A long period of waiting is almost over, Wednesday afternoon the first international sports event in the Netherlands will finally start since the corona crisis paralyzed the sports world. Forty top teams from all over the world travel to Utrecht to compete for becoming Kings and Queens of the Court in a specially designed corona-proof stadium on Jaarbeursplein.
When the first players enter the stadium on Wednesday afternoon, they will feel like gladiators entering the arena. Everyone is close by with a wall of spectators, all sitting in their own skybox. The spectator is on top of the action, this becomes a match feeling that the players have never experienced. A unique experience for both the audience and the actors in the battle.
And who are those actors? We start with the women. A large number of international top athletes come to Utrecht with the wish to become the Queens of 2020. We highlight a number of them.
Women
April Ross (USA) - She is currently number 2 in the world together with Alix Klineman. She plays in Utrecht together with Emily Day. Ross has a silver and bronze Olympic medal and is the 2009 World Champion.
Ágatha and Duda (BRA) - This couple are the number 3 in the world, together they have won numerous medals on the FIVB World Tour. Ágatha is the 2015 world champion of The Hague and she won silver at the Rio Games with her partner Barbara.
Kozuch and Ludwig (GER) - They have only been playing together since 2019, but in that first season they immediately won the World Tour Finals. Last weekend they won silver at the German championships. Laura Ludwig is the Olympic champion of Rio 2016.
Betschart and Hüberli (SUI) - The Swiss women are currently eighth in the world rankings. They are the silver medalists at the 2018 European Championship, which was won by Sanne Keizer and Madelein Meppelink.
Keizer - Meppelink (NED) - The top duo from the Netherlands is tenth in the world ranking and they are both two-time European champions. In addition to the title that they took together in 2018, they also each won a European Championship alongside Marleen van Iersel.
In addition to these names, the numbers 12 (Heidrich-Vergé-Dépré, SUI), 13 (Hermannova-Slukova, CZE), 15 (Stockman / Larsen, USA) and 20 (Liliana-Elsa, ESP) in the world rankings are also participating. A true top roster.
Men
Real world class players also make an appearance in the men's tournament. They are all highly motivated to win the first major title since the corona virus outbreak. Who will become the Kings of the Court?
Mol and Sørum (NOR) - They are the best duo of the past two years. Number 1 in the world, winners of numerous World Tour events. Two-time European champions and a very spectacular couple. Something they demonstrated again last week when they were playing volleyball on top of a Norwegian mountain.
Thole and Wickler (GER) - These young Germans have been storming the world rankings since 2018, they are currently sixth. They are the vice world champions of 2019 and became German champions last week.
Brouwer and Meeuwsen (NED) - The Dutch pride is defended by, among others, the world champions of 2013 and the bronze medalists of Rio 2016. Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen have been a fixture in the world rankings for years, they are eager to perform well in Utrecht.
Herrera and Gavira (ESP) - The Kings of Utrecht 2018 are back to defend their title. This highly experienced and clever duo has been able to thrive on the World Tour for years. They are contenders for the title in every tournament in which they participate.
But those are not all top contenders. The Qatari Cherif and Ahmed (13th FIVB), the Swiss Perusic and Schweiner (15th FIVB), Plavins and Tocs from Latvia (17 FIVB) and Samoilovs and Smedins (Latvia, 18th FIVB and European champions of 2015) will also be there.
Watch it live
If you are unable to come to the tournament in the Netherlands, no worries. King of the Court will be live broadcasted around the world. Check the list below to see where you can tune in to watch all the action.
- TV2 in Norway
- Sport 1 Germany
- CBC in Canada
- SPTV in Croatia
- Sportklub in Poland
- Olympic Channel (Worldwide)
- Claro Sports (Marca Claro, Pay-TV)
- Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Republica Dominicana, Mexico, Nicaragua
All the action is also streamed live on kingofthecourt.com and on the FIVB YouTube-channel.
Tickets
The last few tickets are going fast, we have just a few remaining. If you want to attend, please make sure you buy your skybox on kingofthecourt.com/tickets.
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