26-MARCH-2013
GUIMARÃES, 2013 WORLD LEAGUE CAPITAL CITY
 

Guimarães, 2013 European City of Sports, will be National Team headquarters during the 2013 World League Intercontinental Round.

Guimarães Multiusos Hall will host the matches against Japan (June 29-30) and Korea (July 6-7) for the 2013 World League Pool C, and it will be Portugal’s training ground.

Portugal National Team, coached by Flavio Gulinelli, starts the 24th World League edition by playing away against Finland (May 31 – June 1), Canada (June 7-8) and The Netherlands (June 22-23) followed by the home matches against Japan and Korea. [Calender]

Therefore, the elite volleyball returns to Guimarães which has hosted WL matches in previous years: 2002, 2005 and 2012 with the participation of Poland, Japan, Germany, Bulgaria and Argentina.

2013 World League’s edition will present a new format: The Intercontinental round will be played by 18 National Teams divided in 3 pools with 6 teams each.

Pool A: Brazil, Poland, USA, Bulgaria, Argentina and France;
Pool B: Russia, Italy, Cuba, Serbia, Germany and Iran;
Pool C: Canada, South Korea, Finland, The Netherlands, Japan and Portugal

Pools A and B were determined by using the “coil system” based on the World Ranking (August 13 update), while Pool C will be formed by the 4 better ranked teams, (after the 12 teams on Pools A and B) and by two FIVB chosen nations, yet to be announced.

The Final Round will be held in Mar del Plata, Argentina, from July 18-21 played by 8 teams: Host country, the 3 better ranked teams from Pools A and B and the 1st ranked team of Pool C.

Portuguese referees
at Brazil and Bulgaria

Avelino Azevedo and Hélio Ormonde will referee Pool A matches. Azevedo will be the designated referee in the match Brazil x United States (Julu 13-14) at Rio de Janeiro, while Ormonde will be present in the match between Bulgaria and Argentina (June 22-23) at Sofia.

More info: www.fivb.org