Trento, 22 March 2024

CEV Champions League, statistical notes and trivia after qualifying for the Final

Some statistics and trivia emerged after Trentino Volley's qualification for the 2024 CEV Champions League Final.

ANOTHER WINNING ITALIAN SEMIFINAL. The Italian derby in a Champions League semi-final continues to bring satisfaction to Trentino Volley. With the one obtained on Thursday evening in Civitanova Marche, Trentino Volley has won five (out of five) semifinals against compatriots in this phase of the final table of the highest continental tournament. Previously, the Gialloblù had got the better of Perugia (double round, in the 2021 and 2022 editions) and Lube itself (single match, in the 2009 and 2016 editions).

A POLISH TEAM AGAIN. The one on May 5 will be the third SuperFinal to be played against a Polish team for Trentino Volley, which in the matches that decided the tournament in the 2021 (Verona) and 2022 (Ljubljana) editions always challenged Kedzierzyn-Kozle, leaving the opponents to win in four and three sets respectively. In its history there are five Finals played against teams from Poland, also considering the challenges that decided the 2009 Club World Championship (3-0 to Belchatow), 2010 (3-1 to Belchatow) and 2011 (3-1 against Jastrzebski Wegiel). In total, twenty-seven official matches have been played against Polish teams: fourteen against Kedzierzyn-Kozle, five against Rzeszow, four against Belchatow, and two against Czestochowa and Jastrzebski; 19-8 for the yellow-blue team.

FOURTH EUROPEAN FINAL IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS. Competing in a match that awards a continental title has become a pleasant habit for Trentino Volley for the past five years. From 2019 to date, the Gialloblù have qualified for a European Final on four occasions, taking into account not only the Champions League Finals played in 2021 in Verona and in 2022 in Ljubljana, but also the CEV Cup Final played and won in 2019 against Galatasaray Istanbul. 2020 and 2023 were the only recent calendar years in which the yellow-blue club did not reach that goal, but in the first case it could not have done so anyway since it was the pandemic that stopped the run (and all the events) before the quarter-finals took place (as it happens, it was a match against Jastrzebski).

MOTIVATED VETERANS. There are seven players of the current Trentino Volley roster who have already played a Champions League Final with the yellow-blue jersey: Michieletto (2021 and 2022 editions), Podrascanin (2021, 2022), Nelli (2016), D'Heer (2022), Cavuto (2022), Sbertoli (2022), Lavia (2022). None of them has ever won the trophy.

99 TIMES LUBE. Thursday night's match at the Eurosuole Forum was the last in double figures against Cucine Lube. The next one will be the 100th, and it could happen in just over a week's time, should the Marche team qualify for the Scudetto Play Off Semifinal by overcoming Monza in a comeback in the quarter-finals. The balance is in favour of Lube: 45-54, taking into account that even the Champions League semi-final return match of Thursday statistically represents a victory for Civitanova, who won twenty-one of the thirty-six tie breaks played in the confrontation.

TIE BREAK. Trentino Itas' season balance in the Champions League before the SuperFinals consists of eight victories out of ten matches played. The only two defeats both came in the fifth set: on January 17 at home against Rzeszow, on March 21 in Civitanova Marche.

NUMBERS IN EUROPEAN CUPS. Trentino Volley has qualified for the final in seven of its thirteen Champions League appearances in its history, always gaining at least access to the Play Offs in all circumstances. The club from via Trener also has a special feeling for the semifinals of the event, having managed to qualify for the final in seven of the previous eight occasions: in addition to the one just obtained, it was also the case for the 2009 edition (3-0 over Macerata in Prague), 2010 (3-1 over Bled in Lodz), 2011 (3-0 over Jastrzebski), 2016 (3-0 over Civitanova), 2021 (3-0 and 2-3 with Perugia) and 2022 (3-2 and 2-3 with Perugia, golden set winner). The only knockout was in 2012 (1-3 against Kazan in Lodz). Taking into account all the continental championships played, Trentino Volley has played 172 official matches so far: the tally is 137 victories (70 in Trento, 67 away) and 35 defeats (29 in Champions League, 5 in CEV and 1 in Top Teams Cup).  The most frequently achieved result is the 3-0 win, in 49% of cases (83 matches); the one that occurred the least is the 0-3 defeat (eight times).

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