WARSAW, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- The 2017 Men's CEV Volleyball European Championship kicked off in Warsaw, Poland on Thursday evening.
The opening ceremony held at PGE Narodowy Stadium in Warsaw included spaceships, cosmonauts holding flags of various countries, fireworks and 150 dancers with 50 children. A huge volleyball appeared in the field.
The first match is held at 8.30 pm between Poland and Serbia.
The Championship will take place in Poland from August 24 till September 3. The event will be hosted by four cities: Krakow, Gdansk, Katowice and Szczecin.
The quarterfinal matches will be played in Krakow and Katowice from August 30 to August 31, semifinals on September 2, while the finals will take place on September 3 in Krakow.
Teams from 16 countries take part in the 2017 Championship, the 30th edition of the tournament, organized by the European Volleyball Confederation every two years.
