Portugal returns to EuroBeachVolley after 20 years with Pedrosa and Campos eager to play best teams in the world

The upcoming CEV EuroBeachVolley 2024 will feature a team from Portugal for the first time since 2004. Even though this country has a rich tradition in the sport especially courtesy of pioneers Miguel Maia and Joao Brenha who finished in fourth place at the Olympics in 1996 and 2000, a duo from Portugal has not competed at EuroBeachVolley for 20 years. João Nuno Pedrosa and Hugo Campos will achieve this feat in the Netherlands. 

Born in Espinho, a city that literally lives and breathes Volleyball and Beach Volleyball, João Nuno Pedrosa is the son of José Pedrosa (aka Pedrinha), a former star of Sporting Clube de Espinho, a club that has claimed several national league titles indoors, and brother of Ricardo Pedrosa, a member of the U18 men’s national team and a bronze medallist from the WEVZA U19 Beach Volleyball International Tournament. 

In addition to fish being a gastronomic speciality on the idyllic Costa Verde, Espinho has been a true breeding ground for Volleyball and especially Beach Volleyball players. Pedrosa and Campos have produced notable results, crowning themselves FISU World University champions, secured victory from the Beach Pro Tour Challenge held in the summer of 2023 in Edmonton (Canada), and earlier this year they helped Portugal finish third at the Nations Cup Final contested in Jurmala, Latvia. 

At the upcoming continental championship, Pedrosa and Campos will play their group matches in Pool E, together with home heroes Stefan Boermans/Yorick de Groot (the Dutchmen were EuroBeachVolley silver medallists in 2021 and just finished fifth at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games), reigning world champions Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner of Czechia (EuroBeachVolley silver medal winners in 2022) and Lithuania’s Patrikas Stankevicius/Audrius Knasas. 

“We were a bit unlucky with the draw. The Czechs are world champions, the Dutch have been achieving good results, and they just finished fifth at the Olympic Games, and we also have a very strong Lithuanian team, which we have already played twice without ever winning. It is indeed a very strong and tough group, but we are prepared to face our opponents. That is exactly why we are in the European Championship, to face the best teams, and that only gives us extra motivation. We will fight until the last point to win every set of every game,” the Portuguese players said. 

Could the opening game against the Lithuanians be crucial in their attempts to qualify for the elimination phase? “In theory, the Lithuanians seem like the most accessible opponents, but we know perfectly well that at this level that we have reached, everyone can beat everyone, and everyone can lose to everyone, it is all very balanced. Obviously, the match against Lithuania, being the first, is very important, but we believe that we can compete on equal terms with the other teams too. If we can do this in all the games, anything can happen. We will go into the match against Lithuania to win, but that will be our approach to the other matches too,” they continued. 

Portugal returns to the final phase of the European Championship twenty years after Nélson Brízida and José Pedrosa claimed a very respectable ninth place. “It will be very difficult to equal their result. The level of the European Championship is the highest in the world, and the best teams in the world are from Europe. We know perfectly well that reaching the ninth place will be very difficult. However, such challenge gives us even more motivation. Knowing that we can play and beat the best teams in the world makes us give our best on the court. If we can play at our best level, we can return to Portugal with good results,” they concluded. 

Sandra Deveza will represent Portugal at the upcoming EuroBeachVolley as well – albeit as a member of the pool of international referees due to officiate at the continental championship.