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CEV Champions League Volley 2025 | Women
Between VakifBank Istanbul and Fenerbahçe Medicana Istanbul, the two Turkish powerhouses have won the title in the CEV Champions League Women seven times in the past 13 seasons, with VakifBank winning six of those titles and Fenerbahçe clinching one, in the 2011/12 season.
However, Fenerbahçe have been a constant challenge for the trophy in the past seasons, making the semi-finals in each of the last three seasons, but each time they have conceded a loss, twice against VakifBank, in the 2021/22 and 2022/23 seasons and against Numia Vero Volley Milano in the 2023/24 season. All of the three losses came in a golden set, much to the heartbreak of Fenerbahçe.
This time around, the star-studded Turkish side, which has the MVP of the CEV EuroVolley Women 2023, Melissa Vargas, in their roster, will try to produce another challenge for the trophy. But their head-to-head record against VakifBank in the knockout phases of the European premium competition saw all the matches go to their opponents, as VakifBank qualified five times in five clashes.
The streak started in the 2010/11 season, when VakifBank won the trophy for the first time in their history, when they defeated Fenerbahçe in the semi-finals. Four years later, VakifBank eliminated Fenerbahçe from the play-offs, while in the 2015/16 season, Fenerbahçe conceded a loss in the semi-finals against their domestic rivals.
The last two doubleheaders were the semi-finals of the 2021/22 and 2022/23 seasons, when the two sides shared the wins, but VakifBank won the golden sets 15:11 and 15:12 respectively, going on and winning the trophy.
In fact, in four of the five times VakifBank eliminated Fenerbahçe in the CEV Champions League, the Turkish powerhouse went into the final of the competition, winning the trophy three times.
But with VakifBank being eliminated in last season’s quarter-finals by reigning champions A.Carraro Imoco Conegliano, another elimination here, at this stage of the competition, would mark the first time when VakifBank are out in the quarter-finals in back-to-back seasons since the 2008/09 and 2009/10 seasons.
Nevertheless, Fenerbahçe Medicana Istanbul have an excellent record in the quarter-finals of the European premium competition, winning five out of six doubleheaders played, with their only elimination coming in the 2020/21 season, when they lost against Igor Gorgonzola Novara.
This time around, Fenerbahçe had a better performance in the 4th round, winning all their matches in their pool and dropping only three sets, while VakifBank lost one match, 1:3, against Numia Vero Volley Milano, in the final matchday, only to secure the first place thanks to a better set ratio than the Italian side.
In this season’s Turkish Sultanlar Ligi, both teams won their home game against each other. VakifBank claimed a 3:2 win on 2 November 2024, when Marina Markova scored 30 points and Kiera Van Ryk added 28 points, while Fenerbahçe Medicana Istanbul won the second match, 3:1, on 9 February 2025, with Vargas dominating with 25 points.
But with the only four losses in the last 18 matches for VakifBank coming against Italian sides – A.Carraro Imoco Conegliano and Numia Vero Volley Milano – the Turkish side will try to deliver another semi-finals berth, with their top scorer, Kiera van Ryk, having 87 points this season. Fenerbahçe’s top scorer is Polish star Magdalena Stysiak, with 61 points.