Serbia Volleyball in Tampere: Estonia First, Then Finland
George Cretu's Orlovi open the European Championship on Friday against Estonia, in Group C with Finland, the Netherlands, Denmark and Belgium, all played in Tampere.
The European Championship for men’s volleyball officially got underway in Tampere today, Wednesday, September 9, and with it came the full schedule for Group C, where Serbia is competing. Head coach George Krecu announced a 14 man squad ahead of the opening whistle, and the Orlovi already have their first official match of the tournament on Friday evening.
Serbia landed in Group C alongside Estonia, Finland, the Netherlands, Denmark and Belgium, and the entire five round group stage is being played at a single venue, the Nokia Arena in Tampere. Twenty four national teams are taking part in the European Championship overall, split into four groups, with the competition running through September 26.
When does Serbia play its first match at the European Championship?
The group stage schedule is now complete, and the Orlovi face five matches in seven days:
- September 11 at 7 p.m., Serbia vs Estonia
- September 13 at 5 p.m., Serbia vs host nation Finland
- September 14 at 4 p.m., Serbia vs the Netherlands
- September 16 at 4 p.m., Serbia vs Denmark
- September 17 at 4 p.m., Serbia vs Belgium
The opening rival is Estonia, already on Friday evening, and the very next round brings the first real test, since Serbia takes on host nation Finland on Sunday, in front of its own crowd in Tampere.
The road ahead, and where the sources disagree
The top four teams from each group advance to the round of 16, meaning 16 of the 24 national teams will progress. Mondo also reports that the Group C teams will cross paths in the round of 16 with rivals from Group A, where Italy, Slovenia, Czechia, Greece, Sweden and Slovakia are competing.
The sources do not fully agree on where the knockout stage will be played. Kurir writes that the round of 16 and the quarterfinals move to Turin and Sofia, while the semifinals and medal matches are scheduled for September 25 and 26 in Milan. Mondo, on the other hand, only states that the tournament moves to Italy after the group stage, without naming host cities or giving an exact date for the final. Both sources agree that the group stage is being held in Finland, and that Finland is not hosting the final.
The incentive to advance goes beyond a medal, too, since the European champion from this edition earns a direct ticket to the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
George Krecu’s squad for Tampere
The head coach brought 14 players to Tampere, broken down by position:
- Opposites: Nikola Jovovic and Aleksa Batak
- Setters: Drazen Luburic and Veljko Masulovic
- Liberos: Vukasin Ristic and Stefan Negic
- Middle blockers: Aleksandar Nedeljkovic, Nemanja Masulovic, Aleksandar Stefanovic and Stefan Kokeza
- Outside hitters: Marko Ivovic, Miran Kujundzic, Pavle Peric and Lazar Marinovic
The previous European Championship was held in 2023, with the final in Rome, and the title went to Poland, led by Wilfredo Leon, who was named the tournament’s most valuable player. Italy finished second, Slovenia third, and Serbia was stopped in the quarterfinal, by that same champion Poland, closing out the tournament in sixth place. Krecu is now looking to improve on that finish, and the first sign of whether this squad is ready for more will come in the opening two rounds, against Estonia and Finland.
The men’s team also heads into the tournament with some extra momentum from back home, since Serbia’s women only days earlier claimed bronze at their own European Championship, beating Poland 3-1 in Istanbul.
Realistically, there is no team in Group C that Serbia would write off in advance, but no name is guaranteed to push it out of the top four either. The first real test comes Friday at 7 p.m., against Estonia, with a far tougher exam waiting on Sunday, when host nation Finland is up next.
