10 January 2019 - “Qualifying for the European Championship represents a result that, for us, is just as good as a medal,” stated the President of the Volleyball Federation of Montenegro Cvetko Pajković in an interview for the News Agency TVCG.
Montenegro's volleyball players will, for the first time, play in a big competition after their recent victory in the sixth round of the Group C qualification for the European Championship against the Moldova team with the result 3-0 (25:18 25:21 25:13).
The 2019 Men's European Volleyball Championship will be the 31st edition of the Men's European Volleyball Championship, organised by Europe's governing volleyball body, the CEV. For the first time the EuroVolley will be held in four different countries; Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Slovenia. The tournament will run from September 13 to September 29, 2019. The number of national teams participating in the event will also be expanded from 16 to 24.
"This is a great result. We all wanted to finish the qualification cycle in this way - to play the last game for qualification at home and win against Moldova to secure our place in the European Championship for the first time," said Pajković.
“To us, the qualifications for the European Championship is a result equal to a medal. The significance of this result is apparent, especially since up to this year the European Volleyball Confederation limited the European Championship to 16 national teams, and our selection was always one step away from qualification," Pajković explained. He said that Montenegrin national team was fortunate that the CEV expanded the number of participants from 16 to 24: "We took advantage of the first chance and the first expanded qualifications. I am sure that our team would secure their place in the Championship even before, had the qualification system been expanded.”
