Cagliari, 18 December 2024

2025 CEV Cup, return match of the round of 16 on Thursday in Cagliari

The last return matches of the Round of 16 of the 2025 CEV Cup, the second most important continental club competition, will be played between today and Thursday. On December 19, Trentino Itas will host the Portuguese team Sport Lisboa e Benfica (who were already defeated 3-0 in the first leg) at the PalaPirastu in Cagliari, rather than at the ilT quotidiano Arena. The decision to hold the match in this Sardinian venue was made to promote high-level volleyball in a region that has a strong passion for the sport, such as Sardinia. The match is scheduled to start at 7 PM, with live streaming available on www.videolina.it/live and Radio Dolomiti.
HERE TRENTINO ITAS Returning to Italy only on Tuesday morning and heading directly to Cagliari without going back to Trento, the European champions will take the court aiming to secure at least two sets against the Portuguese team, in order to advance to the next round.
“We just came from a Club World Championship Final that we wanted to end differently, and diving right back into an important match like this one just a few days later is, I believe, the best way to turn the page and approach this appointment well,” said coach Fabio Soli during the presentation this morning “The 3-0 victory in Lisbon in the first leg does not allow us to underestimate this Benfica, which has a strong organization behind it and a very capable roster; therefore, we must be good at going out there and securing qualification, and the memory of our silver medal should give us even more determination. Now, more than just catching our breath, we need to find our rhythm and a more consistent game, which is why we will take the court with the best possible lineup”.
The yellow-blue coach will rely on the thirteen players who participated in the 2024 Club World Championship last week in Uberlandia. The only unavailable player is central Kozamernik, who remained in Trento to follow a differentiated program to return to action as soon as possible. The team will complete its preparation for the match with training sessions this afternoon and Thursday morning at PalaPirastu, which will be useful for getting accustomed to a circular venue that is expected to be completely sold out (all 2,500 tickets have already been sold).
For Trentino Volley, this match in Sardinia will be the 229th international match in its history (record: 183 wins, 45 losses), and the 40th in the CEV Cup, where it has lost only five times (the last time was in Tours in 2017); indeed, the yellow-blue club has won its last thirteen matches played in this competition, adding the three from this edition to the ten played in 2019 (which they then won).
FOURTH TIME FOR THE YELLOW-BLUE IN SARDINIA The away game in Cagliari, which follows quickly after those to Civitanova, Lisbon, and Uberlandia, will be the fourth overall for Trentino Volley. In this region, they have notably won one of the twenty-one titles displayed in their trophy cabinet: the 2011 Supercup, achieved by defeating Cuneo 3-1 in the single-match final on November 1. In addition to that previous encounter, there is also the match played at PalaPirastu on February 11, 2006, against the then-local team Tiscali during the sixth round of the second half of the 2005/06 regular season (lost 3-0) and their participation in the 2022 Supercup Final Four, where they finished in third place after losing in the semifinals to Perugia (2-3 on October 30) and winning against Modena in the bronze medal match the following day (3-1).
THE OPPONENTS Sport Lisboa e Benfica returns to Italy exactly one year after their previous and last experience (December 20, 2023, a loss in three sets in Piacenza during the group stage of the Champions League), aiming to overturn the unfavorable result from the first leg, not allowing the yellow-blues more than one set, and potentially winning the subsequent golden set. They must achieve this to secure qualification for the Playoffs, which is the only outcome that would allow them to continue their journey in the competition, where in recent history (2015 edition) they reached the Final, losing to Novi Sad. After the first leg, the team that is part of the multisport that also includes the glorious football team has achieved two clear wins for 3-0 in the Portuguese league: on the 7th of December on the home field against Espinho and last Saturday at Viana do Castelo. That way, it kept following the trail of the frontrunner Sporting Lisbona, with 32 points (two less than those at the top) as a result of eleven victories and only one defeat. The roster of Sport Lisboa e Benfica: 2. Bernardo Silva (l), Peter Wohlfahrtstätter (c), 5. Francisco Leitao (p), 7. Ivo Casas (l), 8. Pablo Ventura Machado, 9. Diaz Gomez Nivaldo Nadhir (s), 10. Pablo Natan Ventura Machado (s), 11. Pearson Eshchenko (c), 12. Matheus Alejandro Hoffman Da Cunda (c), 13. Felipe Airton Banderò (o), 15. Eduardo Brito (c), 16. Tomas Teixeira (s), 17. Tiago Da Silva Violas (p), 18. André Ryuma Oto Aleixo (s), 20. Diogo Fernandes (c), 21. Michal Godlewski (o). Coach Marcel Matz.
TRENTINO ITAS QUALIFIED FOR THE PLAYOFFS IF… To pass these rounds and access the Playoffs, the yellow-blue team needs to win two sets; thanks to the 3-0 success during the first leg, the Champions of Europe will indeed be able to lose at the tiebreaker to avoid the hypothetical golden set with Sport Lisboa e Benfica, which will only be played only in case of a four set victory by the Portuguese. The rules are identical to those used in the CEV Champions League Playoffs. The qualifying team will face the Romanian champions of Corona Brasov, who have won the qualification thanks to a double imposed 3-0 on the Estonians of Selver x Tallin Taltech.
THE FORMULA AND OTHER MATCHES The 2025 CEV Cup will see the dispute of seven double rounds (round-robin) of competitions (Round of 32, Round of 16 - already played -, Round of 8, Playoffs, Quarter-finals, Semifinals and Finals) with direct elimination: the team that scores the most points in the two matches gets qualified, given according to championship rules: 3 for the victory by 3-0 or 3-1, 2 for the success at the tie break, 1 for the defeat at the tie break (golden set to 15 in case of tying points - same system as the Playoffs CEV Champions League). The other round-robin matches (in brackets the result of the first leg): Pafiakos Pafos-Draisma Dynamo Apeldoorn (2-3), VK Lvi Praha-Asseco Resovia Rzeszow (0-3), Volley Amriswil-Omonia Nicosia (3-2), Tours Vb-Mladost Zagreb (3-1), Selver x Taltech Tallin-CSM Corona Brasov 0-3 (0-3), Aons Milon Athens-Guaguas Las Palmas (0-3), Ziraat Bank Ankara-Galatasaray HDI Istanbul (3-1).
THE PRECEDENTS In the archives between the two companies there is only the first leg, played on the last 4th of December in Lisbon with a yellow-blue 3-0 victory (25-20, 25-23 and 25-19) and Michieletto as best scorer (12 points). This is also the only match in its history supported by Trentino Volley with Portuguese teams.
THE REFEREES The match will be directed by Stojan Barev, first Bulgarian referee from Sofia, and the Spanish Ruben Sanchez Rodriguez, second whistle of Oviedo. Neither has a record with Trentino Volley.
RADIO AND INTERNET The match will be broadcast live from Videolina, the main private Sardinian TV, at the direct link www.videolina.it/live.
Radio Dolomiti, media partner of Trentino Volley, will also offer live score updates in each set approximately from 19.05 onwards. On the website www.radiodolomiti.com you can consult all frequencies of the regional network and, at the same time, listen to the streaming of the match, accessing the "on air" section. To follow the point-by-point evolution of the match, it will be possible to head over to the official CEV website at www.cev.eu/match-centres/2025-european-cups/cev-volleyball-cup-2025-men/ccm-60-trentino-itas-v-sport-lisboa-e-benfica/ , which will also offer the set-by-set report a few minutes after the conclusion of each set. Updates will always be active also on the social yellow-blue networks, especially on www.trentinovolley.it/instagram  and www.trentinovolley.it/twitter.

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office