Austria’s top Volleyball talent moves to the world’s best league!

Styrian Lukas Glatz is making the step into the higher echelons of international Volleyball: the 20-year-old outside hitter’s path leads from TSV Raiffeisen HARTBERG to the top Italian club Rana VERONA. This decision puts him in a league considered the pinnacle of international Volleyball – the Italian SuperLega. 

“It was always a dream of mine to play in this championship,” says Lukas Glatz himself. “Through the Volleyball Senza Confini project, I gained early insight into the demands of international Volleyball. Now I want to show that I am ready. Verona is a huge opportunity.” 

The two clubs have been working intensively together in the cross-border Volleyball Senza Confini project since 2023. Through this cooperation, the excellent talent pool of TSV Raiffeisen HARTBERG is well known to the top Italian club. Young talents like Lukas Glatz can be identified early on through the project and individually developed together. This is made possible by the close cooperation of the coaches, who, like in Lukas’s case, were involved in the entire process, including trial trainings. Performance data and video material are also exchanged bilaterally, as the reverse way should also be possible: international players of interest to Rana VERONA can be trained and developed in Hartberg. The partner in Verona is impressed by Lukas Glatz’s high technical and athletic qualities, which were nurtured in Hartberg.

“With Lukas Glatz, we are seeing an idea become reality: that Austrian players can rise to the absolute world class through targeted support and international cooperation,” says Gottfried Rath-Zobernig, initiator of Volleyball Senza Confini. “I am excited to be able to open up innovative paths for Austria’s clubs and talents in the future through this project.”

The SuperLega, with its 12 teams, is comparable to Volleyball in what the NBA is to basketball, or the NHL is to ice hockey: it brings together top athletes from all over the world, with highly paid contracts, and is broadcast worldwide. From Olympic champions to world champions, all the major stars compete in this league. For example, US setter Micah Christenson, a three- time medallist at World Championships and Olympic Games, will be Lukas Glatz’s teammate starting this fall.

Stefano Fanini, President of Verona Volley: “We are delighted to welcome Lukas to the Rana Verona family. This agreement is the result of our successful collaboration with TSV Raiffeisen HARTBERG, a club with which we share the same vision for the development of young athletes. Lukas is a player with great potential and finds himself in a competitive environment where he can continue his development. His decision to gain his first experience abroad with us makes us proud and confirms the attractiveness of our project. We warmly welcome Lukas.”

TSV Raiffeisen HARTBERG is also proud of the mega-transfer and the successful work on the Volleyball Senza Confini project: "Lukas’s transfer is a milestone for Austrian Volleyball. The fact that a player from our training programme is now competing in the world's strongest league is both a validation of the quality of our work and a source of motivation,” says Markus Gaugl, Managing Director of TSV Raiffeisen HARTBERG.