The day before the start of the Men's European Volleyball Championship in Sofia, "Arena 8888 Sofia" will be taken over by the youngest competitors. On September 5th, at 9:00 AM, a Mini European Championship for children born in 2015 and younger will be held in the training hall of the complex.
Six Bulgarian clubs will take on the role of the six national teams from the EuroVolley group in Sofia. This way, the young volleyball players will have the opportunity to defend the colors of Bulgaria, Poland, Portugal, Ukraine, Israel, and North Macedonia.
In Group A, VC "Slavia" will be Bulgaria, VC "Etropole" will represent Portugal, and VC "Lyulin" will play as Poland.
In Group B, VC "Levski Sofia" will be in the role of Ukraine, VC "VASK" will represent Israel, and the children from CSKA will defend the colors of North Macedonia.
The group stage matches will be in a best-of-three-sets format, with each set played to 15 points. The official mini-volleyball ball for Bulgaria will be used.
The first match is at 9:00 AM and symbolically pits Bulgaria against Poland. This will be followed by Ukraine – North Macedonia, Portugal – Bulgaria, Israel – Ukraine, Poland – Portugal, and North Macedonia – Israel.
After the six group stage matches, the tournament will continue with eliminations. A total of 11 matches will be played within the Mini European Championship.
The initiative will give children the opportunity to experience part of the atmosphere of the big championship even before the first whistle of EuroVolley. They will not just be playing in another children's tournament, but will wear the names and colors of the national teams that will play in Sofia.
In this way, the start of the European forum will also be connected with the future of Bulgarian volleyball – the children who are taking their first steps in the game will have their own small EuroVolley in the hall, which will be one of the centers of the continental championship.