Due to the current situation in Ukraine, many refugees are now trying to get established in their new environments. The sports federations and clubs can contribute to their situation and also benefit with new players and leaders. Volleyball has always been a global arena of friendship and cooperation. The rules for players’ transfers to their current country is simplified, in order to allow them and the clubs an easy and open process. The process is the same as in 2015, when millions of refugees arrived from Syria and Afghanistan. The rules for transfer exeptions can be downloaded here.

A good example from 2015-16 was when Lidingö SK could make comeback in the national series, with a team that in the beginning consisted of afghanian players only. It included some work, especially communication with authorities and the local government. But it gave so much more back, a context for the boys and great attention and support.

Lidingö Volley awarded for integration work

Volleyball Ireland is a good example on how a national volleyball federation really can make a difference. They have have made a number of strategic decisions to get the best outcome:

• The indefinite waiving of player, coach and referee license fees for Ukrainian refugees to participate and officiate in the sport, including both Volleyball and Beach Volleyball competition.
• Ukrainian refugees will be exempt from the National League registration deadline of March 17 and can register and play in league games after this point.
• Volleyball Ireland will cover the cost of associated club registration and participation fees for Ukrainian refugees.
• Volleyball Ireland will provide any required training wear and other Volleyball equipment to support Ukrainian refugees participate in Volleyball club programmes.

“We pride ourselves on our cultural diversity, inclusion and sense of community within Irish Volleyball, and I know our clubs will be a welcoming, supportive and kind environment during such a traumatic time”, comments General Manager Gary Stewart. Read more on CEV’s homepage about Volleyball Ireland.

Photo: CEV, Lidingö Tidning.

The beautiful city of Östersund, which lies at the very centre of Sweden and close to famous ski resorts such as Åre and Duved, is slowly but surely becoming the country’s Snow Volleyball hotspot. It did host the very first edition of the national championships in 2019 – and the local Volleyball club, together with the city, have shown much interest in developing the sport. After a break in 2021 due to the pandemic, the city returned to host a Snow Volleyball festival this past weekend, and the Swedish Championships will be taking place this coming Saturday, February 19.

Östersund Winter Park is situated by and on Lake Storsjön. It is the perfect environment for the annual Snow Volley Festival. Organized by Östersund Volleyball Club, four courts were set up together with a hot dog barbeque. The day started with heavy snow, luckily enough not to windy. During the day the sun came out and provided for perfect playing conditions so it was full activity on all courts until dawn.

Matches were played with selected teams but also mixed teams with experienced players and a number of persons introduced to the sport. The players and spectators added energy with hot dogs from the grill and soft drinks. The Snow Volley Festival was a great success and will for sure be back!

On Saturday, the Swedish Championships will be played in central Östersund. Pool matches start in the morning, with six Men’s and four Women’s teams. Finals are played at 14:00 and 15:00.

In 2022, Sweden will be the only Championships organizer within NEVZA. The pandemic and the resulting constraints still represent a major challenge for organisers and promoters alike. In coming years, we hope that the “snow countries” of NEVZA will both stage their Championships but also one or more zonal events. The sport develops and four European Tour stops are announced. Kahramanmaraş (TUR) and Truskavets (UKR) in February, Kayseri-Erciyes (TUR) and Wagrain (AUT) in March are hosting the events. The February tournaments are now closed for registrations, but we hope that NEVZA teams will challenge the European top teams in the March tournaments.

CEV referee commission organised an international referee course in Caorle, Italy, on December 12- 20. Twentysix new referees from 23 countries participated, four of them came from NEVZA countries.

Picture from left: Niklas Kjaer Thomsen, Helena Persson, SWEDEN, Thomas André Transeth, NOR, and Marko Oravainen, FIN.

Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden each have a new international referee candidate, after their participation in the EIRCC in Caorle close to Venezia in Italy. Niklas Kjaer Thomsen, Marko Oravainen, Thomas André Transeth, and Helena Persson, are the names of the new generation young referees within NEVZA. After passing their theoretical and practical examinations on site in Caorle, the 26 referees involved in this year’s EIRCC now have three years to achieve the full status of international referees. We wish them all luck in their important contribution to the development of volleyball.

For more information, see the CEV homepage.

Denmark will organize the first round of the 2022 CEV Youth Volleyball European Championships. The first round is organized by the Zonal Associations, and the NEVZA countries participating are the host Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland and Norway. Girls U17 will gather in Køge and boys U18 in Årre i Varde for matches 17th-19th of December.

All matches from both boys and girls will be streamed on Volleyball Denmark YouTube.

Girls’ tournament
1st Round (Zonal) – Girls in Køge, Denmark 17th-19th of December 2021

Day 1 17th of December
13:00 Faroe Islands – Finland
15:00 Iceland – Norway
18:00 Finland – Denmark
20:00 Norway – Faroe Islands
Day 2 18th of December
10:00 Denmark – Iceland
12:00 Norway – Finland
16:00 Faroe Islands – Denmark
18:00 Finland – Iceland
Day 3 19th of December
10:00 Denmark – Norway
12:00 Iceland – Faroe Islands
17:00 FINAL Rank 1 – Rank 2

Name of Hall: Spar Nord Arena Address: Ved Stadion 2B, 4600 Køge

Follow the girls tournament on Facebook.
For further information, see CEV tournament page.

Boys’ Tournament
1st Round (Zonal) – Boys in Årre i Varde, Nordenskov, Denmark 17th–19th of December 2021

Day 1 17th of December
10:00 Iceland – Finland
12:00 Norway – Faroe Islands
16:00 Finland – Denmark
18:00 Faroe Islands – Iceland
Day 2 18th of December
10:00 Denmark – Norway
12:00 Faroe Islands – Finland
16:00 Iceland – Denmark
18:00 Finland – Norway
Day 3 19th of December
10:00 Denmark – Faroe Islands
12:00 Norway – Iceland
17:00 FINAL Rank 1 – Rank 2

Name of Hall: Hellehallen Address: Vrenderupvej 40C, 6818 Årre

Follow the boys tournament on Facebook.
For further information, see CEV tournament page.

All eight NEVZA nations were supposed to come to the 2021 NEVZA U19 Championship in Rovaniemi, Finland. Unfortunately, some teams had to withdraw due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But the participating teams made it to Rovaniemi in north Finland and showed that they had made their homework and showed impressing skills.

England has been forced to cancel participation in all NEVZA tournaments this autumn as Covid-19 is still locking the country. Greenland was supposed to come, but has a similar situation. In the last minute, the Norwegian girls team also had to withdraw as one of their players got Covid-19 and the medical protocol does not allow participation. Luckily enough for the boys’ team and tournament, they had not been in contact with the girls team.

Rovaniemi, a medium-sized city in Lappland, in the far north of Finland, is mostly known for being the hometown of Santa Claus. It also has a reputation of being a sports’ centre. The Santasport Olympic center is the hub with volleyball clubs Wovo Rovaniemi womens’ and Lakkapää mens’ volleyball clubs.

On October 28^th, girls and boys from Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden gathered for the three-day 2021 NEVZA U19 Championships. The matches were played in two arenas, Santasport Olympic training center and Keltakangas Sports hall. With the short notice withdrawal of the Norwegian team, the schedule needed to be remade on the technical meeting.

With five teams, the the girls played in one pool where the first and second team were directly qualified for the final. The bronze match was played with the third team and the winner in the match between fourth and fifth teams. Sweden won a really tight five set game against Denmark and thus made it to the final. In the quarter final, Iceland got a revenge for the loss against Faroe Islands in the pool play. 3-1 and bronze match against Denmark. While fighting for the stands, Iceland didn’t get back to the standard in the previous matches. Denmark was determined to win the medals and did so, 3-0 and only losing 42 points. In the final, Sweden met pool winner host team of Finland.The first set went all the way to a 32-30 win for Finland. After that Sweden lost the good energy and Finland could win the two following sets easily with 25-13, 25-12.

The boys played in two pools, with three teams in each. In pool A, Finland won both matches against Iceland and Sweden with 3-0 rather comfortable and where directly qualified for the semifinal. Sweden made a good start game versus Iceland and took the second place. In pool B, Faroe Island started against Denmark. They lost the first set with big figures, but challenged in the second and third. The scenario was repeated in the second match against Norway. In the pool final, Denmark made an impressive game and won 3-0. Sweden won rather easily in the match against Faroe Island but and played well against Denmark in the semifinal. But Denmark was stronger and won the important last balls, thus advancing to the final. On the other half, Norway won a tough five-setter against Iceland and then challenged the hosts Finland with a similar match profile. Both matches ended 15-11 in the fifth set. Bronze match Norway – Sweden, final Finland – Denmark. Norway started the bronze match best but after the first won set, Sweden played better and better and winning the fourth set and the match 25-11. In the final, Denmark won the two first sets rather easy but was then hit by the classical third-set-syndrome. Finland came back with a 25-14 win taking the match to four sets. They almost made it to a fifth, but Denmark managed to close the set with a tight 26-24 win.

Games were streamed on YouTube and via lapinkangas.fi.

Medal matches and ranking, for all pole and qualification results see below.
Girls
Gold medal match: Finland– Sweden 3 – 0 (32-30, 25-13, 25-12)
Bronze medal match: Denmark – Iceland 3 – 0 (25-9, 25-18, 25-15)

Ranking

1. Finland
2. Sweden
3. Denmark
4. Iceland
5. Faroe Islands

Boys
Gold medal match Denmark – Finland 3 – 1 (25-15, 25-13, 14-25, 26-24)
Bronze medal match Sweden – Norway 3 – 1 (20-25, 25-20, 25-21, 25-11)
5th/6th boys Iceland ​- Faroe Islands 3 – 1 (20-25, 26-24, 25-17, 25-17)

Ranking

1. Denmark
2. Finland
3. Sweden
4. Norway
5. Iceland
6. Faroe Islands

A great thanks to the Finish Volleyball Federation for an excellent organisation. All participants look forward to come back next year, together with the teams that still couldn’t make it this year.

For further information and more pictures, visit the Facebook page.

Pool results

Girls
Iceland – Finland 0 – 3 (25-27, 21-25, 16-25)
Finland – Denmark ​3 – 0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-21)
Sweden – Iceland 3 – 1 (23-25, 25-23, 28-26, 25-22)
Denmark – Faroe Islands 3 – 1 (25-11, 15-25, 25-13, 25-10)
Faroe Islands – Sweden 0 – 3 ( 19-25, 12-25, 11-25)
Faroe Islands – Finland 0 – 3 (24-26, 9-25, 19-25)
Finland – Sweden 3 – 0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-16)
Sweden – Denmark 3 – 2 (25-20, 25-22, 18-25, 22-25, 16-14)
Denmark – Iceland 3 – 0 (25-17, 25-20, 25-19)
Iceland – Faroe Islands 1 – 3 (25-17, 23-25, 18-25, 22-25)

Quarterfinal Girls
​Faroe Islands – Iceland 1 – 3 (25-20, 22-25, 19-25, 21-25)

Boys Pool A
Iceland – Sweden 0 – 3 (20-25, 21-25, 15-25)
Finland – Iceland 3 – 0 (25-11, 25-19, 25-14)
Sweden – Finland 0 – 3 (14-25, 16-25, 16-25)

Boys Pool B
Denmark – Faroe Islands 3 – 0 (25-12, 25-21, 25-23)
Faroe Islands – Norway 0 – 3 (13-25, 20-25, 23-25)
Denmark – Norway 3 – 0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-17)

Quarterfinals Boys
Sweden – Faroe Islands 3 – 0 (25-21, 25-11, 25-18)
Norway – Iceland 3 – 2 (25-13, 25-19, 17-25, 23-25, 15-11)

Semifinals Boys ​
Finland – Norway 3 – 2 (19-25, 25-22, 24-26, 25-21, 15-11)
Denmark – Sweden 3 – 0 (25-22, 27-25, 25-19)