EFVL Meeting in Brussels 18-20 March 2016

Meeting report of the 3rd EFVL Meeting in Brussel 2016

First and foremost we like to thank everyone involved in this successful and truly historical meeting. A record of 10 european footvolley nations came together at our table in Brussels and even more importantly everyone made it home safe. For three days we shared information, projects and discussed the future of Footvolley.

Attending were Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom. Unable to join the meeting for various reasons were: Switzerland, France, Sweden and Bulgaria. They have expressed their interest to be present at the next meeting in October 2016. Many cases were presented, discussed and then voted on. Amongst others we decided that:

Each member nation will have an EFVL Ambassador whose mission it is to develop and promote footvolley all over Europe. He or she will serve as the prime point of contact for their nation and will have a deciding vote at the table of The League. You can find the 10 EFVL Ambassadors in the members section of our website. Plus we have great expectations to add new members in the following weeks.

Besides more organizational matters, we also drafted the EFVL Charter: our ethical agreement and code of conduct. We strive to create an open and transparent footvolley community. This to ensure to have a League that is based on honesty, trust and loyalty with a special focus on the protection of the players. All agreed to uphold ethical values like saying no to any discrimination, to corruption, to doping, to gambling and so on.

Furthermore we talked about EFVL media, branding, financing and sponsorship. We discussed how to the current budget will be used. For example: The League will finance an exhibition of Ladies Footvolley at the European Championship in Germany 2016. In addition we decided that the net height for ladies will be at 210 cm.

A great deal of our attention went to the organization of the European Championship in Schwäbisch Gmünd. Technical details, the rules, the schedule, the number of teams and delegates, the group draw and the possibility of having qualification rounds were agreed upon. We leave it up to the local organizer to send the invitations and all relevant information.

For 2017 we also talked about possible candidates and locations for the European Ranking tournaments. These negotiations still continue and will be announced in due time. The League decided that the Footvolley season in 2017 will exceptionally start at January 1st of 2017 instead of April 1st. This in order to start the season 2017 with an indoor European Ranking tournament.

And finally we shared our thoughts about many Footvolley development projects. Our prime mission remains to make footvolley more known and widely available to young and old, male and female. Amongst the projects that were presented the League will investigate the possibility of lowering the net down to 215 cm. Players and organizers in all member nations will be questioned and practical tests will be conducted before we will take a vote.

The next EFVL meeting will take place in October 2016.

Video Footvolley tournament Groningen 2016

Here you can see a video of the indoor tournament of Footvolley Groningen 2016. It's a video compilation of the group games on day 1. Participating nations were: France, Spain, Germany, United Kingdom, Belgium, Austria, Israel, Portugal, Switzerland and the Netherlands. More information on the final results of the tournament can be found here.

International tournament Groningen: Final results

On January 8-10 the largest indoor International Footvolley Tournament took place at the indoor beach Binn’npret Groningen in the Netherlands. International teams from France, Spain, Germany, United Kingdom, Belgium, Austria, Israel, Portugal, Switzerland and the Netherlands were keen to compete in this event. We would like to congratulate the organizers Dirk-Jan Postma, Stephan Kamminga and Erik Drenth with a job well done. High-level events such as these are the best publicity for the fantastic sport that is footvolley.

Here are the final results of the tournament in Groningen:

Men:
1. Spain 1: Carlos Delgado / Dani Martinez
2. Netherlands 1: Martijn ten Duis / Bart Zantman
3. Germany 1: Antonio Gonzalez / Mo Obeid & Netherlands 2: Marcel Birza / Erik Drenth

© www.keijzerfotografie.nl

Women:
1. Netherlands 1: Jorike Olde Loohuis / Nynke Karrenbeld
2. Netherlands 2: Evelyn Dobbinga / Nicoline Birza
3. Sweden 1: Elin Astrid Gustafsson / Iona van der Linden

© www.keijzerfotografie.nl

Mix:
1. Mo Obeid / Jorike Olde Loohuis
2. Pablo Carcelén / Nynke Karrenbeld
3. Nicoline Birza / Klemens Hofmann-Wellenhof

© www.keijzerfotografie.nl

More video and photos coming soon.

Press release: Title sponsor for European Footvolley Championship

1st European Footvolley Championship takes place in Schwäbisch Gmünd (Germany), 2-5 June 2016. 

Having staged two successful Sparkassen Footvolley Cups in 2014 and 2015, the German Footvolley Association together with the city of Schwäbisch Gmünd applied to host the European Footvolley Championship in 2016. This application was submitted at the 2nd European Footvolley League meeting in October 2015 in Albufeira (Portugal).

The amazing support of city hall, the great location in the center of the city and the overwhelming enthusiasm of the audience were the main reasons why the European Footvolley League decided to host the 1st European Footvolley Championship in Schwäbisch Gmünd (Germany).

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Furthermore the German Association submitted a positive financial plan. Two more reasons for choosing the city of Schwäbisch Gmünd were the high quality of the infrastructure and the warm hospitality for the footvolley players.

Sparkasse becomes the Title Sponsor of the European Footvolley Championship. 

Sparkasse was already the Title Sponsor of the Footvolley Cup 2015 in Schwäbisch Gmünd. On the 22nd of December Holger Kreuttner, the press officer of Kreissparkasse Ostalb, announced the possibility of another Title Sponsorship if the official European Footvolley Championship (EFC) would take place in Schwäbisch Gmünd in 2016.Therefore, the 1st EFC will be called: 

SPARKASSEN EUROPEAN FOOTVOLLEY CHAMPIONSHIP 2016

January 15th 2016 - Germany – Schwäbisch Gmünd

Photo: Jens Schamberger

Download press release in PDF (414 kb)

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Norwegian footvolley player Emil Auriel makes footvolley song

Back in 2014 the norwegian footvolley player Emil Auriel made a footvolley song to show how much he loves to play footvolley. 

He then decided to go to Rio de Janeiro to shoot a music video with many great footvolley athletes and the best player in the world - Anderson Águia! In the video you can see some of the best footvolley footage ever made. 

Here you can see the result. 

The video has already been played over 100 000 times and it is growing every day. 

About Emil

Full name: Emil Auriel Lindstrøm
Position: Left
Played since: 2009

Visit his Facebook page

International Footvolley Tournament 2016 in Groningen

The Netherlands are starting of the new year with an international tournament in Groningen. It will take place from the 8th to the 10th of january.

The event is open to men and women teams.

If you have a chance please visit the tournament and have a look - free entrance of course. 

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EFVL Championship in the news

The first official European Footvolley Championship of 2016 is already announced in the German newspapers. The title says: "Not in Rome nor in Amsterdam, but in Gmünd" referring to the German city Schwäbisch Gmünd where the first edition will take place from the 2nd until the 5th of June 2016.

The article is an interview with organizer Sascha Kühne. He explains the difficult road up to here and how much more work there is to be done i.e. sponsoring, marketing, media and other organizational challenges.

You can also read about in the local newspaper Rems-Zeitung.