Trento, 18 February 2020

The last commitment of 2020 CEV Champions League, Wednesday in Czech Republic in the PoolA

2020 CEV Champions League on the field for the sixth and final round of the Main Phase, the one that will determine the names of the eight teams promoted to the quarter-finals. For this reason all the matches will be played on the evening of Wednesday 19th February; Trentino Itas will be in Pool A in the Czech Republic, hosted by Jihostroj Ceske Budejovice. Start whistle scheduled for 5pm Italian time at the Sportovny Hala: live on Radio Dolomiti and DAZN.
HERE TRENTINO ITAS to ensure their qualification to the final scoreboard, a goal that has been always achieved in the previous eight rounds of the tournament, the Gialloblù team will have to get a victory with any score, thus entering with mathematical certainty the lot of the three best second of the five rounds that will pass the round together with the first classified of each pool.
"Since the draw of our grouping last November, we knew that in all likelihood we would have to aim at second place in order to qualify - said the coach Angelo Lorenzetti - . That's actually how it went and now the goal is one success away. It will take maximum concentration to really get it, because winning away in the Champions League is never easy. The motivations of the opponents multiply in these cases; matches of this kind are particularly long-awaited and heartfelt appointments. This is good, but we shouldn't lose sight of our focus.”
Trentino Itas coach Uros Kovacevic (struggling with muscle fatigue) will probably need to rest, even if he left this morning for the Czech Republic. With the team is also the baby hitter spiker Alessandro Michieletto, while Mitar Djuric stayed in Trento. In full agreement with the club, the opposite will not be present at Ceske Budejovice because he was busy on the same day taking the Italian exam necessary to obtain the citizenship of our country.
THIRD TRANSFER TO THE CZECH REPUBLIC OF TRENTINO VOLLEY HISTORY The one that started this morning and will end in the night between Wednesday and Thursday (the return to Trento  is planned immediately after the match by bus) is the third ever trip to the Czech Republic for Trentino Volley, a nation that will always have a special place in the history of the club because at the O2 Arena in Prague on April 5, 2009 the Club Gialloblù won its first Champions League, surpassing 3-1 Thessaloniki in the Final. After that triumph, the club returned to the Czech Republic only once, just to face Ceske Budejovice at home, winning 3-1 on January 13, 2010 at Sportovny Hala in a match of the group stage of the 2010 edition. The challenge will represent the 130th European match in the history of Trentino Volley, the 90th ever in the Champions League.
THE OPPONENTS The home success achieved in three sets last Thursday against Fenerbahce allowed Jihostroj Ceske Budejovice to confirm himself as the current third force in Pool A, repeating the success already achieved in the first leg in Turkey (in that case at the tie break). In any case, the return to the top continental tournament for Clubs after just one season away will be remembered positively for the Czech club; the current one is its tenth presence in the competition, won thanks to the victory of the tenth national title. The third Scudetto won in the last six years has enriched a showcase that also includes two Czechoslovakian titles and five national cups, while on the European field the most outstanding result is represented by the participation in the Final Four of the CEV Cup in 1998, closed with the fourth place overall.
In the 2019/2020 Czech ExtraLeague the Ceske Budejovice is now second in the rank with fourteen victories and forty-two points scored in nineteen days and with eight points away from the top of the list Karlovarsko. Last Saturday arrived a success for 3-0 with the tail-end Beskydy, match in which shined the opposite hitter Krestan and the hitter Zmrhal (13 points each). The shortlist of the Jihostroj Ceske Budejovice: 1. Martino Mechkarov (hitter), 3. Radek Mach (middle hitter), 4. Filip Krestan (opposite hitter), 5. Matey Koranda (hitter), 7. Petr Michalek (hitter), 8. Peter Ondorvic (middle hitter), 9. Onderj Piskacek (setter), 10. Miguel Angel de Amo Fernandez Echevarria (hitter), 11. Martin Krystof (libero), 12. Valerii Todua (middle hitter), 13. Tomas Fila (hitter), 14. Martin Jindra (hitter), 17. Marek Sotola (opposite hitter), 19. Marek Zmrhal (hitter). Coach Rene Dvorak.
THE SITUATION OF THE POOL A The sixth turn of the Pool A will determine only the final position of the Trentino Volley and of the Jihostrj Ceske Budejovice, given that the previous five days have already made mathematical the first place of the Cucine Lube Civitanova (5 victories and fifteen points) and the last of Fenerbahce HDI Sigorta Istanbul (0 successes and two points). The Czechs will overcome Trentino Volley, placing themselves in second place, only if they win for 3-0, otherwise, in the case of a 3-1 at home would be necessary to consult the quotient points. Trento, currently with three victories and eight points, to qualify for the quarter final without having to consult the results of the four other rounds has to win with any score. To obtain the second place, but without have the certainty of moving to the next round, is enough also a defeat at the tie break.
THE PREVIOUS Trentino Volley and Ceske Budejovice have in the archive three official matches, two played in the edition 2010 of the CEV Champions League, won by Trentino Volley in the Final Four of Lodz, and one in the match played in the first round. The evaluation speaks only in favour of Trentino Volley thanks to all the 3-0 collected in Trento between the 10th and the 19th of December 2019 (results 25-16, 25-20, 25-21), while the only previous in the Czech Republic (the 13th of January 2010) ended in 3-1. The Jihostroj is not the only opponent of the Czech Republic faced during the twenty-year history of the team: the 12th of November 2004 challenged also the Vavex Pribram, winning for 3-0 in Odense (Denmark) in the qualifying phase of the 2015 CEV Cup.
THE REFEREES The match will be directed by Nurper Ozbar, first referee of Istanbul and by the French Oliver Guillet, second of Toulouse. None of them boasts previous regarding Trentino Volley.
RADIO AND INTERNET The match will be broadcast live by Radio Dolomiti, media partner of Trentino Volley, with the first connection around 5pm. All the frequencies to listen to the regional network are available on the website www.radiodolimiti.com, space in which you can also listen to the commentary on livestream, by logging in the section ‘’On Air’’. It will be possible to follow the match on DAZN, live streaming platform and on demand available on a wide range of devices connected at Internet, including Smart TV, PC, smartphones, tablets and game consoles. DAZN requires registration and offers the first month of free trial; for each account, it is possible to associate up to six devices, of which two can be used simultaneously.
To follow the development point-to-point of the match will be possible to consult the official website of the CEV on https://cevlive.cev.eu/DV_LiveScore.aspx?ID=37547 or the one of Trentino Volley www.trentinovolleey.it that will offer also the chronicle set – to – set a few minutes later after the end of every single set. The updates will be always available also on the Social Network of the team (www.trentinovolley.it/facebook www.trentinovolley.it/instagram and www.trentinovolley.it/twitter).

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office