19-DEZ-2011
PORTUGAL
FACING ARGENTINA,
BULGARIA AND GERMANY
IN THE 2012 WORLD
LEAGUE
The
International Volleyball Federation (FIVB)
has confirmed
the Group
Phase of the
Intercontinental World League
2012.
The Senior Men's National Team will be part of Group D and will face the national teams of Argentina, Bulgaria and Germany.
In next year's edition of the Intercontinental Phase there will be a new format: it will be contested by 16 teams divided into 4 Groups, each group will have four tournaments to be held in each country of the teams participating in the group, to be played under the system of all against all during the end-of-week , concentrated, resulting in three days of competition, with two matches per day.
Thus,
the national team will play
the
Intercontinental phase
as follows:
1st
Tournament
- 18 to 20 May 2012
or 25 to 27 May
2012 in Germany
2nd Tournament -
15-17 June in
Argentina
3rd
Tournament - 22-24
June in Portugal
4th Tournament -
June 29 to
July 1, Bulgaria
Finals -
4-8 July in
Bulgaria.
Intercontinental Phase:
Group A:
Russia, Cuba, Serbia and
Japan
Group B:
Brazil, Poland, Finland and Canada
Group C:
Italy, United States, France
and Korea
Group D:
Portugal, Argentina, Bulgaria
and Germany
Finals
will be played in
Bulgaria by six
teams:
the organizer, the
1st
ranked of each
group and
2nd best ranked
of
the four
groups.
In the event the
organizer (Bulgaria)
is the
1st ranked
team in their
group, the
2 best 2nd
ranked teams from the 4 groups are qualified.
The
national team coach, Juan
Diaz, believes that the
2012 World League
will be very
balanced
"The national
teams are well spread
over the groups
and qualifying for
the finals will not be easy
for any team.
Our group
is no exception and will
be difficult, as Bulgaria,
Argentina and Germany have
similar level
and are strong teams.
It will be a
very tough competition,
but very important in
preparing the national team, as
is completing the
Olympic cycle and we
start another, which leads to the
entry of new players and the
World League will be very
important for them to get
competitive experience at the
highest level ".
More info: www.fivb.org