Estonia
Estonia have claimed the European Golden League title twice – their first triumph came in 2016 and second in 2018. In 2017, Estonia seized top honours from the FIVB World League Group 3.
Earlier this year, the Baltic country hosted the Final Four of the Golden League and ended the competition in fourth place.
Kert Toobal“For a small country like Estonia it is always a huge achievement to make it to the European Championship. This coming tournament will be different, as the format has changed and it is a new situation for all of the players. We have some experience now from playing the tournament before and our goals have risen with the years. We hope to show our best volleyball and in order to do that all main players must be healthy and playing. If we manage to make that happen, we are hoping to advance."
Captain of Estonia
Estonia will be making their fifth appearance at EuroVolley this year. Gheorghe Cretu – the head coach of the national team – has received the award for the “Coach of the Year” across all sports (awarded by the National Olympic Committee of Estonia) for two years in a row – in 2017 and 2018, which is a truly unique achievement for a foreign-born coach.
A fun fact – Kert Toobal, Ardo Kreek and Oliver Venno were already in the team when Estonia made their EuroVolley debut in 2009 in Turkey and they are still playing for Estonia in 2019.