Lausanne, Switzerland, June 9, 2017 - Portugal and Egypt come head-to-head Saturday in Ceske Budejovice for the very first time in any official FIVB competition, as the Africa side seek to score their first win after four matches in this season's FIVB World League.
Head-to-Head• These sides have never met in a major competition.
• For Portugal, it will be their first major encounter with opponents representing Africa.
• Egypt have lost seven consecutive major encounters with CEV opposition.
Portugal• Portugal have lost three of their four matches in the 2017 World League. The only exception was the five-set victory against Japan.
• It took Portugal until their seventh fixture of last year's World League to record their second victory.
• Portugal have won the opening set in three of their four matches in this year's World League, only failing to do so in the straight sets defeat versus Slovakia.
• The Ferreira brothers Alexandre (65) and Marco (59) are Portugal's leading scorers in this year's World League. Egypt's top scorer has 52 points (Ahmed Abdelhay).
Egypt• Egypt have lost all four matches in the 2017 World League, and are on a seven-match losing streak overall in the competition.
• This is Egypt's longest World League losing streak since a run of 10 in a row in 2010.
• Egypt lost all of their matches in the 2006 and 2007 World League. They are the only previous occasions they have started the competition with four consecutive defeats.
• Egypt took Czech Republic to a deciding set in their last fixture, after losing their first three matches of the 2017 campaign in straight sets.