The grit of Andrea Giani: the Italian coach took Slovenia to the gold
Frankfurt am Main, Germany, July 2, 2016 – Fraport Arena closed the 2-day Finals with the awarding ceremony, and Slovenia was on top of the podium after the last 3-1 match against Germany. At the end coaches and players shared their sentiments with the media.
Vital Heynen, coach of Germany: “Congratulations to Slovenia. The best team have won the Group 3. My team made a great game in the third and fourth set and I think this was our best performance in this season. I’m proud that my players fought till the end; I think there was nobody who believes that we can come back.”
Christian Fromm, outside hitter of Germany: “Slovenia was better. If we cannot reach our best performance, it is never enough to beat the Vice-European Champion. I just want to say thanks to the crowd, they supported us in a great way.”
Andrea Giani, head coach of Sovenia: “Congratulations to my players. I’m very happy that we could win the Gold medal in our first season. It was important that we have played our best Volleyball in the right moments. Germany was a very tough opponent.”
Gregor Ropret, setter of Slovenia: "That was a great victory for us, we worked especially in the last month for it. Now we are happy that we realized it versus a strong German team, in front of their crowd. The key was our service, with this average we were able to play also a good defense. Now it's time to celebrate, watching a football match with a beer before going home."