VOLLEYBALL\\\ From Friday to Sunday, the 20th anniversary memorial of Hubert Jerzy Wagner will take place at the Tauron Arena in Krakow. The organizers took care of a strong cast. The rivals of the Polish volleyball players will be: the Olympic champions – France, the world champions – Italy and the vice-champions of Europe – Slovenia.

The Wagner Memorial is considered the largest friendly volleyball tournament in the world. For all participants, this will be the most important test of form before the European Championships, which begin on August 28, and will be hosted by: Bulgaria, Israel, North Macedonia and Italy.

The event in Krakow is of great interest. All tickets have been sold out, meaning three Polish matches will be watched by a total of 45,000 fans.

“I did not expect this tournament to grow so much. There were other similar events, but it rained, and we are still here. These twenty years have passed like a day” – said Jerzy Mróz, founder of the Hubert Jerzy Wagner Foundation and creator of this memorial.

Polish Volleyball Association President Sebastian Świderski drew attention to the high level of the tournament.

“Due to the favorable date before big events, every national team wants to perform here and compete with the best with such a large audience. Unfortunately, there are only four places” – he stressed.

The coach of the white and red team Nikola Grbic did not hide his satisfaction that his team could play three matches against very strong rivals in such comfortable conditions.

“When I was a Serbian national team player, we also played friendly matches, but only our families and friends were in the stands. We are happy to play in front of such a large audience, but I would like to ask to understand, because that even if very strong teams come here, it’s not that stage of preparation yet, so they’re in great shape. We’re training hard and I myself would be concerned if my players were in exceptionally good shape. of course, when there are 15,000 fans in the stands, there is no way to just play. Promise that on that day they will give their best,” he said.

For Grbic, the Krakow tournament will also be a selection stage before selecting the team for the European Championships. The Serb admitted that final decisions will be made at the last minute, including due to the health of some players. We know that midfielder Mateusz Bieniek will not be able to heal for the European Championships. Grbic also revealed that striker Bartosz Kurek only returned to training three days ago, and that fellow center Jakub Kochanowski had shoulder issues.

This season, the Polish national team has already achieved great success, which was the triumph of the Nations League. A month ago in Gdańsk, the whites and reds beat the United States 3:1 in the decisive match. In addition to the European Championships, which start on August 28 and last until September 16, the whites and reds will also have a qualifying tournament for next year’s Olympic Games in Paris, hosted by China. This event will start on September 30 and last until October 8, and the rivals of the Poles will be: China, Argentina, the Netherlands, Canada, Mexico, Belgium and Bulgaria. The top two teams will advance.

The Wagner Memorial has existed since 2003. Its purpose is to honor the memory of the most outstanding Polish volleyball coach – Hubert Jerzy Wagner, who led the Polish national team to the world championship in 1974 and the gold medal. gold at the Olympic Games in 1976.

Krakow will host it for the eighth time. Previously, volleyball players competed in the capital of Lesser Poland in 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022. In this latest edition, the best turned out to be the Poles, who have already triumphed 10 times in this test.

Program of the 20th Hubert Jerzy Wagner Memorial:

friday august 18
Poland – Slovenia (5:30 p.m.)
Italy – France (20:00)

Saturday August 19
Slovenia – Italy (2:00 p.m.)
Poland – France (5:00 p.m.)

Sunday August 20
France – Slovenia (2:00 p.m.)
Poland – Italy (5:00 p.m.)