Volleyball
Preview
The 2025 CEV Volleyball European Golden League Women`s season reaches its climax this week in Ängelholm, Sweden, where a new champion will be crowned during the Final Four tournament. Four teams will compete in the final matches to decide the title winner.
Host nation and defending champions Sweden have the opportunity to defend their title on home soil. They finished the league round in third place with a strong record of five wins and just one loss. Sweden concluded the initial phase of the competition on a high note, securing four consecutive victories.
In the second semi-final match, Sweden is set to face the 2023 champions, Ukraine. This encounter is anticipated to be a highly competitive and energetic contest. The two teams recently met in the final week of the league round, where Sweden claimed a decisive 3:0 victory (25:20; 26:24; 25:19) in Radom, Poland.
Sweden`s coach, Lorenzo Micelli, expressed his confidence in the team`s dynamics: “The girls are fantastic. We share goals and they know very well what I want to do. They themselves are the ones who create all this positivity that we have around us. I have told them that we are in a kind of bubble, where we have created a good feeling and positive attitude. And that creates the conditions for us to play as well as we do.”
Both Sweden and Ukraine concluded the league round with identical records of five wins and one loss, winning 15 sets and losing six. However, Ukraine held a slight advantage with a higher set point ratio (1.227 compared to Sweden’s 1.097) and accumulated one more league point (15 versus 14).
Sweden features star player Isabelle Haak, who was the MVP of the most recent CEV Champions League Women season, which she won with A.Carraro Imoco Conegliano. Haak is also currently tied as the top scorer in the Golden League competition, having accumulated 159 points.
Tied with Haak for the top scorer position is Hungary’s Anett Nemeth, also with 159 points from six matches. Hungary is aiming to secure their first title in the CEV Volleyball European Golden League since 2015.
To earn a spot in the final, Hungary must defeat Romania in the other semi-final. Romania finished the league round in first place, leading all teams with 16 points and suffering only one loss, dropping just four sets throughout the initial phase. Interestingly, Romania`s only defeat in the league round was a narrow 2:3 loss on their home court in Blaj, against their upcoming semi-final opponents, Hungary.
Romania’s Adelina Ungureanu commented on her team`s readiness: “We are very motivated. We have a balanced team, where experience is perfectly combined with the enthusiasm of young players. Confidence comes from both what we offer in the game and the way we present ourselves as a team.”
Romania has never won the CEV Volleyball European Golden League Women title. Their previous best performance in the competition was finishing in fourth place in the preceding season.
The two semi-finals are scheduled for June 28th. Romania will play Hungary at 16:00 CEST, followed by Sweden facing Ukraine at 19:00 CEST. The match for the bronze medal is set for June 29th at 16:00 CEST, with the final deciding the champion taking place later that day at 19:00 CEST.
#Volleyball
Jasper Thornfield 
Finley Blackwood