Six arenas, TV viewers in more than 160 countries, and fans from 33 countries to the Final Four Weekend in Parken Stadium in Copenhagen. Russia took home the gold medal with a 3-1 win over Italy when VELUX EuroVolley 2013 took the execution of a European Volleyball Championship to the next level.
The last ball has hit the floor in the 2013 CEV VELUX Volleyball European Championship – final round Men. After ten days with world class volleyball in Gdansk and Gdynia in Poland and Odense, Herning, Aarhus, and Copenhagen in Denmark – a proud organizer looks back on the championship:
“I am thrilled that we succeeded with all the new ideas we had and all the efforts we have made have become reality. I am very happy with the way this championship has been executed. I believe that we have taken the European Volleyball to the next level. We have had fans from around the world traveling to Copenhagen and creating some fantastic settings for the Final Four Weekend. Even though Denmark is not a big volleyball nation, we have shown that we can host great sport events and create something special. Parken as a volleyball arena with 7.000 fans has been even crazier and more impressive that we ever had dreamed about. It is a dream coming true for us,” says Mads Bang Aaen, local managing director.
Fans from 33 countries, e.g. Canada, Australia, and Japan, had traveled to Copenhagen to be part of the historic Final Four Weekend in Parken football stadium that extraordinarily had been transformed into a volleyball arena in only 36 hours. Semi finals, bronze medal match and final were broadcasted to more than 160 countries, and the Danish winner of the European Song Contest, Emmelie de Forest, sang at the closing ceremony.
”We did it! The CEV Volleyball European Championship was a great success in Denmark. The Danish team played surprisingly well and proceeded to the play offs. There was good support from many enthusiastic spectators for the preliminary pools in Odense and Herning and for the semi finals in Aarhus. The finals in Copenhagen were one of the great event experiences: Lots of atmosphere, top matches played and TV coverage to over 160 countries that once again put Denmark on the world map. Danish Volleyball Federation together with the host cities and Sport Event Denmark managed a large and very complex task extremely well,” says Lars Lundov, CEO, Sport Event Denmark that partners the event.
Russia won gold, Italy won silver, and Serbia won bronze at VELUX EuroVolley 2013.
Facts about the 2013 CEV VELUX Volleyball European Championship – Men
• Denmark and Poland co-host the championship. Both countries have two preliminary pools with four nations in each. Semi-finals and the final are played in Denmark.
• It is the first time that both nations host a European Championship.
• The European Volleyball Championship takes place from the 20th of September to the 29th of September 2013.
• The arenas in Denmark are: Odense (Stadium Arena Fyn), Herning (Jyske Bank Boxen), Aarhus (NRGi Arena) and Copenhagen (Parken).
• The arenas in Poland are: Gdansk (Ergo Arena) and Gdynia (Sports Hall).
• VELUX is title sponsor of the 2013 CEV VELUX Volleyball European Championship – Men.
• The Danish partners for the 2013 CEV VELUX Volleyball European Championship are: Sport Event Denmark, Odense, Herning, Aarhus and Copenhagen.
• Serbia is defending European Champions.
• Russia is ruling Olympic Champions.
• Qualified countries: Denmark and Poland are qualified as host nations. Serbia, Italy, Russia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Belarus, Netherlands, Finland, Germany, France, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Belgium and Turkey.
• Web: www.eurovolley2013.dk
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/eurovolley2013
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/eurovolley2013 #EuroVolley2013
• YouTube: www.youtube.com/eurovolleyball2013
• Buy tickets here: https://volleyball.www2.dk/