Antalya (Turkey), 04 May 2024

CEV Champions League on Sunday the SuperFinal in Antalya

The 2024 CEV Champions League final will be played on Sunday, May 5 at the Sports Hall in Antalya (Turkey). In the match that awards the annual European Club Championship title, Trentino Itas will take on the Poles of Jastrzebski Wegiel. Kick-off scheduled for 16:00 Italian time (17:00 local time); live on DAZN and Rado Dolomiti.
HERE TRENTINO ITAS After just under two years of waiting, it's time again for the Gialloblù team to return to the assault of the European Championship title, playing the last and most important match of the 2023/24 season. Podrascanin and his teammates arrived in Turkey already on Friday afternoon, at the end of a whole week of training, without official matches, in which the technical staff was able to finalise Lavia's recovery and propose a considerable volume of activity in order to reach the appointment in the best possible way, both from a technical and physical point of view.
"Daniele's recovery has allowed us to sustain a series of full training sessions, something that had not happened in two months, and the difference has been seen, explained coach Fabio Soli during the presentation - . We tried to make the most of this period to get the team in the best possible condition at the moment. The players have deserved this Final, they believe in it and want to live it to the fullest; they can do it because when they play as a true group they can do exceptional things. In front of us we will find an opponent like Jastrzebski, who are performing very well and have further cemented their confidence thanks to their recent victory in the second consecutive Polish championship. They are a very physical sextet, directed by the experienced Toniutti, with powerful hitters and an excellent block-defence system. For this reason we will have to be incisive with the serve and work well in the second line".
There are seven players on the roster who have already played a Champions League Final with the yellow-blue jersey: Michieletto (2021 and 2022 editions), Podrascanin (2021, 2022), Nelli (2016), D'Heer (2022), Cavuto (2022), Sbertoli (2022), Lavia (2022). None of them has ever won the trophy. Eight rookies: Acquarone, Berger, Garcia, Kozamernik, Laurenzano, Magalini, Pace and Rychlicki.
TENTH EUROPEAN FINAL, THE FIFTY THIRD IN THE CLUB'S HISTORY For Trentino Volleyball, Sunday's match will be the tenth European final in its history, the sixteenth international in the last fifteen years. It will be the forty-third ever; the tally also includes the twenty-six finals played on a national level: 9 Scudetto Finals (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2023), 9 Italian Cup Finals (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2022 and 2023), 8 Italian Super Cup Finals (2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2018 and 2021). The balance in matches that award a title sees the Gialloblù victorious in twenty out of forty-two circumstances.
TRENTINO VOLLEY'S NUMBERS IN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE On Sunday evening Trentino Volley will play the 134th match in its history in the Champions League, concluding its 13th participation in the highest continental club trophy; the balance is 103 wins and 30 defeats. There are also four CEV Cup appearances in the archives (2005, 2015, 2017, 2019, with one victory relating to the last edition) and one in the Top Teams Cup (2005). The album of memories linked to the CEV Champions League is full of truly epic pages: The first is the one linked to the evening of 5 April 2009 in Prague, when, against Iraklis Thessaloniki, the Gialloblù team won 3-1, conquering the title after overcoming Macerata in the semifinals in the tricolour derby and concluding the tournament with a clear path (12 victories on 12 matches played); The second was on 2 May 2010 and the clear-cut victory over Dinamo Moscow at the Atlas Arena in Lodz, while the third, absolutely unforgettable, was on 27 March 2011 and the 3-1 win over Kazan in the final at the PalaOnda in Bolzano. The one in South Tyrol was the last final in the tournament won; then there was space for the silver medal in Poland in 2016, in Verona in 2021 and in Ljubljana in 2022; in the archives also a third place, related to the 2012 edition.
THE OPPONENTS Jastrzebski Wegiel arrives at the Antalya match fresh from winning their second consecutive Polish title (the fourth in their history), obtained just a week earlier against Zawiercie, and as the only finalist who has been able to confirm themselves from the previous season. The club is still chasing its first international victory, having come close to it several times in the recent past; in fact, the club has participated twice in the Final Four of the Champions League, when that type of game formula was still adopted: in the 2010/11 season, when it finished fourth in Bolzano, and in the 2013/14 season, when it won the bronze medal in Ankara, which was its best result ever before the second place obtained in 2023 in Turin (final lost to Kedzierzyn-Kozle in the tie break). In Europe it also achieved second place in the 2009 Challenge Cup, where in the final it succumbed to the tiebreaker against the Turkish Izmir team, while in the international field it also collected the silver medal at the 2011 World Club Championship, beaten in the final in Doha by Trentino Volleyball itself. In order to become the second Polish club to win the highest continental trophy, they will rely on a very physical squad, led on the bench by the experienced Marcelo Mendez, (already Trento's opponent on the bench of Palma de Mallorca and Sada Cruzeiro), who will make use of the French setter Toniutti, his compatriot Patry (ex Cisterna and Milan), centre Huber (ex Kedzierzyn-Kozle and the only player still reigning champion) and Gladyr (ex Siena), and above all the Polish setter Fornal, his team's top scorer in the tournament with 139 points. Jastrzebski Wegiel's roster: 1. Jakub Jurczyk (l), 2. Edvins Struders (st), 3. Jakub Popiwczak (l), 4. Adrian Markiewicz (mb), 5. Igor Lukasik (sp), 6. Benjamin Toniutti (st), 7. Marko Sedlacek (sp), 9. Jean Patry (o), 10. Ryan Joseph Sclater (o), 11. Wojciech Dudzik (mb), 13. Jurii Glday (mb), 14. Tymon Niedziela (st), 15. Mikolaj Staporek (st), 16. Bartosz Makos (l), 17. Jaroslaw Macionczyk (st), 21. Tomasz Fornal (sp), 22. Moustapha Mabaye (mb), 26. Rafal Szymura (sp), 31. Mateusz Jaroslaw Jozwik (sp), 99. Norbert Huber (mb). Coach Marcelo Mendez.
THE FORMULA The 2024 CEV Champions League will, as per tradition, be awarded in a single match. From the 2019 edition, the Final Four has been canceled in favour of a single match day, in which men's and women's matches will be played at the same venue. The Trentino Itas match will therefore be followed at 19:00 Italian time by the match between Conegliano and Milan, which will decide which club will win the 2024 CEV Champions League in pink.
THE PRECEDENTS Trentino volley is preparing to play its third SuperFinals against a Polish team, after those played in the 2021 (Verona) and 2022 (Ljubljana) editions, again against Kedzierzyn-Kozle, which won in four and three sets respectively. In its history there are already five Finals played against teams from Poland, also taking into account the challenges that decided the 2009 Club World Cup (3-0 in Belchatow), 2010 (3-1 in Belchatow) and 2011 (3-1 against Jastrzebski Wegiel - on 14 October). In total there are twenty-seven official matches played against Polish clubs: fourteen with Kedzierzyn-Kozle, five with Rzeszow, four with Belchatow and two with Czestochowa and Jastrzebski;19-8 for the Gialloblù. The first ever meeting with Jastrzebski took place on a neutral court, but decidedly closer to Trento: at the PalaOnda in Bolzano on 26 March 2011, on the occasion of the CEV Champions League Semifinal, then won by Trentino Volley as organising club. The two clubs should have also met in the quarter-finals of the 2020 edition, but the pandemic forced the European Confederation to interrupt the event, without resuming it.
THE REFEREES The CEV has not yet made official the pair of referees who will direct the match, names that are likely to be revealed in the coming hours.
RADIO AND INTERNET The match will be broadcast live on Radio Dolomiti, Trentino Volley's partner radio station, starting at 20.30. The frequencies to tune in to the regional network can be found at www.radiodolomiti.com, where it will also be possible to listen to the live radio commentary in streaming.
Live video streaming is also planned on DAZN, a platform available on a wide range of Internet-connected devices, including Smart TVs, PCs, smartphones, tablets and game consoles. The service is chargeable and requires registration; for more information www.dazn.com/it-IT/help.
On the Internet, point-to-point updates will be provided by the CEV website (https://www.cev.eu/match-centres/2024-european-cups/cev-champions-league-volley-2024-men/clvm-109-trentino-itas-v-jastrzebski-wegiel/), by www.trentinovolley.it and will also be active on the yellow-blue social networks (www.trentinovolley.it/facebook, www.trentinovolley.it/instagram and www.trentinovolley.it/twitter).
LED SCREEN AT THE ILT QUOTIDIANO ARENA Trentino Volleyball, the Municipality of Trento, Asis and Banca per il Trentino-Alto Adige will set up a high-definition LED screen on Sunday at theT quotidiano Arena in Trento for all the fans who want to watch the match together, in the historic home of the yellow-blue club. Entrance to the via Fersina facility will be from 3 p.m. Only the men's final will be broadcast and it will not be possible to reserve or book seats in the days leading up to the event. A bar and restaurant service will be available.

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office