
There are also additional indications for the growing quality of European Beach Volleyball: seven of the top ten teams in the world ranking list are currently European duos with only two Brazilian and one American teams being also featured there. In addition Brink/Reckermann set a new record in the SWATCH FIVB World Tour with 25 consecutive victories - a mark that will be hard to break.
All these factors amount to a pleasant development for the sport of Beach Volleyball. The sport world was really unanimous during the World Championships in Norway: “This is a real sensation”, Hinnerk Femerling, Managing Director Operations at the Zurich based agency Global Sports Marketing (GSM) can only agree with that assessment. Femerling sees the current surge of European teams as an "inevitable effect of the past years. The teams from Europe have fought their way closer and closer to the absolute world elite in the new millennium." One of the reasons for this development is undoubtedly the European Championship Tour that GSM organizes and markets since 2003 along with the European Volleyball Confederation. "The European Championship Tour gives European pros an outstanding platform to showcase their talent in addition to the World Tour and also to develop their game facing formidable opponents."
Europe's best players have again served and spiked at the highest level during this year's European Championship Tour. "The Spanish Masters, the Austrian Masters and the German Masters have all met our expectations", Femerling stresses. And that success is set to continue: a high-class starter's field is expected at the English Masters in Blackpool (next September 10-13) and at the European Championship Final in Sochi (Russia) slated for next September 16-19. "We are expecting these upcoming events to confirm this summer's trend: Beach Volleyball Made in Europe is absolutely world-class", Femerling says.
For more information about the European Championship Tour visit www.eurobeachtour.com






