Trento, 19 November 2024

2025 CEV Cup, on Wednesday at ilT quotidiano Arena the return match of 16th Finals

After two consecutive away matches, the European Champions return to play an official game in front of their home crowd. On Wednesday, November 20, at the ilT quotidiano Arena, Trentino Itas will face the Romanian team C.S. Arcada Galati in the return match of the round of 32 of the 2025 CEV Cup, the second most important continental club competition. The match is scheduled to start at 20:30, with live coverage on Radio Dolomiti.
HERE TRENTINO ITAS To continue their European campaign and aim for another prestigious international result, the yellow-blue team must win two sets. Thanks to the promising 3-1 victory in the first leg, this would be enough for the home team to secure qualification for the next round. Beyond everything and without forgetting the challenges that a knockout match like this can always present, Trentino Itas and their coach Fabio Soli want to win to maintain their good momentum (nine victories in the first eleven matches) and reconnect with their fans in the best possible way.
"We cannot underestimate this commitment at all, and the first leg match, at times difficult and hard-fought, serves as a reminder of that," explained Trentino Itas coach Fabio Soli during the presentation. "Qualification must be achieved action by action, with the play and determination that allows us to contain an Arcada Galati that will be anything but submissive and will rightly hit every ball with full force, having nothing to lose. We want to secure our place in the next round and win another match in front of our fans, continuing our journey for as long as possible. Beyond everything, I am convinced that the series of closely spaced matches that the calendar is offering us right now, with very different types of teams, represents an opportunity for us to gain rhythm and condition, something we have inevitably lacked in the first part of the season".
The yellow-blue coach will have all available players at his disposal and will decide on the type of lineup to propose on the court between tonight's training session and Wednesday morning.
EUROPEAN ATMOSPHERE CAN BE BREATHED AGAIN AT ILT QUOTIDIANO ARENA On Wednesday evening, the sports facility on Via Fersina will host the eighty-first European home match in the history of Trentino Volley, the thirty-ninth ever in the CEV Cup, where it has won thirty-three times so far (with only five losses: two against Ankara in the 2005 edition, one against Moscow in 2015, and one against Fenerbahce and Tours in 2017). The last victory at home in the CEV Cup dates back to March 19, 2019 (3-0 in the first leg final of the 2019 edition against Galatasaray), while the most recent continental appearance at ilT quotidiano Arena was on March 13, 2024: a 3-1 win over Civitanova in the first leg semifinal of the Champions League. The club on Via del Brennero will play its 1,056th official match in history, the 222nd international match (record: 178 wins and 43 losses).
THE OPPONENTS C.S. Arcada Galati arrives in Trento for the first time in its history exactly one year after its last appearance in Italy (a group stage match of the Champions League, lost 3-0 to Civitanova Marche), aiming to overturn the unfavorable result from the first leg and not allow the home team more than one set. They will have to achieve this to secure qualification for the round of 16, the only result that would allow them to continue their run in the competition, where they reached the quarter-finals in the recent past (2020 edition). After the first leg match, the team coached by former central player Sergiu Stancu from Martina Franca and Forlì has not played any official matches, observing a bye during the last weekend in the eighth round of the national championship (which consists of eleven teams). As a result, they have not moved in the standings, where they currently sit in fifth place with 12 points from seven matches played. The roster of C.S. Arcada Galati: 1. Landry
Kavogo Yaoussia (S), 3. Filip Andrei Costantin (OP), 4. Wilfrio Encarnacion Hernandez (C), 5.Andrei Butnaru (C) 6. Bernard Bakonji (P), 7. Ovidiu Costin Darlaczi (S), 8. Steven Marshall (S), 9. Veniamin Ioan Aldea (C), 11. Carol-Gabriel Kosinski (L), 12. Marian Iulian Bala (S), 13. Alexandru Rata (OP), 14. Gustavs Freimanis (C), 15. Liviu Cristudor (L), 16. Mohamed Abdelmohsen Soliman (C), 22. Mario Eduard Panait (OP), 28. Alexandru Ionescu (OP).  Coach Sergio Stancu.
TRENTINO ITAS QUALIFIES FOR THE ROUND OF 16 IF... To advance, the yellow-blues need to win two sets; thanks to their 3-1 victory in the first leg, the European Champions can afford to lose even in the tie-break to avoid the golden set scenario with C.S. Arcada Galati, which will only be played if the Swiss team wins in at most four sets. The rules are the same as those used in the CEV Champions League Play-Offs. The winner will face the winner of the match between Sport Lisboa Benfica and Calcit Kamnik: the return match is played tonight in Slovenia after the Portuguese team's 3-0 home victory in the first leg.
THE FORMAT AND OTHER MATCHES The 2025 CEV Cup involves seven double rounds (home and away) of matches (Round of 32 – already played, Round of 16, Round of 8, Playoffs, Quarterfinals, Semifinals, and Final) in a knockout format: the team that advances is the one that gains the most points over the two games, with points awarded as in the league: 3 for a 3-0 or 3-1 win, 2 for a tie-break win, 1 for a tie-break loss (golden set to 15 in case of tied points – the same system as the CEV Champions League Playoffs). The other return matches in the Round of 16 (first leg results in parentheses): Draisma Dynamo Apeldoorn - Lausanne UC (3-1), Lindemans Aalst - Pafiakos Pafos (1-3), Asseco Resovia Rzeszow - Orion Stars Doetinchem (3-0), Blue Volley Ostrava - VK Lvi Praha (0-3), Deya Volley Burgas - Omonia Nicosia (1-3), Volley Amriswil - Crvena Zvezda Beograd (3-0), VfB Friedrichshafen - Mladost Zagreb (1-3), Tours VB - Volley Schonenwerd (3-2), Vojvodina Novi Sad - CSM Corona Brasov (1-3), C.S. Rapid Bucuresti - Selver/TalTech Tallinn (1-3), Calcit Kamnik - Sport Lisboa e Benfica (0-3), TSV Raiffeisen Hartberg - Guaguas Las Palmas (0-3), Aons Milon Athens - SK Jēkabpils Lūši (3-1), Galatasaray HDI Istanbul - Fino Kaposvár (3-2), Ziraat Bank Ankara - VaLePa Sastamala (3-1).
PREVIOUS MATCHES In the records between the two clubs, there is only the first leg match, played on November 13 in Galati, with a 3-1 victory for the yellow-blues (25-18, 22-25, 25-16, 25-22) and Michieletto as the top scorer (21 points). The overall record against Romanian teams speaks only in favor of Trentino Volley, considering also the four total victories against Zalau (2011 Champions League edition) and Craiova (2015 CEV Cup edition). In Trento, Romanian teams have played only two matches, winning just one set in total.
THE REFEREES The match will be officiated by Nicolas Fragkakis, a Greek first referee from Athens, and Raquel Portela, a Portuguese second referee from Porto. Neither of these referees has previous experience with Trentino Volley.
RADIO AND INTERNET The match will be broadcast live from the ilT quotidiano Arena by Radio Dolomiti, a media partner of Trentino Volley, starting at around 8:35 PM. On the website  www.radiodolomiti.com, you can check all the regional network frequencies and also listen to the live commentary of the match by accessing the "on air" section.
To follow the match point by point, you can visit the official CEV website at   www.cev.eu/match-centres/2025-european-cups/cev-volleyball-cup-2025- men/ccm-40-trentino-itas-v-cs-arcada-galati, which will also provide a set-by-set commentary a few minutes after the end of each set. Updates will also be continuously available on the yellow-blues' social networks, particularly on www.trentinovolley.it/instagram and www.trentinovolley.it/twitter.
TICKETING The match is included in the 2024/25 season ticket. It is possible to purchase tickets for the single match at any time online, by clicking https://trentinovolley.vivaticket.it/it/event/cev-cup-2025-trentino-itas-vs-galati/253862. Tickets will also be available on Sunday at the ilT quotidiano Arena ticket offices, which will open at 7:30 PM, the same time as the arena gates.

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office