News - Page 5 of 158

U18 Women Balkan Championship 2026 set to begin in Tirana

by Admin 18/06/2026

written by Admin

U18 Women Balkan Volleyball Championship 2026 will take place in Tirana, Albania, from 21 to 23 June.

Four of the region’s most promising national teams – Albania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Türkiye – will compete for the Balkan title in a three-day round-robin tournament at the Farka Volley Hall in Tirana, in organization of Volleyball Federation Albania.

The championship represents an important stage in the development of young female volleyball players across the Balkans, providing valuable international competition and an opportunity to showcase the future stars of European volleyball.

Participating Teams

Albania
Bulgaria
Serbia
Türkiye

Competition Format

The tournament will be played in a single round-robin format, with each team facing every other team once. The team with the best overall record at the end of the competition will be crowned the U18 Women’s BVA Champion for 2026.

Match Schedule

Day 1 – Sunday, 21 June 2026

16:30 – Bulgaria vs Serbia
19:00 – Albania vs Türkiye

Day 2 – Monday, 22 June 2026

16:30 – Bulgaria vs Türkiye
19:00 – Serbia vs Albania

Day 3 – Tuesday, 23 June 2026

16:30 – Albania vs Bulgaria
19:00 – Türkiye vs Serbia

All matches and official training sessions will be held at Farka Volley Hall in Tirana, Albania.

The competition is open to female athletes born on 1 January 2009 or later, in accordance with BVA regulations.

18/06/2026 0 comments

Balkan Stars in the making secure spot to compete at U18 European Championships

by Admin 31/03/2026

written by Admin

The second-round qualifiers for this year’s #EuroVolleyU18M and #EuroVolleyU18W were completed on Sunday, thereby defining the list of teams progressing to the Final Round of these age-group continental championships scheduled for later this summer in Italy and Latvia / Lithuania, respectively.

In the U18 men’s competition, all five pool winners advanced to the Final Round – Germany, Romania, Czechia, the Netherlands, and France. With the only exception of Czechia, all these teams completed a clean sweep of the matches they contested in their respective pools. Germany and Romania made the home-court advantage count as they were just flawless in Frankfurt and Ploiesti. Germany and France were the most dominant teams across the spectrum as they took maximum nine points from their three matches in Pool A and E. Moreover, the four second-ranked teams with the best results across the five pools punched a ticket to the Final Round as well. Türkiye, Serbia, and Belgium all claimed two wins and six ranking points. The last available ticket goes to Greece – runners-up in Pool B, who – tied in wins and ranking points – edged Croatia courtesy of a better set points ratio (1.200 vs 1.1667).

These nine teams will convene in early July in Porto San Giorgio and Cisterna di Latina where they are due to join hosts Italy, plus the winners of the 1st round zonal qualifiers – Bulgaria (BVA), Finland (NEVZA), Iceland (SCA), Poland (EEVZA), Slovenia (MEVZA), and Spain (WEVZA). The continental championship in Italy will run from July 7 to 18, 2026.

Over to the #EuroVolleyU18W 2nd round qualifiers, the five pool winners – Bulgaria, Belgium, The Netherlands, Czechia, and France – all claimed three wins and maximum nine points in a real show of strength. Bulgaria and Czechia provided something to cheer about to their home fans in Sofia and Kutna Hora. With two countries – Latvia and Lithuania – sharing the right to host the Final Round, ‘only’ the three runners-up with the best result did progress to the next stage of the competition. With two wins and six ranking points each, Greece, Spain, and Germany eventually secured a ticket to the Final Round. There they will join the host countries’ teams plus the winners of the 1st Round zonal qualifiers – namely Finland (NEVZA), Hungary (MEVZA), Iceland (SCA), Italy (WEVZA), Poland (EEVZA), and Türkiye (BVA). The event in Riga (Latvia) and Šiauliai (Lithuania) will run from July 1 to 12.

The Drawing of Lots to allocate the 16 participating teams in each gender to the respective pools whereby the Final Round will get underway is scheduled for April 8, 2026. Detailed results will be published shortly after its completion.

31/03/2026 0 comments

Main North Macedonia

Cup sensation: Vardar EM, “hat-trick” Cup for Shtip UGD

by Admin 30/03/2026

written by Admin

The volleyball players of Vardar EM and Shtip UGD are the cup winners in the women’s and men’s competitions at the 33rd edition of the OFM 2026 Cup, held at the “Jane Sandanski” Sports Center in Skopje.

What a fairy-tale cup run for Vardar EM! The debutants defeated the defending champions, Nakovski Volley, in the final with a score of 3:0 (25:22, 25:12, 25:22). The “red-black” girls were an absolute sensation, not only in the final but throughout the entire competition, winning their first historic trophy.

Coach Jovan Shape’s team showed consistency from the very start. In the round of 16, they defeated Fit Fan Volley, then eliminated one of the favorites, Rabotnicki Skopje, and in the semifinals, they eliminated Gazeli Volley—all with a 3:0 score. Neither the defending champions, nor one of the most serious contenders for the league title, Nakovski Volley, managed to stand in their way.

Vardar EM captain Ana Janičić was named the most valuable player of the OFM 2026 Cup in the women’s competition.

The volleyball players of Shtip UGD defended their title and won their third cup in a row after defeating GOK Borec 3:1 (25:17, 22:25, 32:30, 25:13) in the final.

The opponents played an excellent match, full of beautiful points, emotion, and tactical play. However, the Shtip team showed greater consistency and, led by MVP Stojan Iliev, along with the excellent support of Zadmard, Junior, Arsov, Miraschiev, and Stojanov, achieved a “hat-trick” in the cup competition.

30/03/2026 0 comments

Main Serbia

Commemoration held at “Rajko Mitić” Stadium, Aleksandar Boričić laid to rest at Central Cemetery in Belgrade

by Admin 07/03/2026

written by Admin

A commemorative gathering in honor of Aleksandar Boričić, former volleyball player, coach, president of the National federation of Serbia and of the European Volleyball Confederation, was held today at the Media Center of FK Crvena zvezda at the Rajko Mitić Stadium.

In the presence of family members, friends and colleagues, several generations of former and current volleyball players, as well as many admirers, memories of Boričić were shared by Dragan Kilibarda, president of the Managing Board of OK Crvena zvezda; Fabio Azevedo, president of the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball; Roko Sikirić, president of the European Volleyball Confederation; Đula Mešter, president of the Volleyball Federation of Serbia; Vladimir Grbić, legendary volleyball player and member of the Volleyball Hall of Fame; Nemanja Petrić, former national team captain; Torsten Endres, former CEV Executive Director; and Zoran Avramović, Secretary General of SD Crvena zvezda and one of Boričić’s closest associates.

Among those in attendance were Steve Tutton and Giuseppina Rigamonti from the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball, Vuk Karanović, Executive Director of the European Volleyball Confederation, representatives of the volleyball federations of North Macedonia, Poland, Croatia, Albania, Bulgaria and Montenegro; Ivan Knežević, Secretary General of the Volleyball Federation of Serbia and First Vice-president of the European Volleyball Confederation; Zoran Gajić, Minister of Sport of the Republic of Serbia; Dejan Bojović, Acting Assistant Minister for Sport; Snežana Samardžić Marković, former Minister of Youth and Sport; Dejan Tomašević, president of the Olympic Committee of Serbia; Damir Štajner, Secretary General of the Olympic Committee of Serbia; Božidar Maljković, former president of the Olympic Committee of Serbia; Nenad Lalović, president of United World Wrestling and member of the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee; Dragan Džajić, president of the Football Association of Serbia; Branko Radujko, Secretary General of the Football Association of Serbia; Božidar Đurković, president of the Handball Federation of Serbia; Viktor Jelenić, president of the Water Polo Federation of Serbia; Zvezdan Terzić, president of SD Crvena zvezda; and Svetozar Mijailović, president of FK Crvena zvezda, along with former football, basketball and volleyball players of Crvena zvezda, representatives of volleyball regions and clubs, and many former associates.

The commemoration concluded with a long and heartfelt round of applause for Aleksandar Boričić, as a token of gratitude for everything he did for volleyball, his family, friends and colleagues.

Aleksandar Boričić laid to rest at Central Cemetery in Belgrade

Aleksandar Boričić, former volleyball player, coach, national team head coach, long-time president of the Volleyball Federation of Yugoslavia, the Volleyball Federation of Serbia and Montenegro, and the Volleyball Federation of Serbia, former president of the European Volleyball Confederation, second vice-president of the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball, and honorary president of the Volleyball Federation of Serbia, was laid to rest today at the Central Cemetery in Belgrade.

In the presence of a large number of admirers, the unique, irreplaceable and legendary “Bora” was escorted to his final resting place by family members, friends, colleagues and those he loved the most – volleyball players.