Visiting Croatia for the third straight year, the spectacular Swatch FIVB Poreč Major will be one of the highlights of the 2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour. With the FIVB international calendar opening in February in the United States, the $600,000 Swatch FIVB Poreč Major Series double-gender event will be held June 27 to July 2.

 

While this will be the third visit to Poreč, the FIVB World Tour has stopped in Croatia in previous years, presenting four men’s only events in Zagreb in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008.

 

Winning the gold medals in Poreč in 2015 were the Netherlands’ Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen for the men and for the women was Brazil’s Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca. Last year winning the gold medals were Brazil’s Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt for the men and Germany’s Julia Sude/Chantal Laboureur for the women.

 

Croatia has hosted eight FIVB World Tour events through 2016, (six men and two women).

 

Poreč is a town and municipality on the western coast of the Istrian peninsula, in Istia County, Croatia. Its major landmark is the 6th century Euphrasian Basilica, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997.

 

Poreč is almost 2,000 years old, and is set around a harbour protected from the sea by the small island of Saint Nicholas/San Nicolo. The town's population of approximately 12,000 resides mostly on the outskirts, while the wider Poreč area has a population of approximately 17,000 inhabitants.

 

The municipal area covers 142 square kilometers (55 sq mi), with the 37 kilometers (23 miles) long shoreline stretching from the Mirna River near Novigrad to Funtana and Vrsar in the south. Ever since the 1970s, the coast of Poreč has been the most visited tourist destination in Croatia.