2007 Men’s Junior World Championship

Egypt and Morocco seek positions between the last eight

Casablanca, Morocco, June 11, 2007 – The reaction of the coaches of the two African representatives in the 2007 Men’s Junior Championship to be held in Morocco July 7-15 towards the drawing of lots of the finals between the last 12 teams was controversial as the Egyptian coach Sherif El Shemerly sees that it puts his team in the much stronger side while the Moroccan coach find it easier to achieve a surprise of qualifying to the second round.

The Egyptian coach thought that the late collection of the players due to their end year exams id the most important problem for his team before competing with the strongest teams all over the World in this age category. “We hope to win at least 2 matches in the first round to secure a ticket between the best 8 teams,” Said Shemerly. I hope the other African eam Morocco can also pass to the final 8 teams because this will lead to more success in organization of the competition.” He added.

The 2007 Men’s Junior Volleyball World Championship will take place between July 7 and 15 in two venues, Casablanca and Rabat. The drawing of lots put the host country Morocco with Iran, Cuba, Italy, Japan and Bulgaria in Pool A, while Brazil, the defending champions Russia, Argentina, Egypt, U.S.A. and Slovenia are in Pool B.

Mr. Yuri Chesnokov, FIVB Delegate, presided the drawing of lots ceremony held at the Sidi Mohamed Casablanca Sports Hall. He was assisted by Mr. Abdelhadi Ghzali, Master of Ceremony and President of the Moroccan Volleyball Federation.

The 12 teams have been divided into 2 Pools: “A” to be played in Casablanca and “B” to be in Rabat.

The results of this drawing of lots were as follows:

Pool "A" (Casablanca)

Morocco - Iran - Cuba - Italy - Japan - Bulgaria

Pool "B" (Rabat)

Brazil - Russia - Argentina - Egypt – U.S.A. - Slovenia

The matches will be held daily in three timings 10:00, 16:00 and 18:30. Morocco will play all of their matches in Casablanca at 18h30.

The Preliminary Round will be played with a Round Robin system to determine the ranking and classification from 1st to 6th. The Semi Finals and play offs rounds consists of a total of 6 matches: two Semi Final matches for the rankings 1 – 4, two matches for the classification 5 – 8 and two matches for the classification 9 – 12. The Finals and play offs consists of a total of 6 matches: the winners of the Semi Finals will play the final, 1st – 2nd position. The losers of the Semi Finals will play for the 3rd and 4th rank position.

The winners of the play off or the 5th – 6th position and the losers of the play off 5 -8 will play for the 7th – 8th position. The same will be applied for the position from 9 to 12.

Competition Calender

Preliminary Round

Pool A Casablanca Pool B Rabat





07 july 10,00 1 BUL X IRI 10,00 4 SLO X ARG

" 16,00 2 ITA X CUB 16,00 5 RUS X BRA

" 18,30 3 MAR X JPN 18,30 6 USA X EGY



08 july 10,00 7 JPN X CUB 10,00 10 EGY X SLO

" 16,00 8 IRI X ITA 16,00 11 RUS X USA

" 18,30 9 MAR X BUL 18,30 12 BRA X ARG



09 july 10,00 13 BUL X JPN 10,00 16 ARG X EGY

" 16,00 14 CUB X IRI 16,00 17 USA X BRA

" 18,30 15 ITA X MAR 18,30 18 SLO X RUS



10 july 10,00 19 JPN X IRI 10,00 22 BRA X EGY

" 16,00 20 BUL X ITA 16,00 23 RUS X ARG

" 18,30 21 MAR X CUB 18,30 24 USA X SLO



11 july 10,00 25 CUB X BUL 10,00 28 ARG X USA

" 16,00 26 ITA X JPN 16,00 29 SLO X BRA

" 18,30 27 IRI X MAR 18,30 30 EGY X RUS