Luca Vettori, Filippo Lanza and Simone Giannelli with Italian National Team Jersey

ph. trentinovolley.it

Trento, August 23rd, 2017

The 2017 Men Volleyball European Championships officially opens tomorrow August 24th in Poland. The event will see sixteen teams taking part, 224 athletes all together, and will come to an end with the final in Cracovia, on September 3rd.
Representing Trentino Volley, six players in four teams: Simone Giannelli, Filippo Lanza and Luca Vettori for Italy, Uros Kovacevic for Serbia, Jan Kozamernik for Slovenia and Renee Teppan for Estonia. All of them have already played in an continental championship but only Kovacevic was able to win the trophy, 2011 in Austria.
In the first round the Azzurri are playing in Szczecin in Pool B, against Czech Republic, Slovakia and Germany, first match Friday night at 8:30 pm. Kovacevic with Serbia will play in the opening match against the home team Poland, Thursday night at 8:30 pm, in the national stadium in Warsaw, in front of 65,000 fans. Also on Thursday, Estonia against Finland in Gdansk and Slovenia-Spain in Krakow. On Friday, Teppan and Kovacevic will face each other in the Estonia- Serbia match of Pool A.
The first three teams of each pool will access the playoffs, which are taking place in Krakow and Katowice; first team qualifying will directly access the quarter finals, while second and third teams will play in the eight finals, challenging second and third teams of other pools.
Semifinals and Finals of the championship are scheduled on September,Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd, in the Tauron Arena in Krakow (where the 2016 Champions League took place).
All the matches of the Italian national team will be broadcasted live on Rai 1, while Rai Sport (channel 57 HD, channel 58 SD) every day will cover the most important matches of the day and the whole Final Four.

FIRST ROUNDS COMPLETE SCHEDULE
POOL A (Gdansk): 24/8 Finland-Estonia (ore 17.30), Poland-Serbia (ore 20.30, a Varsavia – live RAI Sport+); 26/8 Serbia-Estonia (ore 17.30), Poland-Finland (ore 20.30 – live RAI Sport+); 28/8 Finland-Serbia (ore 17.30) e Poland-Estonia (ore 20.30).
POOL B (Szczecin): 25/9 Slovakia-Czech Republic(ore 17.30 – live RAI Sport+), Italy-Germany (ore 20.30 – live RAI 1); 27/8 Italy-Slovakia (ore 17.30 – live RAI 1), Germany-Czech Republic(ore 20.30 – live RAI Sport+); 28/8 Slovakia-Germany (ore 17.30 – live RAI Sport+) e Italy-Czech Republic(ore 20.30 – diretta RAI 1).
POOL C (Cracovia): 24/8 Bulgaria-Russia (ore 17.30 – live RAI Sport+), Slovenia-Spain (ore 20.30); 26/8 Russia-Slovenia (ore 17.30 – live RAI Sport+), Bulgaria-Spain (ore 20.30); 28/8 Slovenia-Bulgaria (ore 17.30) e Spain-Russia (ore 20.30).
POOL D (Katowice): 25/8 Netherlands-Turkey (ore 17.30), Belgium-France (ore 20.30); 27/8 Belgium-Turkey (ore 17.30), France-Netherlands (ore 20.30); 28/8 Netherlands-Belgium (ore 17.30) e Turkey-France (ore 20.30).

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office