46th CEV Congress ends, European League to replace qualifications in future

The 46th Congress of the European Volleyball Confederation (CEV) was held today at the Novotel Hotel in Paris, with 55 out of a total of 56 federations in attendance.

The Volleyball Federation of Montenegro was represented by Nikola Kažić, President of the OSCG, and Ivan Bošković, Secretary General of the OSCG and member of the CEV Volleyball Commission. Bošković was also a member of the Verification Commission of the 46th CEV Congress.

In the introductory part, the delegates were addressed by Fabio Azevedo, President of the World Volleyball Federation (FIVB), and Roko Sikirić, President of the CEV.

The CEV President announced in his address that the European League will replace the qualifications for Euro Volleyball, and accordingly, in the future, four teams from the 2026 and 2027 European Leagues will qualify for Euro Volleyball 2028, along with four hosts, the 2026 European champions, and 11 teams according to the CEV ranking (after the 2027 European League).

Sikirić also said that a decision has been made to modify the qualification calendar for younger categories, but also that the pilot project will be secondary European Championships for the U18 and U20 categories in 2027, and will apply to teams that do not qualify for the European Championship.

CEV projects of the commercial plan and the “Solidarity Fund” were presented.

The Congress adopted reports on the work of the CEV President and CEV activities, as well as the financial report for 2025 and the planned budget for 2026.

Andre Meyer, former long-time president of the European Volleyball Confederation (2000-2015), was elected honorary president of the CEV.

The day before, the Balkan Volleyball Association (BVA) held a meeting of the zonal association at which the competition calendar of the Balkan championships was discussed, and in the introductory part, a presentation regarding the application for the FIVB “Volleyball Empowerment” projects was given by Hitesh Malhotra, Head of the Volleyball Empowerment Projects Department at the FIVB.

The next, 47th CEV Congress will be held on September 24, 2026 in Milan.