Big favourite Conegliano headlines Pool A in the #CLVolleyW

Pool A of the 2024/25 season of the CEV Champions League Women sees some familiar faces face off again, while one of the four sides, Mladost Zagreb, is returning after a lengthy absence in the European premium competition.

The obvious favourite of the pool, which aims to go undefeated yet again, after securing 31 wins in the last 31 matches in this round of the CEV Champions League Women, is the reigning champion, A. Carraro Imoco Conegliano.

The Italian side had a fantastic last season, with 11 wins in 11 matches, losing only 10 sets on their way, and have maintained their fantastic core, adding some fantastic players on the way, as Gabi Guimaraes and Zhu Ting signed for the Italian side.

Conegliano have reached the final of the European premium competition in four of the five last seasons and this is the big objective this time around too and now have the chance to secure back-to-back wins in the competition for the first time in history and become the first team to secure back-to-back wins for the first time since VakifBank in 2022 and 2023.

The most likeliest challenger in this pool for Conegliano will be Polish side Developres Rzeszów, which made it out of the pool in the past three seasons. Rzeszów have been eliminated in the quarter-finals twice, in 2022 and 2023, and in the play-offs in 2024, each time by a Turkish side, VakifBank Istanbul and Eczacibasi Dynavit Istanbul.

However, their balance is perfectly split in the 4th round of the CEV Champions League Women in the past seasons, winning 15 matches and losing 15 matches. In the previous season, the Polish side has won three matches and lost three matches in this phase of the competition, including two against Conegliano.

In fact, Conegliano won all four mutual matches in the last two seasons against  Rzeszów, conceding a set in three of the four matches, including one in each match against the Polish side in the previous season, which means Rzeszów took 20% of the sets lost by Conegliano in the title-winning campaign.

Bulgarian side Maritza Plovdiv returns to the European premium competition for the eighth time, but have yet to clinch a play-off spot, having been eliminated in the 4th round in their previous seven appearances.

Moreover, Plovdiv’s form has been found lacking, as they won only one of the last 24 matches played in the European premium competition. Their only win came last season against Vasas Obuda Budapest, the only match between the last 13 where they actually won a set. The Bulgarian side has never met any of their opponents in Pool A so far in European competitions.

The last side in the pool is Mladost Zagreb, which will feature in the 4th round of the European premium competition for the fiffth time, but for the first time in the last 18 years, as they are one of the sides making their long-awaited return on the top of the European volleyball.

Not only Zagreb did not win any of their 26 matches played so far in the competition, being the side with the largest number of matches played without a win, they will also represent a country, Croatia, which are still looking for their maiden win in this stage of the competition since 2009.

Like Plovdiv, Zagreb did not play any match so far against their three opponents in Pool A.