Trento, 23 October 2019

2020 CEV Champions League, today the qualification rounds start

The 2020 edition of CEV Champions League officially starts today with one of the two home matches of the first qualification round: Mladost Zagreb-IBB Polonia London. CEV Champions League is the top official competition for clubs of Europe and Trentino Volley will participate as well (starting from the group stage which begins on the 4th of December).
Together with other seventeen teams already qualified for the Main Phase, the team will look on for the next forty days, waiting for the end of the three qualification rounds (which always have home and away matches) that will decide the other two teams that will take part in the drawings of lots. Also Mladost Brcko and Benfica Lisboa are in the running during the first round, and they will play the first of their two matches on Wednesday evening.
But the Drawing of Lots for the five days of the Main Phase will already be taking place on Friday, October 25 at 17:00 in Sofia, during the European Volleyball Gala; the Drawings of Lots will therefore involve two unknowns, as the teams that will qualify after the three qualification rounds are yet to be chosen. To define the five pools, the twenty participating teams are divided into four pots, with one team per pot being draw into each of the pools; the pots have been drawn up in accordance with the CEV ranking based on the results of the 2016, 2017 and 2018 editions of the competition. In the first pot there are the five top seeds; being the third Italian team admitted to the competition, Trentino Volley will be included in the fourth pot with Novy Urengoy, Jastrzebski and the two teams that will qualify after the three qualification rounds. The drawing of lots won’t be limited by nationalities, so Trento could end up in the same pool as Civitanova or Perugia.

Below the composition of the four pots:
First pot (top seeds): Cucine Lube Civitanova and Sir Colussi Sicoma Perugia (Italy), Kuzbass Kemerovo and Zenit Kazan (Russia), Zaksa Kedzierzyn-Kozle (Poland).
Second pot: Fenerbahce Sk Istanbul and Halkbank Ankara (Turkey), Berlin Recycling Volleys and VfB Friedrichshafen (Germany), Onico Warszawa (Poland).
Third pot: Greenyard Maaseik and Knack Roeselare (Belgium), Tours Vb (France), ACH Volley Ljubljana (Slovenia), Jihostroj Ceske Budejovice (Czech Republic).
Fourth pot: Trentino Itas (Italy), Fakel Novy Urengoy (Russia), Jastrzebski Wegiel (Poland) and the two winners of the third round.

Besides, the alternation of the home and away matches of the group stage has already been decided: being in the fourth pot, Trentino Volley will play at the BLM Group Arena on December 11 against the team of the second pot draw in its pool, on December 18 against the team draw from the third pot and on February 12 against the team draw from the first pot. The away matches are scheduled to take place on December 4 in the home field of the team draw from the first pot, on January 28 in the home field of the team draw from the second pot and on February 19 against the team draw from the third pot.

The matching of the three preliminary rounds

1st Round (23rd-30th October) 
(the indicated teams are going to play the going match at home and the returning one on an away match) 
Mladost Zagabria (Cro) vs IBB Polonia London (Eng) 
Mladost Brcko (Bih) vs Benfica Lisbona (Por) 

2nd Round (6th-13th November) 
(the indicated teams are going to play the going match at home and the returning one on an away match) 
The winner of Mladost Zagabria (Cro)-IBB Polonia London (Eng) vs Sk Zadruga AICH/Dob (Aut) 
The winner of Mladost Brcko (Bih)-Benfica Lisbona (Por) vs Ok Budva (Mne)  
Shakhtior Soligorsk (Blr) vs VaLePa Sastamala (Fin) 
C.S. Municipal Arcada Galati (Rou) vs Vojvodina Ns Seme Novi Sad (Srb) 

3rd Round (20th-27th November) 
(the indicated teams are going to play the going match at home and the returning one on an away match)
The winner of (Brcko-Benfica)-Budva vs the winner of (Zagabria-London)-AICH/Dob (Aut) 
The winner of Galati-Novi Sad vs the winner of Soligorsk-Sastamala

Trentino Volley Srl
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