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The two undefeated teams in this year’s edition of the competition - Türkiye and Czechia met in Gradska Sportska Dvorana Varazdin, Croatia, to determine the winner. In the end, it was the team of head coach Jiri Novak who stopped the domination of the Turkish players (who, before the final, had lost only two sets). After a fierce and balanced battle, the Czech players showed precision and nerves of steel in the important moments, finishing slightly better on attack - 61 to 55. Türkiye, on the other hand, were better on the blocking (eight to six), and aced one more time (six to five).
Jan Galabov became once again Czechia’s trump card (top scorer with 21 points), while for Türkiye, Adis Lagumdzija recorded 19, but it wasn’t enough for a better outcome.

With Efe Bayram on fire right after the first referee whistle (three points in a row), Türkiye seemed to have started on the right foot in the match. However, on the other side of the net, the team of the Czech Republic also stepped up their game, led by Patrik Indra (6pts. in the set). The teams started a race for each point, but the players, coached by Jiri Novak, were able to seize their chances (20-16), but even a time out for Türkiye didn’t work out, as with a final touch, Jan Galabov brought the 25th point to the Czech team.

It looked like that Türkiye were back on track in the second set, as they were leading throughout the most of it. However, Czechia’s players showed great mental strength, and even when they were four points behind (16-20), with Jiri Srb on the serve, and empowered Galabov and Marek Sotola, the Czech came back, to even take the lead at 23-22 in their favour, and afterwards, get closer to the win. Precisely, Galabov was the star of his team in these minutes, with 14 points to his name by that time of the match. Statistically, the set was balanced, as only one more winning spike, one more ace and one less error sealed the deal for the Czech Republic.

Türkiye refused to give up, and with team efforts, were able to lead throughout the most of the set (9-7, 15-13), оr when they would feel their rivals close, they would count on leader Adis Lagumdzija, who didn’t disappoint, especially after the 20th point. However, it was the better performance on the blocking (four to one) and stronger serve that helped Türkiye to get back on their feet.

Czecia didn’t lose concentration, and started leading comfortably in the fourth set (10-7, 13-10, 16-12). Türkiye pushed hard, starting breathing their opponents’ necks (16-17, 20-21), with Adis Lagumdzija taking responsability for the important balls, stealing the spotlight. Despite his efforts, the Czech remained the more concentrated team, and with an ace by Martin Licek claimed the title.