The countdown to Croatia is on!

• Facebook
• Twitter

This stunning sight in Poreč is now less than a month away! Photo Credit: Tomislav Moze.

We might be live in Hamburg right now but don’t forget at the end of this month we’re off to the delightful Croatian resort of Poreč for the second time!

And this afternoon our CEO Hannes Jagerhofer hot-footed it from a press conference here in Germany in the morning to catch a flight for more of the same in Poreč in the afternoon.

The Croatian press were treated to a brilliant video highlighting all the best bits of last year’s stunning first tournament, which saw the Netherland’s Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen and Larissa Franca and Talita Da Rocha Antunes of Brazil win gold.

“Everyone in Hamburg is talking about Poreč,” Hannes told the Croatian media. “It’s great to be back here – a lot of the players that we have spoken to, about 90 per cent, said their favorite stop was Poreč. That’s amazing after year one! The players are all really excited.

“It’s important to us in the Olympic year to promote the sport and it’s great that NBC’s sport channel have agreed to show live matches during Poreč in America.”

Croatian’s number one men’s team Filip Silic and Ivan Zeljkovic, who lost narrowly in the first round of qualification here in Hamburg earlier in the day, are also looking forward to the competition.

The duo told us: “It’s our home tournament and we’re looking forward to it because the home crowd are definitely worth an extra two or three points per set.”

We’ll have plenty more build-up ahead of Poreč later this month so stay tuned to our website and social media for all the latest news ahead of Croatia’s largest summer sporting event!

Happy faces at today’s press conference: Croatian beach volleyball players Filip Silic and Ivan Zeljkovic, Zdeslav Barač (Croatian Volleyball Federation), Anton Kliman (Minister of Tourism), Hannes Jagerhofer (Swatch Major Series, Organiser of Poreč Major), Ratomir Ivičić (Director of the Touristic Board Croatia), Edi Štifanić (Major of Poreč), Nenad Velenik (Director of the Touristic Board Croatia). Photo Credit: Marjan Radovic