#EuroBeachVolley 2024 Previews: Men’s Pools A-D

The best European beach volleyball teams have just arrived from Paris, where they worked hard to give the continent medals at the 2024 Olympics, but they will also have something big to play for the week after the Games.

With the 2024 CEV EuroBeachVolley heading to the Netherlands from August 13-18, it will be a quick turnaround for the top teams in the continent, who will be ready to fight for continental glory in front of the Dutch fans.

The tournament will begin with eight pools of four teams each and, after the completion of pool play, three duos in each group will move forward – the pool winners advance directly to the Round of 16 while the second and third-placed tandems move to the Round of 24.

As the competition approaches, let’s take a look at the eight pools in each gender, starting with Pools A, B, C and D for the men’s tournament.

Pool A

Teams: Calvin Aye/Rémi Bassereauy (France), Sergiy Popov/Eduard Reznik (Ukraine), Leon Luini/Christiaan Varenhorst (the Netherlands) and Mathias Seiser/Laurenc Grössig (Austria)

With the withdrawal of back-to-back defending champions and recently-crowned Olympic champions David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden, this pool is now completely open.

Popov and Reznik were the sensations of the last EuroBeachVolley, making it to the semifinals and giving Ukraine their first medal in the tournament and now appear as the most likely team to finish first. The two haven’t played much after last year’s event, but definitely have what it takes to challenge the top teams in the continent.

The two remaining spots in the elimination rounds should be contested by Luini/Varenhorst and Seiser/Grössig. The Dutch have the most experience among the three teams and have in Luini a silver medalist from last year, but the Austrians have had good results at Beach Pro Tour Futures events and could cause an upset if they’re on a good day, while the French are a team temporary team that will try to make the most of their individual skills and athleticism to progress.

Pool B 

Teams: Tobia Marchetto/Jakob Windisch (Italy), Pablo Herrera/Adrián Gavira (Spain), Javier Bello/Joaquin Bello (England) and Florian Schnetzer/Moritz Kindl (Austria)

A last-minute change also impacted the scenario in this pool as four-time EuroBeachVolley winners Anders Mol and Christian Sørum of Norway pulled out after taking bronze at the Paris Olympics.

Herrera and Gavira, who also competed in Paris, are one of the most experienced and competitive teams in the world and know what it takes to make a solid campaign at the EuroBeachVolley, which puts them in a solid spot to take control of the pool now.

In the fight for the second and third spots in the next round, the Bello twins have the edge over Schnetzer/Kindl and Marchetto/Windisch based on the strong results they had in the last two years, most notably their fifth-place finish at last year’s EuroBeachVolley.

EuroBeachVolley - Men's Match Schedule

Pool C

Teams: Nils Ehlers/Clemens Wickler (Germany), Hendrik Mol/Mathias Berntsen (Norway), Tomas Semerad/Jan Dumek (Czechia) and Ruben Penninga/Thijmen Heemskerk (the Netherlands)

The top German team in quite a few years, Ehlers and Wickler should be even stronger after winning their first Olympic medal in Paris and are well-positioned to advance in first place and claim the Round of 16 spot in Pool C.

Mol and Berntsen appear as strong candidates to take second place in the pool. The Norwegians have been stronger recently and have several years of experience together, making of them a solid duo.

Semerad and Dumek have more experience in the fight for the third spot in the elimination rounds, but playing as the underdogs and in front of their home fans could give Penninga and Heemskerk some extra energy.

Teams: Matthew Immers/Steven van de Velde (the Netherlands), Gianluca Dal Corso/Marco Viscovich (Italy), Piotr Kantor/Jakub Zdybek (Poland) and Paul Henning/Maximilian Just (Germany)

Fresh from their first Olympic appearance, where they finished ninth, and having performed extremely well in the final months of the qualification period, Immers and van de Velde start the tournament one tier above their three pool opponents and should have no trouble making it to the next round.

Below them, however, anything is possible as the three teams display similar levels at the moment. Dal Corso and Viscovich are the highest-seeded among the three, but are yet to produce a strong result in a major tournament.

Kantor and Zdybek became partners last year and have had ups and downs since then, but are a strong duo, with the potential to make a deep run in the event. Henning and Just will play their first tournament together in the Netherlands, but have had nice results with other partners and the lack of information about them as a team could work in their favor.