Rzeszow (Poland), 25 November 2018

Club World Championship, debut on Monday in Rzeszow: the guide for Khatam–Trentino

The eighth adventure of Trentino Volley in the Club World Championship competition will start on Monday November 26th in the cities of Plock, Rzeszow and Czestochowa (Poland).
The yellow-blue Club (with the official name of Trentino Diatecx, which will be used during the whole time of the competition) will be protagonist in one of the two opening matches of the tournament and will face the Iranians of Khatam Ardakan in the match of the first day of Pool B (round phase). The start of the match is scheduled for 5.30 p.m. (Italian time) at Hala Podpromie in Rzeszow, the stadium in which all the matches of the Pool will be played; a live broadcast will be available on Radio Dolomiti and on the official site of RAI Sport (www.raisport.rai.it).
HERE TRENTINO DIATECX The wildcard granted by FIVB allowed Trentino Volley to play again in such an important tournament two years after the last participation. The victories obtained between 2009 and 2012 in Qatar and the third places achieved in 2013 and 2016 in Brazil made Trento, from a volleyball point of view, famous all around the world (Trentino Volley can boast a great number of supporters among the Polish as well).
The participation to 2018 edition promises to be particularly hard since the start, taking into account of the little times between a match and another; Angelo Lorenzetti’s team was in fact put in a difficult round with opponents who may legitimately claim the Final Four.
Trentino Diatecx will play its debut match versus the Asian Champions of Arkadan after the good performance offered in Padova on Saturday.
“Our target is the one of arriving to the last stages of this tournament – explained Trentino Diatecx’s coach - , because this would mean to be still fighting for a place on the podium. We know that we’re not here thanks to what we obtained on the field but instead thanks to a wildcard that Trentino Volley was given thanks to what it made in the past, therefore we want to show that we deserve this chance of participating starting from the first match versus Ardakan already. The Iranian team is the one we know the least among our opponents but we know that it plays in a competitive tournament and can be aggressive and very effective in the net area”.
Trentino Diatecx will perform the first training session in Poland this afternoon at Hala Podpromie; the session will be used not only to settle down in the building but also to show the coach the physical shape of the whole roster. In the list of thirteen players sent today to FIBV there are eight yellow-blues who never participated to a Club World Championship. The five players who already participated are Giannelli, Nelli, Lisinac, Candellaro and Grebennikov, all of them with five presences. The debut match was positive in six cases during the previous participations; the only one bad memory is dated back to 2014 edition (0-3 defeat versus Al-Rayan).
The positive results were instead: 3-1 victory versus Zamalek in 2009, 3-0 victory versus Dinamo Mosca in 2010, 3-0 victory versus Al Ahly in 2011, 3-2 victory versus Al-Rayan in 2012, 3-1 victory versus Kalleh in 2013 and 3-0 victory versus Minas Tenis Clube in 2016.
THE HISTORY OF TRENTINO VOLLEY IN INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIONS The one starting on Monday will be the eighth overall adventure in the Club World Championship competition for Trentino Volley, which can boast of four victories (dated back to November 8th 2009, December 21st 2010, October 14th 2011 and 19th October 2012 – all of them in Doah) and two third places (Betim 2013 and 2016) and an enviable score with twenty-nine victories in thirty-three played matches. Trento didn’t reach the podium only in 2014 (fifth place). FIVB Club World Championship 2018 is the twenty-first international tournament in the history of the Club of via Trener, including the eight participations in Champions League (three victories between 2009 and 2011) and the double European experience in season 2004/05 in Top Teams and then in CEV Cup, tournament which Trentino Volley is participating to this year as well and which won in 2015 and 2017. The international matches played by Trentino Volley are 148 (120 victories and 28 defeats). The defeat arrived only 20 times in 96 matches away from Italy.
THE OPPONENT For the first Khatam takes part in the Club World Championship competition, thanks to success in the 2018 Asian Champions League won defeating by 3-0 Atyrau Vc (Kaz). The club is based in Ardakan (a city with 75’000 inhabitants in the middle of Iran) and will represent the Asian continent despite not having won any national title yet. The best result so far was achieved this year: second place behind Sarmayeh Bank Teheran, led by former Yellow-blue Lukas Zygadlo. Currently ranked third in iranian national league, with six wins in nine games and seven points behind rank leader Varamin. Coach Mohammed Reza Salek Ardakani manages a team with many players from the national team, such as opposite Mahmoudi (Asian Champions League MVP), middle-blocker Gholami, libero Marandi and spiker Valaei. The roster od Khatami Ardakan: 1. Shahram Mahmoudi (spkr), 3. Mohammadhassan Senobar (md-blk), 4. Akbar Valaei (spkr), 5. Pourya Nodouz Pour (lib), 6. Mohammad Bagheri Todeshkchoo (spkr), 7. Ramin Khani Molahajiloo (md-blk), 9. Adel Gholami (md-blk), 10. Ghasem Karkhaneh (opp), 12. Farhad Nazari Afshar (md-blk), 13. Bahman Jahandideh (spkr), 14. Ali Tabari (opp), 18. Mohammad Taher Vadi (set), 19. Mahdi Marandi (lib), 20. Tayeb Einisamarein (md-blk). Coach. Mohammad Reza Salek Ardakani.
THE FORMULA Monday’s matches open the first phase with the eight teams divided into two pools (Pool A in Plock and Pool B in Rzeszow); the four teams compete in a Round Robin style rank for a total of 12 matches. The first two teams of each pool will access to the semifinals (on December 1st, Finals on the following day). Third and fourth ranked teams of each pool are eliminated and will be ranked according to the points. Points are assigned on the same logic of the italian national league: three points for a four sets win, two for a tie-break win, one points for a tie-break defeat and zero for defeat. If a tie situation may occur in the pool rank, the order of the deciding factors are: number of points, set ratio, points ratio, direct match.
FIRST DAY SCHEDULE On Monday PGE Skra Belchatow-Cucine Lube Civitanova and Trentino Diatecx-Khatam Ardakan at 5:30 pm; Zenit Kazan-Fakel Novy Urengoy and Asseco Resovia Rzeszow-Sada Cruzeiro at 8:30 pm.
TV and INTERNET The first match of the 2018 Club World Championship will broadcast live on Radio Dolomiti, network partner of Trentino Volley; tune in on the frequencies available on www.radiodolomiti.com or on the live online streaming.
with commentary by Marco Fantasia.
On internet, live point to point updates will be available on the FIVB website (http://clubworldchampionships.2018.men.fivb.com), on www.trentinovolley.it, and, as always, on the Yellow-blue Social Network Account  (www.trentinovolley.it/facebook e www.trentinovolley.it/twitter).

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office