Men's European Volleyball Championship


The Men's European Volleyball Championship is the official competition for senior men's national volleyball teams of Europe, organized by the European Volleyball Confederation. The initial gap between championships was variable, but since 1975 they have been awarded every two years. The current champion is Serbia, which won its second title at the 2019 tournament held in four countries: Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Slovenia.

History

The first tournament was held in 1948 with participation of six national teams. Being only participant from Eastern Europe, Czechoslovakia captured gold. The teams from Eastern Europe dominated at the tournament for next four decades. The next two editions held in 1950 and 1951 were won by the Soviet Union. However, in late 1950s Czechoslovakia managed to return at first positions. They captured European gold in 1955 and repeated this success at next edition in 1958. In 1963, twice runner-up Romania won its maiden European title at the home tournament.
The victory in 1967 marked the beginning of the 20-year era of dominance of the Soviet Union. From 1967 to 1987, Soviet team didn't lose any tournament by winning 9 European titles in a row. The names of leading Soviet players of these times such as Vyacheslav Zaytsev, Aleksandr Savin, Vladimir Kondra, Viljar Loor, Yuriy Panchenko and Vladimir Chernyshyov are known to volleyball enthusiasts all over the world. From 1977 to 1985, Soviet team was coached by Vyacheslav Platonov who led national team to five European titles in a row as well as to two World Championship titles, two World Cup titles and Olympic gold in 1980. The main European rival of Soviet team at these times, Poland was runner-up for the five times in a row.
Soviet domination was ceased in 1989 when Italy under leadership of Argentinian coach Julio Velasco unprecedentally won their first ever official tournament. Soviet team surprisingly failed to even reach podium after losing to Sweden in semifinals and to Netherlands in a bronze-medal match. However, in 1991, in their last participation at the competition, Soviet Union won European title for the 12th time after 3–0 victories over a Netherlands in semifinals and Italy in the final match. Vyacheslav Platonov won European title as head coach for the record sixth time.
Following the Soviet Union's dissolution in December 1991, Italy led by such players as Andrea Gardini, Andrea Giani, Paolo Tofoli and Lorenzo Bernardi became indisputably the best team not only in Europe but also in the world. They won three World Championships in a row and also dominated at European Championships by winning five of the next seven tournaments. However, ironically they never managed to win Olympic gold. Netherlands who became Olympic Champion in 1996 also managed to win their maiden European title at the home tournament next year. FR Yugoslavia who won Olympic gold in 2000 also became European Champion for the first time at the next-year tournament.
After victory in 2005, the period of Italy's dominance came to end, and more national teams were managed to win their maiden European title. The next tournament was surprisingly won by Spain who managed to beat home favorites – Russia – in a closest 5th-set tie-breaker. In 2009, Poland became European Champion for the first time. The next tournament was won by Serbia for the first time since dissolution of the Serbia and Montenegro. In 2013, Russia finally managed to win their first European title since the Soviet Union's dissolution. The next edition was successful for France who also won their maiden European gold.
The 2017 European Championship took place in Poland. It was won by Russia who defeated Germany in a 5th-set tie-breaker. The 2019 European Championship was co-hosted by Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Slovenia in 2019. Serbia won this tournament after 3–1 victory over Slovenia in the final match in Paris. The co-host countries of 2021 edition will be Poland, Czech Republic, Estonia and Finland.
The 31 European Championship tournaments have been won by nine different nations. Russia have won fourteen times. The other European Championship winners are Italy, with six titles; Czech Republic as and Serbia with three titles; and France, Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Spain, with one title each.
The current format of the competition involves a qualification phase, which currently takes place over the preceding two years, to determine which teams qualify for the tournament phase, which is often called the European Championship Finals. 24 teams, including the automatically qualifying host nation, compete in the tournament phase for the title at venues within the host nation over a period of about two weeks.

Results summary

Total hosts

Medals summary

Participating nations

Team
2007

2009


2011


2013


2015

2017




2019
Total
•••••••3
••16th•••23rd8
•••15th16th•22nd3
10th•13th7th10th4th9th16
8th3rd6th4th4th6th11th29
14th•••15th••3
•16th10th16th13th7th13th12
•••12th•••4
•14th12th•11th13th24th5
4th12th8th8th12th12th14th18
9th2nd7th5th1st9th4th29
5th6th15th6th8th2nd8th13
13th8th••••16th15
•••••••11
•••••••3
6th10th2nd2nd3rd5th6th30
•••••••1
••••••18th1
7th7th•10th9th14th10th26
••••••17th1
11th1st3rd9th5th10th3rd26
••14th•••20th5
••••••21st17
2nd4th4th1st6th1st5th14
•••••••1
3rd5th1st3rd7th3rd1st7
16th15th9th13th2nd8th2nd8
12th11th5th11th14th15th19th10
1st9th•••16th15th10
•••••••7
•••••••1
15th13th11th14th•11th12th10
••••••7th5

MVP by edition

Boldface denotes active volleyball players and highest medal count among all players per type.

Multiple gold medalists

RankPlayerCountryFromToGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1Aleksandr Savin197519856––6
1Vyacheslav Zaytsev197519856––6
3Vladimir Kondra197119815––5
3Viljar Loor197519835––5
3Yuriy Panchenko197919875––5
6Andrea Gardini198919994116
6Andrea Giani199120034116
8Paolo Tofoli1989199941–5
9Marco Bracci198919994––4
9Vladimir Chernyshyov197519814––4
9Vladimir Dorokhov197519814––4
9Oleg Moliboga197719834––4
9Pāvels Seļivanovs197519834––4
9Vladimir Shkurikhin198119874––4

Multiple medalists

The table shows those who have won at least 6 medals in total at the European Championships.
RankPlayerCountryFromToGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1Aleksandr Savin197519856––6
1Vyacheslav Zaytsev197519856––6
3Andrea Gardini198919994116
3Andrea Giani199120034116
5Slobodan Boškan

199520071146
5Andrija Gerić

199520071146
5Nikola Grbić

199520071146