Trento, 30 November 2020

Champions League, on Tuesday at the BLM Group arena starts the 1st concentration of Pool E

In the next three days, at the BLM Group Arena in Trento, the first of the two concentrations of Pool E of Main Phase of 2021 CEV Champions League will be played. After having brilliantly passed the two preliminary rounds, Trentino Itas hosts the first act of the round of four, facing in rapid sequence Lokomotiv Novosibirsk (Tuesday 1 December, at 16) CEZ Karlovarsko (Wednesday 2 December, at 19.30) and VfB Friedrichshafen (Thursday 3 December, at 16). The three matches will be broadcast live on Radio Dolomiti and www.eurovolley.tv (paid service); the one with the Germans will be broadcast live also on RAI Sport +.
THE FORMULA AND THE COMPLETE PROGRAM Pool E of Main Phase of 2021 CEV Champions League consists of two concentrations of three days each, which will conclude the complete program of twelve matches overall. After the concentration in Trento, the four teams will face each other (with the same sequence of matches) also in Friedrichshafen (Germany) between 9 and 11 February 2021. The ranking that will emerge considering all the matches played will decide the team that will qualify for the quarterfinals (first classified), which could be going with the second classified in the final scoreboard, if it resulted between the three best seconds of five rounds. In addition to the three matches with Trentino Itas, at the BLM Group Arena, it will also be played Friedrichshafen-Karlovarsko (1 December, at 19.30), Novosibirsk-Friedrichshafen (2 December, at 16) and Karlovarsko-Novosibirsk (3 December, at 19.30).
HERE TRENTINO ITAS The gialloblù formation arrives at the appointment with only one official match played in the latest month (the one of last Wednesday, lost with Vibo) and with still some uncertainties about the players that can have. Indeed, the technical staff is waiting to know if it can use Simone Giannelli and Lorenzo Sperotto; the two setters will do further molecular swabs in the next days. Their potential negativity to Covid-19 will permit to have them for the matches.
“We want to play this European concentration of three days to the best of our possibilities, giving our all without thinking about who can play – said the coach Angelo Lorenzetti - . Getting to play this Pool cost us a lot from all points of view and now, thanks to all the organisational Company efforts, we can play the first concentration at home. We will try to score as many points as possible, focusing on the volleyball we want to do even before the one we will find on the other side of the net”.
This is the tenth participation ever of Trentino Volley in the CEV Champions League, the fifteenth overall in the European field. Taking into account all the European competitions played, Trentino Volley has disputed 134 continental matches: the report is of 108 victories (54 in Trento, 54 away), and 26 losses (20 in Champions League, 5 in CEV and 1 in Top Teams Cup). The most frequently obtained result is 3-0, obtained in 50% of cases (67 matches, 39 of them home matches); the one that has occurred the least number of times is 0-3 defeat (five times).
FIRST OPPONENT: LOKOMOTIV NOVOSIBIRSK (1 December, at 16) The Club that has stood out among the main realities of the Russian volleyball scene for years, arrives for the first time in its history in Trento as current champion of Russian SuperLiga, won thanks to the first place obtained in regular season before the start of the lockdown. The decision of the national federation permitted to come back to play the CEV Champions League three years after the last time, trophy that has conquered in 2013, winning in Osmk the Final Four which it had organized at home thanks to a 3-2 over Cuneo in the match that awarded the trophy. It was without any doubt the most prestigious result ever achieved by the Siberian Society, which in 1990 disputed also the semi-final of CEV Cup, in 2013 conquered the silver medal in Club World Cup played in Brazil and, later in time, it also won four Soviet championships and two Russian Cups. In the roster, usually coached by Plamen Kostantinov (not in Trento for the three days), the most impressive name is the one of the Serbian spiker Ivovic, who is part of the respectable high ball trio with compatriot Luburic (former Piacenza) and Savin. In the team, there are other names already known to Trentino fans such as the middle-blockers Shcherbinin and the libero Martyuniuk. With Trentino Volley it has only one precedent, related to the semi-final of Club World Cup in 2013, played on 19 October 2013 in Betim (Brazil) and won 3-1 by the Russians. Now, it is in the seven place in the national championship, with seventeen points in the ranking thanks to five victories in eight matches. The last one was on Friday evening with Oblast. The team: 1. Roman Martynyuk (l), 2. Slavi Kostadinov (p), 4. Iurii Brazhniuk (c), 5. Alexander Voropaev (p), 8. Sergey Savin (s), 9. Drazen Luburic (o), 10. Dmitry Shcherbinin (c), 11. Denis Golubev (l), 13. Aleksandr Tkachev (c), 14. Marko Ivovic (s), 15. Pavel Kruglov (o), 16. Dmitrii Lyzik (c), 18. Aleksey Rodichev (s), 19. Ilya Kazachenkov (s). Coach Petar Shopov.
SECOND OPPONENT: CEZ KARLOVARSKO (2 December, at 19.30) The Company which refers to the city of Karlo Vary has a rather recent but already very important history behind it, having been founded only in 2014. Its palmares is still without significant titles, but having consistently positioned itself among the first teams in the Czech championship has allowed the Club to often play the European Cups. The one in Trento is the sixth participation to a CEV competition, the second ever in Champions League, in which it had already taken part in 2019. It was eliminated during the round phase, after having faced in its Pool both Civitanova and Modena. The best continental result ever is represented by the fifth final place in 2017 CEV Cup, won by Tours that eliminated Karlovarsko in the quarterfinals. The 2020/21 team and the coach Jiri Novak (first coach since 2017, after having held the role of Assistant), can count on the former Modena setter Keemink (replaces Tichacek, not in Trento), the Swedish opposite spiker Gustaffson, the Polish spiker Wiese and the spiker Indra (former Liberec). Now, it is in the fourth place in Czech Extraliga with five victories in six matches played.  The team: 1. Martin Fiser (s), 3. Daniel Pfeffer (l), 4. Fredric Gustavsson (o), 6. Tomas Houda (s), 7. Radek Balaz (c), 8. Wessel Keemink (p), 10. Marcel Lux (s), 12. Marc Wilson (c), 13. Lukasz Wiese (s), 14. Vojtech Patocka (c), 15. Lukas Vasina (s), 21. Martin Kocka (p), 23. Patrik Indra (o). Coach Jiri Novak.
THIRD OPPONENT: VFB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN (3 December, at 16) To this day, it is one of the main reference Companies of German volleyball, having won thirteen national titles and sixteen Germany Cups (the latest won last February), but in the latest year has faced some more difficulties in imposing their own game because Berlin has become increasingly competitive. Right at the start of the season, it had to suffer a heavy defeat by 0-3 against the Capital team in the final of the annual edition of the German Super Cup. The most important trophy of its palmares is CEV Champions League, won in 2007. It participates for the 23rd consecutive season at the biggest European club competition. With Trentino Volley, it has several friendly matches (official and non) and two matches of the first phase of the 2011 edition, both ended at the tie break; in the first leg, played on 17 November 2010 at PalaTrento, the then reigning European Champions prevailed, while the second leg played on 12 January 2011 was won by the Germans in a match that was irrelevant for the final ranking. The most recent match dates back only to 4 October 2017, in a test match played at PalaResia in Bolzano and won by the Germans at the tie break. In the biancoblù team, coached by Warm, the former coach of the Austrian national (who two years ago took the place of Heynen), the most important names are the one of the French spiker Marechal, the setter of the Slovenian national Vincic and the middle-blocker Boehme (former San Giustino); the opposite spiker is the German Weber, until last year in the Italian league with the Milan jersey. It guides the Bundesliga with five victories in six matches, including the one obtained last Saturday against Helios (3-0). The team: 1. Jospeh Worsley (p), 2. Avery Aylsworth (l), 4. Nehemiah Mote (c), 6. Martti Juhkami (s), 7. Rare Ionut Balean (s), 8. Arno Van de Velde (c), 9. Dejan Vincic (p), 10. Ben-Simon Bonin (s), 11. Marcus Boehme (c), 12. Linus Weber (o), 14. Lukas Maase (c), 15. David Fiel Rodriguez (c), 16. Nicolas Marechal (s). Coach Michael Warm.
THE REFEREES Trentino Itas-Lokomotiv will be directed by the Turkish Erdal Akinci and the Slovakian Igor Porvaznik. The referee of Istanbul will direct the operations of the match of the following day as well (Trentino Itas-CEZ Karlovarsko), in this case with the Belgian Koen Luts, who will direct also Trentino Itas-VfB Friedrichshafen of Thursday with Porvaznik. The latter is the only one who has precedents (3) compared to Trentino Volley; the most recent is on 19 December 2019 (success in three sets on Ceske Budejovice).
RADIO, INTERNET AND TV The three matches with Trentino Itas will have a live and full coverage on Radio Dolomiti, network partner of Trentino Volley. Radio frequencies can be found on the website www.radiodolomiti.com, where you can listen to the radio update in live streaming.
It will be possible to watch the match streaming on “EuroVolleyTv” at  www.eurovolley.tv; paid service. For info on the packages offered www.eurovolley.tv/en-int/page/pricing-and-faq.
To follow the matches point by point, it will instead be possible to consult the official website of the CEV at www.cev.eu/Competition-Area/CompetitionView.aspx?ID=1259, which will provide live score of all three matches, or on Trentino Volley www.trentinovolley.it, which will provide also the set by set coverage for a few minutes after the conclusion of every single partial. The updates will always be active on the gialloblù Social Networks (www.trentinovolley.it/facebook, www.trentinovolley.it/instagram and www.trentinovolley.it/twitter).
Only the match on Thursday afternoon against Friedrichshafen will be broadcast live on RAI Sport +, channel present both on the digital terrestrial platform (number 57 in HD, 58 in sd) and the satellite platform of Sky at number 227, with commentary of Maurizio Colantoni and Andrea Lucchetta; the images will also be broadcast on the internet in video-audio streaming via the RaiPlay application.
BLM GROUP ARENA BEHIND CLOSED DOORS Following the ordinances in the last Prime Minister's Decree, the building in via Fersina will remain closed to the public, allowing entry only to a few accredited media and the staff assigned to the field.

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