Izmir, Turkey, June 15, 2016 - The Netherlands and Slovakia will meet for the first time in the FIVB Volleyball World League as they open their 2016 campaigns at the Group 2 tournament in Turkey.
Head-to-Head
• Netherlands and Slovakia will meet for the first time in the World League.
• These nations most recently clashed in a competitive match at the 2007 European Championship, when Netherlands recorded a 3-1 second group stage win over Slovakia.
• Netherlands have won 15 of their last 21 World League matches against fellow CEV countries. In this span, they only lost against Belgium (L3) and Portugal (L3).
• Slovakia have lost their last four World League matches against CEV opponents, since a 3-1 group stage win over Spain on 6 June 2014.
Netherlands
• Netherlands will participate for the 20th time in the World League. They won the tournament in 1996 and finished joint 13th last season.
• Netherlands is one of eight countries to have won the World League, alongside Brazil (9), Italy (8), Russia (3), United States (2), France (1), Poland (1) and Cuba (1).
• Netherlands have won their opening match in four of their last five World League participations, only failing to beat Canada (3-1 loss) in their 2013 opener.
• Netherlands finished their 2015 World League campaign with a 3-0 win over Belgium. They can record back-to-back straight set victories for the first time in the competition since a run of three in 2010.
Slovakia
• Slovakia will make their third World League appearance, after 2014 (24th) and 2015 (23rd).
• Slovakia have lost both their previous two World League matches in Turkey: 3-0 against Turkey (2014) and 3-1 against China (2014).
• Slovakia won their final match of last year's World League, a 3-2 victory over China. They can win consecutive matches for the second time in the competition after a run of two in June 2014.