Trento, 25 February 2025

2025 CEV Cup, on Wednesday at the ilT quotidiano Arena the return of the quarter

February 2025 concludes with an international commitment for the Trentino Itas men's team: on Wednesday, February 26, at the ilT Quotidiano Arena in Trento, the European Champions will host the French team Chaumont VB 52 for the return leg of the quarterfinals. The match is scheduled to start at 8:30 PM, with live coverage on Radio Dolomiti.
HERE TRENTINO ITAS The third home match in a week offers a particularly important appointment for the yellow-blues, who are hunting for a spot among the top four teams in the second continental competition and thus aiming to qualify for the fourth semifinal in as many events. To secure it effectively, after the 3-1 win in the first leg two weeks ago in France, they will need to win at least two sets.
"Continuing our journey in the European competition is an objective that is particularly dear to us: we will give our best to achieve it," explained coach Fabio Soli, presenting the match. "From this point of view, the 3-1 success in the first leg is certainly a good starting point, but it still guarantees nothing; maximum commitment will be necessary because qualifying for the semifinals is anything but simple and straightforward. Qualification for the semifinals depends on a concrete and attentive match, taking into account that, as seen two weeks ago in France, our opponents are certainly a practical, well-organized team that plays decidedly effective volleyball. The quality we manage to propose in the various fundamentals will certainly be the key to the challenge".
Trentino Itas will complete their preparation for the appointment with training sessions this evening and on Wednesday morning at the ilT Quotidiano Arena, which, despite having different names (previously PalaTrento and BLM Group Arena), is set to host the 86th international match for Trentino Volley. The record is 72 wins and 13 losses; only three of these are related to the CEV Cup. The last one dates back to just under ten years ago: April 4, 2015, with a 1-3 loss to Dinamo Moscow in the first leg of the 2015 edition, which was then lost to the Russians in the golden set.
THE OPPONENTS Chaumont VB 52, a team representing the town of 24,000 inhabitants, the capital of Haute-Marne in north-central France, arrives in Trento following a victory in the top match of the national championship, which allowed them to return to the top spot in the standings. The 3-1 home win against Montpellier on Friday evening enabled the red-and-blacks to erase the previous stop at the tie-break suffered in Toulouse immediately after the match with Trento and regain a point of margin over the top pursuers in the standings.
The team coached by Silvano Prandi, who will return to Trento as an ex-coach after having been the first coach between 2003 and 2005 for 61 official matches, is experiencing its eleventh European cup adventure, to which they have been participating steadily since the 2013/14 season, totaling three appearances in the Champions League (2018, 2019, and 2025), three in the Challenge Cup, and six in the CEV Cup, including the current one. Their best result ever was second place in the 2017 Challenge Cup, lost in the final to Novy Urengoy. Their honors include a national title won in 2017, two French Supercups (2017 and 2021), and a French Cup (2022).
The current roster relies on young national talents like the spiker Henno (son of Hubert, former libero of Roma, Cuneo, and Macerata) and the opposite Toledo, as well as foreign players of absolute reliability such as the Americans Holdaway (middle blocker), Pasteur (spiker), and Worsley (setter), the Finnish Suihkonen, and the German Maase (ex Friedrichshafen), all of whom were protagonists in the first leg.  Chaumont VB 52 roster: 1. Joseph Worsley (se), 2. Theo Durand (l), 3. Shane Holdaway (mb), 4. Mathis Henno (s), 5. Lohan Lafaivre (s), 7. Niko Suihkonen (s), 8. Cheikh Diop (o), 9. Pierre Toledo (o), 10. Nathan Lietzke (s), 15. Josef Polak (mb), 16. Lukas Maase (mb), 17. Jacob Pasteur (s), 19. Sebastian Closter (l). Coach: Silvano Prandi.
TRENTINO ITAS QUALIFIED FOR THE SEMIFINALS IF…To pass the round and advance to the semifinals, the Gialloblù team needs to win at least two sets. Thanks to the 3-1 victory in the first leg, the European Champions can afford to lose even in a tiebreak, thus avoiding the golden set scenario against Chaumont, which will only be played if the French team wins in four sets at most. The rules are identical to those used in the CEV Champions League Playoffs. Those who pass the round will face in the semi-finals the winner team of the quarter-final between Ziraat Bank Ankara and ACH Volley Ljubljana (first leg 3-0, return match tonight in Turkey). Today, there will also be the Rzeszow-Fenerbahce match (first leg 3-1), while on Wednesday evening, Tours-Roeselare (first leg 3-2) will complete the picture, determining the matches of the semi-finals.
THE BACKGROUND Wednesday’s match will be the fourth overall meeting between the two clubs, who have already faced off twice in the 2018 CEV Champions League Round of 16, in addition to the first-leg match in this competition (a 3-1 victory for Trento on February 11th in France, with set scores of 23-25, 25-21, 25-17, 25-19). The overall record is 2-1 in favor of Trento, with Chaumont claiming their only victory in Reims on March 14, 2018, in a tiebreak, while Trentino Volley won the match on March 20, 2018, with a 3-0 victory. Trentino Volley’s overall record against French teams is twelve victories in fifteen matches, including the eight games played against Tours and the two against Beauvais and Cannes.
THE REFEREES The match will be refereed by Seckin Yener, first Turkish referee (from Istanbul) and by Gregor Novak, the second Slovenian referee (from Ljubljana). Only the last one has already refereed Trentino Volley’s matches, for example during the 2019 CEV Cup Round of 16 first leg (a 3-0 victory in Lausanne).
RADIO AND INTERNET The match will be reported live with continuous updates by Radio Dolomiti, Trentino Volleyball’s media partner, from 8:35 pm. Frequencies to listen to the regional network are available on the website www.radiodolomiti.com, where it is also possible to follow the radio news live and the report of the match also in streaming, in the section “on air”.
To follow the evolution point by point of the match, it will be possible to consult the official website of the CEV at www.cev.eu/match-centres/2025-european-cups/cev-volleyball-cup-2025-men/ccm-78-trentino-itas-v-chaumont-vb-52/ and the official Trentino Volley website www.trentinovolley.it, which will also offer the chronicle set by set a few minutes after the conclusion of each individual partial. Moreover, detailed updates will be always active on gialloblù social networks, above all on www.trentinovolley.it/instagram and www.trentinovolley.it/twitter.
TICKET OFFICE The match is included in the 2024/25 season ticket. Tickets for the single match can be purchased at any time on the internet by clicking https://trentinovolley.vivaticket.it/it/event/trentino-itas-vs-chaumont/260514. Tickets will also be available on Sunday at the ticket office of the ilT quotidiano Arena, active from 7:30 pm, at the same time as the entrances to the arena will also be opened.

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office