21-MAY-2013
2014 WC: PORTUGAL’S LADIES
ON THEIR WAY TO BELGIUM
 

Women’s National Team departs tomorrow to Kortrijk, where it will play for the 2014 European Qualifying Pool C, from May 23-26. [Video footage]

On the first day of the competition, the National Team coached by Fernando Luís and Filipe Lacerda, will face Switzerland, following Belgium (May 24) and Northern Ireland (May 26). [Calendar]

Despite putting the host team as favorite, Belgium coach Vande Broek knows that he can’t underestimate its opponents: “Northern Ireland is making its debut in the international competitions, as Portugal and Switzerland are our most difficult opponents. Both teams showed their will to win the pool which means that they will play motivated”.

The Pool C, organised by Belgium will be supervised by Pierre Mulheims (Luxemburg), CEV Technical Delegate, while Marc Bloemhard (The Netherlands), Ute Fisher (Germany), Marcos Folgar Fraga (Spain), Nick Heckford (Engalnd) and Lars Rydland (Norway) will be the appointed referees.
Vitor Gonçalves (Portugal) will also be at Kortrijk as referee for the men’s event – Pool D (Belgium, Austria, Romania and Northern Ireland), which will take place simultaneous at this city.

The European Qualification 1st Round Pools are organised as follows:
Pool A (Herceg Novi, MON) – Croatia, Bosnia&Herzegovina, Montenegro and Macedonia
Pool B (Mogilev, BLR) – Israel, Belarus, Finland and Denmark
Pool C (Kortrijk, BEL) – Belgium, Portugal, Switzerland and Northern Ireland
Pool D (Lutsk, UKR)– Ukraine, Hungary, Albania and Moldova
Pool E (Poprad, SVK) – Slovakia, Greece, Austria and Liechtenstein
Pool F (Daugavpils, LAT) – Estonia, Iceland, Latvia and Lithuania
Pool G (Cospicua, MLT) – Luxemburg, Cyprus, S. Marino, Malta and Scotland

The pool winners qualify for the 3rd Round, to be played in January 2014, while the 2nd ranked
teams will play the 2nd Round, scheduled for October 2-6, 2013.

Mais informações: www.cev.lu  / www.fivb.org