NEWS
Video of the European Footvolley Championship 2016
Video report of the European Footvolley Championship 2016 in Germany. Musical score by Emil Auriel - Futevôlei Na Veia.
France wins first European Footvolley Championship
The European Footvolley League would like to congratulate France with the win in the first European Footvolley Championship in Schwäbisch Gmünd 2016. Dume Susini and Anghjulu Maria Plasenzotti beat Nelson Pereira and Miguel Pinheiro of Portugal in a very exciting and well played final.
The European Footvolley League would like to congratulate France with the win in the first European Footvolley Championship in Schwäbisch Gmünd 2016. Dume Susini and Anghjulu Maria Plasenzotti beat Nelson Pereira and Miguel Pinheiro of Portugal in a very exciting and well played final.
France beat Portugal 1 18:15 and 18:12 in the final and showed us solid defense and outstanding attacking. Portugal 1 kept within reach for a long time, but France proved stronger and came out with the win.
The battle for the 3rd place was won by Spain. Sergio Antolinos & Juan Antonio Lopez managed to beat Pedro Salvador & Tiago Melo of Portugal 2.
This means the top 3 of European Footvolley Champions looks as follows:
1. France
2. Portugal
3. Spain
Winners Dume Susini and Anghjulu Maria Plasenzotti
This was truly a historical 1st edition of the European Footvolley Championship. Everyone involved is a winner. All teams showed their skills, commitment and love for the sport. The organization was perfect and we are eternally grateful to the city of Schwäbisch Gmünd. Over 100 school kids played footvolley. The ladies exhibition was very tense and high level. And last but not least, the more than 2000 enthusiastic supporters from all over Europe were sublime. This was a giant step for our beloved sport. United we play footvolley!
All pictures are taken by JF-PhotoStyle. See more pictures at his Facebook-page.
Live video and commentary
The tournament was broadcasted with live video stream on our Youtube channel and you can see all the action there. We also had live commentaries from Nick Dugdale-Moore.
Here are some quick links:
- The stream for sunday (finals)
- The stream for saturday (knock out stages)
- The final between France and Portugal 1
- The semi final 1 between France and Portugal 2
- The semi final 2 between Spain and Portugal 1
Our amazing sponsors helped us make this happen
Results from the tournament
The groups
Group A: Germany 1, Austria, Belgium and Switzerland 2
Group B: Italy, Spain, United Kingdom and Germany 3
Group C: Netherlands, Switzerland, Norway and Portugal 2
Group D: Portugal, France, Germany 2 and Netherlands 2
Schedule and results from friday
10:00 1 Austria - Switzerland 2 18:14
10:30 2 Spain - United Kingdom 18:5
11:00 3 Germany - Belgium 18:12
11:30 4 Italy - United Kingdom 18:8
12:00 5 Belgium - Switzerland 2 7:18
12:30 6 United Kingdom - Germany 3 7:18
13:00 7 Germany - Austria 9:18
13:30 8 Italy - Spain 14:18
14:00 OFFICIAL OPENING
14:30 9 Austria - Belgium 18:6
15:00 10 Spain - Germany 3 18:10
15:30 11 France - Netherlands 2 18:12
16:00 12 Switzerland - Portugal 2 9:18
16:30 13 Portugal - Germany 2 18:7
17:00 14 Netherlands - Norway 18:7
17:30 15 Germany 2 - Netherlands 2 11:18
18:00 16 Norway - Portugal 2 9:18
18:30 17 Portugal - France 18:13
19:00 18 Netherlands - Switzerland 18:14
Schedule and results from saturday
10:00 19 France - Germany 2 18:10
10:30 20 Switzerland - Norway 18:7
11:00 21 Germany - Switzerland 2 19:17
11:30 22 Italy - Germany 3 21:19
12:00 23 Portugal - Netherlands 2 18:11
12:30 24 Netherlands - Portugal 2 14:18
Schedule and results from the knock out stage saturday
13:30 25 France - Switzerland 18:16 18:14
14:15 26 Italy - Switzerland 2 18:5 18:11
15:00 27 Netherlands 1 - Netherlands 2 15:18 18:13 15:11
15:45 28 Germany 1 - Germany 3 14:18 13:18
Schedule and results from quarter finals saturday
17:00 29 Austria - (W25) France 7:18 10:18
17:45 30 Portugal 2 - (W26) Italy 18:13 20:18
18:30 31 Spain - (W27) Netherlands 1 18:16 18:12
19:15 32 Portugal 1 - (W28) Germany 3 18:12 18:10
Schedule and results from semi finals and finals sunday
10:00 33 France - Portugal 2 9:18 18:14 15:5
10:45 34 Spain - Portugal 1 18:12 15:18 11:15
11:30 - Netherlands girls - Italy girls (Italy wins)
13:25 35 Portugal 2 - Spain 13:18 (Spain wins bronze medal)
14:00 36 France - Portugal 1 18:15 18:12 (France wins gold medal)
Participants of the EFC 2016
Main teams
- Austria: Benedikt & Klemens Hofmann-Wellenhof
- Belgium: Jochen Van Gestel & Ruben Veestraeten
- Croatia: Team withdrawn
- France: Dume Susini & Anghjulu Maria Plasenzotti
- Germany 1: Jakob Domke & Joel Nißlein.
- Germany 2: Ray Wenning & Dennis Bessel
- Italy: Marco Graziani & Marco Santopre
- Netherlands: Antonio Aurino & Jesse van Oord
- Norway: Kristoffer Førde Aarskog & Tom Johannes Bang
- Portugal: Nelson Pereira & Miguel Pinheiro
- Spain: Sergio Antolinos & Juan Antonio Lopez
- Switzerland: Alberto Quintas & Cristiano Goes
- United Kingdom: David Donkin & Gary Titley
Qualification teams
- Switzerland: Nils Fehr & Benedikt Zwyssig
- Austria: Sascha Wegscheider & Jakob Hofmann-Wellenhof
- Germany 3: Mo Obeid & Daniel Wehr
- Portugal: Pedro Salvador & Tiago Melo
- Netherlands: Martijn ten duis & Bart Zantman
Follow the action from the European Footvolley Championship in Schwäbisch Gmünd
If you want to follow the action from the 1st ever European Footvolley Championship, which is taking place this weekend in Schwäbisch Gmünd, you can do this by following us here:
If you want to follow the action from the 1st ever European Footvolley Championship, which is taking place this weekend in Schwäbisch Gmünd, you can do this by following us here:
Please follow us, like and comment!
You can also see all the scores in our live blog on Facebook.
Ladies in footvolley
All over the world female athletes are playing footvolley. If you think they play to get more guys as followers on their Instagram, think twice. These ladies are highly motivated to improve their skills and compete in international tournaments.
Footvolley is physically, technically and tactically a challenging sport because it combines elements from football and beach volleyball. But do not make the mistake of calling it an all-male sport. All over the world female athletes are playing footvolley.
If you think they play to get more guys as followers on their Instagram, think twice. These ladies are highly motivated to improve their skills and compete in international tournaments. Currently in Europe there are female players in the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Sweden and Austria. We asked them a few questions:
HOW DID YOU GET STARTED AND WHY DO YOU LOVE FOOTVOLLEY?
Nynke Karrenbeld attended a footvolley tournament in Italy 6 years ago and was impressed with this tough and spectacular sport. She played a few balls in between games and was immediately sold. That same summer she joined a new group of men who started in Groningen in the Netherlands and has been playing ever since. Six months later Jorike Olde Loohuis who still played first division football at the time joined as well. They became the first female footvolley team in the Netherlands.
Nynke Karrenbeld in Groningen 2016
Nicoline Birza comes from a footvolley family as both her brothers and sister in law Evelyn Dobbinga play. In July 2014 she watched her brother Marcel participate in a footvolley clinic and got to play a few balls. She has been playing and improving ever since. Nicoline loves footvolley for the same reasons she loves beachvolley. Only 2 players to a team without substitutes gives you a lot of contacts with the ball and also the mental aspect is crucial. She is addicted to the technical and tactical skills required to play.
Nicoline Birza in Groningen 2016
In Austria the sisters Klara and Martina Zeiner got involved thanks to Klemens Hofmann-Wellenhof and his brothers. Both are into footvolley because of the fun and the challenge on the sand. Or as Klara puts it:
“Footvolley is a great way for women to show they have a good feel for the ball and hand to eye control, without a personal history of playing football or volleyball like my sister and me.” (Klara Zeiner)
Martina adds that apart from playing even watching footvolley games is fun because of all the action and long rally’s.
In Sweden the most famous footvolley and football player (next to Zlatan) is Elin Astrid. She participated in a footvolley clinic at the Gothia Cup, the biggest football youth tournament in Gothenburg and she fell in love head over heels. Elin found that by playing this amazing sport she improved her football skills. Even with an injury or sensitive ligaments she was still able to play and speed up her revalidation:
"The sand is pretty much harmless to my bad knee and it's good to know I will always have footvolley when I'm old and can't play football anymore. It was a salvation for me during my slow rehabilitation of my injury." (Elin Astrid)
Iona van der Linden & Elin Astrid in Groningen 2016
In the international tournament in Groningen 2016 Elin teamed up with the Dutch player Iona van der Linden. As a kid she used to play football with her brothers and now she plays a lot of volleyball. She really appreciates footvolley because you get to use different body parts to play the ball. Not using her arms was a challenge at first but now the situation has turned. From time to time she even rescues a lost ball with her feet while playing volleyball. She likes playing with her bare feet in the sand and she enjoys the good atmosphere at tournaments.
From left to right: Nicoline Birza, Evelyn Dobbinga, Nynke Karrenbeld, Jorike Olde Loohuis, Elin Astrid & Iona van der Linden
IS FOOTVOLLEY A SPORT FOR WOMEN AND WHAT WILL THE FUTURE BRING?
Female footvolley is growing according to Nynke Karrenbeld. Last year in Graz there were 6 teams from 4 different countries. The same upward trend you can also notice at the tournament in Groningen. She really believes the sport is suited for ladies because of the intensive rally game but the technical aspect takes a lot of time to master and that might hold back some women. Also it would really help if you learn the skills in your childhood.
"We have a lot of dedicated ladies from Italy, Germany, Sweden, Austria and the Netherlands playing. But it’s crucial that we meet each other more often in tournaments to get more attention and to grow the sport. I expect the number of female players to double in 3 years’ time.” (Nynke Karrenbeld)
Personally she would love to play a tournament in Brazil together with her partner Jorike.
“There I saw with my own eyes that footvolley really is a sport for ladies. I also love the fact that age is not a real issue and look forward to play until I’m 60.” (Nynke Karrenbeld)
Nynke Karrenbeld
Nicoline Birza believes the sport is growing rapidly. According to her it’s up to women to get more enthusiasts into footvolley because there is no reason it cannot be a female sport.
“Not being able to play chest balls is not an argument; we can do the same with our shoulders.” (Nicoline Birza)
As for the future Nicoline and her partner Evelyn aim to be the best female team in the Netherlands. Furthermore they would love to play in Rio and take on the Brazilian female teams preferably together with their competitors and best friends Nynke and Jorike.
Martina and Klara Zeiner both recognize there is still a long road ahead. Not many women play and it is not easy to motivate girls for it. But they really hope that it becomes more popular. Personally they are dedicated to improve their skills like receiving the service and mastering the shark attack along with other dangerous attacks.
“Since it is very gentle to the body I think it's a good sport for many people, not only women. And its age range is wide which makes it a unique sport, a lot of different ages can play with and against each other. And it's possible to play both men and women in the same team.” (Elin Astrid)
She tries to inspire both women and men to play in Sweden. On a personal level she always pushes her hardest to improve all required skills.
Iona van der Linden is convinced that footvolley like football most certainly is a sport for women.
“Men might have more strength but us ladies can compensate a chest ball with a nice shoulder ball. But of course we can still learn a lot from the guys.” (Iona van der Linden)
In the future she hopes to see the sport grow and attract more female athletes. Personally she would love to train more and find a steady partner to participate in tournaments.
CONCLUSION
Age and gender play no role when it comes to footvolley. Everyone involved is or becomes an addict and wants to see the sport grow. The EFVL is dedicated to support footvolley to be accessible to all. Therefore we added several exhibition games for ladies in the timetable of the European Footvolley Championship in Germany (2-5 June): Nynke Karrenbeld & Jorike Olde Loohuis from the Netherlands will play against Martina Bizarri & Clarissa Di Tonno from Italy. Best of luck ladies!
Martina Bizarri & Clarissa Di Tonno (Italy)
Update about Footvolley in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio
On April 4th 2016 rumours began about footvolley being included as a demo sport in the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. These rumours have of course provoked a lot of excitement and talk in the footvolley community.
On Monday April 4th the global footvolley community worldwide received exciting news.
The Brazilian Senator and great ambassador for our beloved sport, Romario Faria, posted a message stating:
“We will have Footvolley during the Olympics and Paralympics this year. But please remain calm. It will be more of a cultural event and not an official competition. Nevertheless it will be an excellent opportunity to present Footvolley to the world.”
The photo shows seven men standing side by side. At the center, profile Romario and Nuzman.
Romario and several Brazilian Footvolley representatives had a meeting with the president of the Brazilian Olympic Committee, Carlos Arthur Nuzman. They received confirmation that a Footvolley event will take place from 25-28 August. In the spirit of the Olympics there will be games for men, women and under 20.
The Olympic Games will be held 5-21 August 2016 and the Paralympics will be held 7-18 September. That means that the tournament will be held in the period between the Olympics and the Paralympics in the main Beach Volleyball arena. More meetings will follow to determine all the details.
The role of EFVL
The news was released on April 4th and we already have EFVL ambassadors present in Rio to meet with the various stakeholders and offer support as necessary. The first impression is that everybody has a lot of questions. In fact, the people involved are swamped with questions from all over the world. Therefore we would like to ask everybody to be patient.
A question everybody is asking is which teams will play in this tournament? This, of course, has not yet been decided but the EFVL will elaborate on this matter as soon as we know more.
We are all thrilled to see that things are happening and it will help promote the sport we ♥. The visibility of such an event would be a blessing to our sport. But first and foremost we need to build the foundations in each country, get organized and unite as one footvolley community. The EFVL will continue this work regardless of the results of this matter.
More on this topic coming soon...
EFVL Meeting in Brussels 18-20 March 2016
This is the report of the 3rd EFVL meeting of March 18-20 2016 in Brussels. It contains a summary of everything we spoke about and decided upon for the future of footvolley in Europe.
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
Video compilation of the indoor tournament of Footvolley Groningen on Jan 8-10, 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
Here are the final results of the largest indoor International Footvolley Tournament in Groningen in the Netherlands.
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.
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).
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)
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.
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