Beach Nations Cup Finals
The competition for the men`s championship at the 2025 CEV Beach Volley Nations Cup, which began in May with 26 national teams, has now narrowed down to just eight. These top teams are scheduled to meet this week, from July 17th to 20th, in Espinho for the Finals.
Representatives from Austria, Denmark, France, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, and Spain, each winners of their Preliminary Phase pools, along with host nation Portugal, will compete from Thursday to Sunday at the renowned Praia da Baía. Introduced to the European beach volleyball calendar in 2022, the Beach Nations Cup is an exciting country-versus-country format, similar to the Davis Cup in tennis.
The eight qualified nations will be divided into two pools, each containing four teams. The top three teams from each pool will advance to the knockout rounds. The winners of each pool will secure a direct spot in the semifinals, while the teams finishing second and third will play in a quarterfinal round.
CEV Beach Nations Cup Finals – Men`s Tournament
The men`s tournament in Portugal features a strong field, including nine Olympians and three who are also Olympic medalists and world champions.
As the top team in the FIVB World Rankings, Norwegian stars Anders Mol and Christian Sørum are the most accomplished pair in the men’s event. Their accolades include two Olympic medals (gold at Tokyo 2020 and bronze at Paris 2024), a World Championship title (2022), and four consecutive EuroBeachVolley titles (2018-2021). They will represent Norway alongside Hendrik Mol and Mathias Berntsen.
Bringing Alexander Brouwer/Steven van de Velde and Stefan Boermans/Yorick de Groot as their representatives, the Netherlands is the only country with four Olympians on its team. The 35-year-old Brouwer, who competed in both Rio 2016 (winning bronze) and Tokyo 2020, is the most experienced. He won the World Championship back in 2013. Van de Velde (bronze in 2024), Boermans, and de Groot (silver in 2021) have all won EuroBeachVolley medals recently.
Defending champions France will have one Paris Olympian in each of their pairings and are returning three of the four players who clinched the title last year in Jurmala. Olympian Arnaud Gauthier-Rat will reunite with partner Téo Rotar, while fellow Olympian Rémi Bassereau is now paired with Calvin Aye.
Completing the list of Olympians competing in Espinho this week is Austria`s Julian Hörl, who represented his country at the Paris Games last year. He is partnered with Philipp Waller, while the country`s second duo consists of younger talents Tim Berger and Timo Hammarberg.
Host nation Portugal will place much of its hope on the country’s leading team, Hugo Campos and João Pedrosa. Brothers Gonçalo and Tomas Sousa will form the second pair, competing alongside their compatriots in front of the home crowd.
Spain also features a pair of brothers, Alejandro and Javier Huerta, teaming up to represent their country this week in Espinho. The other duo will be formed by Álvaro Vieira and Antonio Saucedo.
Arguably the biggest surprise in the men’s field, Denmark will be represented by Nicolai Hovmann and Christian Andersen. Lithuania, another team that overcame higher-ranked opponents during qualification, will aim to continue defying expectations with their duos Robert Juchnevic/Artur Vasiljev and Arnas Rumsevicius/Karolis Palubinskas.
Men`s pool play in Espinho is scheduled for Thursday and Friday. The quarterfinal matches will take place on Saturday, with the semifinals and the final scheduled for Sunday.
Jasper Thornfield 
Finley Blackwood