Portugal participating in the EFVL Major Schwäbisch Gmünd 2023, in Germany

26/06/2023
One of the most traditional tournaments on the European tour, namely the EFVL Major Schwäbisch Gmünd 2023, took place last weekend, June 23 and 25, in Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany

The national representation was in charge of André Sustelo / Bruno Costa, Algarve team representing FC Ferreiras / Arena Ataboeira in national competitions.

The team representing Portugal was included in Group A with Austria 1, Spain and Italy 1 as direct opponents.

The tournament had the participation of 16 teams, representing 13 countries, namely Germany, the host, Austria, Belgium, Spain, France, Israel, Italy, Norway, Netherlands, Portugal, United Kingdom, Sweden and Switzerland.

In the opening game, Saturday, the Portuguese team had a complicated task against the Austrian counterpart (Austria 1) being defeated by 18 x 7. In the afternoon, they felt great difficulties against the Italian team (Italy 1) with the score closing 18 x 6. In the third game of the afternoon, an Iberian confrontation with the Spanish team closed the match with the scoreboard marking 9x18 in their favor. In the next game they faced Germany 2, although all the effort to reverse the score was not enough and they were defeated in 2 sets with the partials 12x18 and 15x18, thus being removed from the Quarter Finals and consequently dictating the end of the participation Portuguese.

In addition to the national team in competition, the event had national representation in terms of refereeing, with Igor Oliveira and Tiago Lopes making his presence felt once again in one of the European tournaments.

The big winners of the tournament were Ron Ben Ishay & Maor Haas (Israel), in a good moment of form, a pair experienced at European level, winning in the final game the strong team Federico Iacopucci & Alain Faccini (Italy 1) in 2 sets no answer with the partials of 14 x 18 and 17 x 19. To complete the podium, Germany 1 beat Spain in the qualifying game for 3rd and 4th places.

The National Footvolley Federation congratulates the winners for the result achieved and highlights the relevant participation and performance of the national team in the competition which committed itself to raising the colors of Portugal very high across borders.