Norway’s Mol & Sørum compete at 2026 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship in Stare Jabłonki, Poland; record-extending sixth European title
Volleyball Empowerment teams eye men’s title in CEV Beach Volleyball Championship – FIVB
The 2026 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship (EuroBeachVolley) will take place in Stare Jabłonki, Poland from 12 to 16 August. It will be the first time Poland will be hosting the senior European Championship.
25 out of the 32 participating men’s teams are supported by the FIVB Volleyball Empowerment Programme. Volleyball Empowerment-supported pairs from Austria, Czechia, England, France, Germany, Israel, Latvia, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland and Sweden will line up in Stare Jabłonki where at stake will be the continental title and a slot to the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028.
Out of the 25 empowered duos, Austria, Germany, Czechia, France, Germany and Switzerland have three pairs each while Norway, Latvia and Sweden have all contributed two teams. The Netherlands, England, Israel and Portugal will be represented by one pair each.
Norges Volleyballforbund, the Norwegian national federation, has so far been allocated a total of USD 126,000 in FIVB Volleyball Empowerment coach support for their national beach volleyball teams, with Jetmund Bernsten in charge of the men’s duos. In addition, a USD 6,000 for a national team coach development knowledge transfer program was granted.
Defending champions Anders Mol & Christian Sørum from Norway lead a star-studded Volleyball Empowerment men’s field. They are in Pool C with Poland’s Aleksander Czachorowski & Jakub Krzemiński, France’s Elouan Chouikh-Barbez & Joadel Genevieve-Gardoque and Tadeáš Trousil & David Schweiner from Czechia.
Mol, A.& Sørum, C. will be gunning for a record-extending sixth European title in Stare Jabłonki having shown rich form this season after winning the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite stop in Saquarema and settling for silver in Hamburg.
Their title defence will however come under serious threat from the reigning Olympic and World champions David Åhman & Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden. The Swedish jump setters, who boast two European titles, are in Pool B alongside three other Volleyball Empowerment pairs namely João Pedrosa & Hugo Campos of Portugal, Eylon Elazar & Kevin Cuzmiciov of Israel and Julian Friedli & Jonathan Jordan of Switzerland.
The Swedish Volleyball Association has received USD 90,000 in FIVB Volleyball Empowerment funding to support the national team programme, including coach development and knowledge transfer.
Another Swedish pair, top seeds Hölting Nilsson Jacob & Andersson Elmer, currently sit top of the FIVB World Rankings and are medal prospects after their remarkable run to the final of the 2025 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in Adelaide. They will be making their senior debut in a European competition and are in Pool A with Austria’s Alexander Horst & Christoph Dressler, Germany’s Nils Ehlers & Lui Wüst and Czechia’s Ondrej Perusic & Matyas Dzavoronok.
Latvia’s progress in beach volleyball continues to be driven by both talent and investment. Through the FIVB Volleyball Empowerment Programme, the Volleyball Federation of Latvia (LVF) has been allocated USD 126,000 in Coach Support to enhance the technical and tactical growth of the national teams. Veteran coach Genadijs Samoilovs of Latvia oversees the men’s team.
Ranked second on the FIVB World rankings, the 2024 European champions Mārtiņš Pļaviņš & Kristiāns Fokerots, will carry Latvia’s medal hopes. They are in Pool D together with compatriots Edgars Točs & Gustavs Auziņš, Austria’s Philipp Waller & Moritz Pristauz and Germany’s Paul Henning & Lukas Pfretzschner.
Following their historic bronze medal performance at the 2025 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in Adelaide, France’s Téo Rotar & Arnaud Gauthier-Rat will fancy another deep run in Stare Jabłonki. The French 12th seeds are in Pool E with compatriots Rémi Bassereau & Calvin Aye, Poland’s Szymon Beta & Artem Besarab and Czechia’s Jakub Šépka & Jiří Sedlák.
FFvolley’s beach volleyball department has so far been allocated a total of USD 538,500 in coach support from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment for the senior men’s national team with Brazilian coach Elmer Calvis Lopes in charge.
The 32 participating men’s teams will be split into 8 single round-robin pools of four. The top three teams in each pool will progress straight to the Round Of 24.
The knockout stage continues in a direct elimination format, further including the Round Of 16, the quarterfinals, the semifinals and the two medal matches.
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