European Volleyball Confederation President hails progress of sport during visit to Faroe Islands

Stamps marking 125th anniversary of volleyball unveiled by Faroe Islands Posta

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 25 February

European Volleyball Confederation [CEV] President Aleksander Boricic has hailed the progress the sport is making in the Faroe Islands, during his visit that ended today and included his attendance at the Men’s and Women’s national finals, and meeting the Faroese Prime Minister Aksel Vilhelmsson Johannesen.

Welcoming the significant progress Volleyball is making in the Faroe lslands, President of the European Volleyball Confederation Aleksander Boricic said:

"I heard from the Prime Minister that the Faroe Islands hopes to build a new sports hall for handball and volleyball in maybe the next three to four years, and very soon they can start to prepare and organise a European championship for the underage category. They are even closer in the next two or three years to being a candidate for the indoor European championships, which could be a great success.

"Faroe Islands Volleyball has made a great investment for the future, especially in the youngest categories, which is important being from a smaller community - you must always produce new generations. The Faroe Islands has international support now from the CEV which makes it much easier for us to support more than before.’’

President Boricic also attended the launch of a special edition series of stamps curated by Posta Faroe Islands to mark the 125th anniversary of Volleyball [see attached image].

Jon Hestoy, Vice president of the Faroese Confederation of Sports and Olympic Committee [FCSOC] said:

‘’It is a great honour for the Faroe Islands to host President Boricic and to show him in person how fast the sport is developing here, the passion there is for volleyball and the wider ambition we have for the sport. The support of the European Volleyball Confederation and the international federation FIVB has been critical to the sport’s success in the Faroe Islands and it proves what a huge impact international sporting recognition can make. Hopefully it will not be too long before we can host a junior age European tournament and compete in the senior European Championships. We are hugely ambitious and see no reason why we can’t achieve these goals.’’

Ends

Notes to Editors:

About the Faroe Islands

The Faroe Islands, which has a population of 52,000, has been a self-governing region of the Kingdom of Denmark since 1948 and competes in the Olympic Games as Denmark. Located north-west of Scotland’s Shetland Islands and almost 1,000km from Denmark, the Faroe Islands has been campaigning for more than 40 years for Olympic recognition. The Faroese Confederation of Sports was established in 1939 and it’s Olympic Committee in 1982. Sport on the islands is 100% self-funded, including all anti-doping activities [no sport funding comes from Denmark]. 18,000 Faroese are members of sports clubs which is driven and overseen by the FCSOC.

Faroe Islands is a founding member of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and has competed in every Paralympic Summer Games since 1984. It is recognised in its own right by 11 International Federations: archery, badminton, darts, football, handball, International Paralympic Committee, judo, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo and volleyball.

Visit our website: https://isf.fo/faroese-confederation-of-sports-olympic-committee/

Volleyball in the Faroe Islands

Faroe Islands Volleyball Association was founded in 1980. International teams have achieved some strong results, not least in the International Island Games, where both our men and women have won medals. Our younger teams also participate in international tournaments every year, competing with the other Nordic countries. In recent years, several international tournaments have been held in the Faroe Islands.

For more information:

Danny Rollinson

VERO Communications

Email: drollinson@verocom.co.uk

Phone: +44 (0) 7833 682762