Trento, 24 October 2019

2020 CEV Champions League, the drawing of lots for the five rounds

The first official act of Trentino Volley's ninth participation at the CEV Champions League will be celebrated on Friday 25 October in Sofia. Starting from 5 pm in the Bulgarian capital, the draw for the five rounds of the Main Phase of the 2020 edition of the European top club competition will take place. Itas Trentino returns to compete in this competition after only one year of absence in which in the meantime it has conquered the CEV Cup. Twenty formations will be inserted in the ballot box: eighteen already qualified (among which also the yellow-blue team that will play under the name “Trentino Itas”) and two formations than will obtain the pass in the qualifying round, which have started on Tuesday evening. For this reason the drawing of the lots will be characterized by two "X", which will be known only at the end of November. The twenty participating teams will be divided in four different pots. In fact, every round will include a formation of every four pot, established on the basis of the 2016, 2017, 2018 CEV ranking. In the first pot, there are the five top seeds. As third Italian team admitted to the event, Trentino Volley will be on the fourth pot, where there are Novy Urengoy, Jastrzebski too together with the two teams that will qualify from the three preliminary rounds. According to the rules of the tournament, Trento could be in the same round of Civitanova or Perugia.

The composition of the four pots of the draw on Friday in Sofia:
First pot (top seeds): Cucine Lube Civitanova e Sir Colussi Sicoma Perugia (Italy), Kuzbass Kemerovo e Zenit Kazan (Russia), Zaksa Kedzierzyn-Kozle (Poland).

Second pot: Fenerbahce Sk Istanbul e Halkbank Ankara (Turkey), Berlin Recycling Volleys e VfB Friedrichshafen (Germany), Projekt Warszawa (Poland).

Third pot: Grenyard Maaseik e Knack Roeselare (Belgium), Tours Vb (France), ACH Volley Ljubljana (Slovenia), Jihostroj Ceske Budejovice (Czech Republic).

Fourth pot: Trentino Itas (Italy), Fakel Novy Urengoy (Russian), Jastrzebski Wegiel (Poland) e due vincitrici del terzo round.

The group stage is scheduled for December 2019 and it will end on 19th February 2020. The format of the last edition is therefore confirmed, without a Final Four but with a final on neutral ground. Furthermore, the alternation of home and away matches of the group stage has already been established. Trentino Volley will play at BLM Group Arena on 11 December against the team drawn in its group from the second pot, on 18 December against the team drawn by the third pot and on 12 February against the team drawn by the first pot. 
The away games are scheduled for December 4th at the home of the team drawn from its first pot, January 28th at the home of the team drawn from the second pot and February 19th against the team drawn by the third pot.
During the draw, which will be broadcast on the  CEV YouTube channel, will be awarded individual prizes in 2019.

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office