Ukraine's Nadia Kodola and Svitlana Dorsman block Italy's Valentina Tirozzi in a deciding match in the 2017 European Championship qualifiers
Lausanne, Switzerland, September 25, 2016 - Italy edged Ukraine 3-1 (25-11, 18-25, 25-20, 25-15) at home in Montecatini Terme today to become the latest team to earn a ticket to the finals of the 2017 CEV Women's European Championship.
Belgium, Poland, Croatia, Bulgaria and Belarus had previously topped their own pools to also qualify to the finals, to be co-hosted by Azerbaijan and Georgia a year from now.
Joint co-hosts Azerbaijan and Georgia are joined by the top five finishers of the 2015 edition, Russia, The Netherlands, Serbia, Turkey and Germany in directly qualifying to the finals.
The last three spots will be decided in home-and-away playoffs, featuring Ukraine v Spain, Romania v Hungary and the Czech Republic v Slovakia.
Prior to the 2017 European Championship all qualified teams will star in the
2017 FIVB World Grand Prix.Full details, reports and statistics are available on the
European Confederation website.