only four wins in 35 matches in the competition, including two in 2019.

Last time around, Greece ended up on the 22nd place, with five losses in five matches and only two sets won. They will be facing Czechia and Germany once again, having lost in straight sets, 0:3, against both sides at the CEV EuroVolley 2021 Women.

Czechia – including their history of Czechoslovakia – have previously won 98 games in the competition, but two years ago, they recorded their worst-ever finish, the 15th place, after being eliminated by Türkiye. They will definitely be outsiders against them once again and also against Germany, whom they lost against, 1:3, in the pool phase, two years ago too.

Last, but not least, Azerbaijan will face familiar foes in this group, with Türkiye and Germany being the sides they met the most times – five each – at the CEV EuroVolley Women. While they lost all matches against Türkiye, they have won three times against Germany, holding a positive balance, yet they will need serious improvement, as they were one of the three teams which lost all five games in the pool two years ago.