Looking Ahead: CEV Club Competitions 2023
Preview
The New Year has just begun and it promises to be an even more exciting one for Volleyball. The action-packed 2023 starts with the club competitions. The best club teams in Europe will be back on the stage in a few days to continue the quest for the continental trophies, including the most prestigious, the Champions League, with a brand new play-off phase that will make the competition even more gripping. All CEV Club Competitions return on January 10th!
Europe's premier competition, CEV Champions League Volley, will resume in a few days and in the following weeks we can expect many nail-biting matches. The men's teams are reaching the decisive stage of the 4th Round with only two legs to be played to determine the teams that will continue their journey. As many as four teams - Jastrzębski Węgiel, Cucine Lube Civitanova, Trentino Itas and Sir Sicoma Monini Perugia - keep a clean sheet, having a great chance to win their respective pools. In the most balanced Pool B, #CLVolleyM rookies Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie, led by the recent best scorer Uros Kovacevic, will battle hard with Halkbank Anakra (both recorded three wins and one defeat so far) to top the chart.
And it's not only about prestige, as the winners of the pools will progress directly to quarter-finals. Once, the teams ranked 2nd in all pools and the best 3rd-ranked team will fight for the remaining three spots in the Last 8. Let us remind you that starting with the current season, a new Play-off phase of the competition was introduced in the men's and women's Champions League to replace the Round of 16. The last and decisive match day of the men’s 4th Round is scheduled on January 25th, when all ten games will be played across Europe and one of the highlights will definitely be the encounter between the reigning champion, Grupa Azoty Zaksa Kędzierzyn Koźle and the runners-up Trentino Itas in Pool D.
The women's teams started their quest in the CEV Champions League Volley 2023 in December. After completing two legs in 2022, they will quickly be back to business, starting Leg 3 on 10th January and playing two consecutive weeks. Eight teams are still undefeated, including the defending champions VakifBank Istanbul and newly-crowned club world champions A. Carraro Imoco Conegliano, so the rivalry in the remaining four legs will be extremely fierce, reaching its climax on the action-packed closing day of the pool phase on February 8.
The home-and-away Play Offs will be played from February 2 to 16 in the men's competition and from February 21 to March 2 on the women's side, and followed by quarter-finals (scheduled from March 7-16 and March 14-23, respectively) and semi-finals (March 28 - April 4 and April 4-13). The teams that will survive this demanding knockout stage will meet in the highly-anticipated SuperFinals in late-May to fight for the most prestigious European title.
Also, on January 10th, the CEV Volleyball Cup returns with home matches in the men’s Play Off. The eight teams - SVG Luneburg, Valsa Group Modena, Galatasaray HDI Sigorta Istanbul, PGE Skra Belchatow, Greenyard Maaseik, Jihostroj Ceske Budejovice, Bluenergy Daiko Volley Piacenza - will play to decide who will progress to quarter-finals, where they will face the 3rd teams from the Champions League pools (ranked 2nd-5th). The quarter-finals will obviously be followed by semi-finals and then the finals scheduled at the beginning of April.
In the women's competition, 16 remaining teams - Olympiacos Piraeus, Kralovo Pole Brno, Szent Benedek Balatonfured, Dukla Liberec, CV Kiele Socuellamos, VDK Gent Dames, CV Gran Canaria, Budowlani Łódź, Mladost Zagreb, Savino Del Bene Scandicci, SSC Palmberg Schwerin, Swietelsky-Bekescsabai, Nova KBM Branik Maribor, e-work Busto Arizio, Terville Florange, THY Istanbul - will start the 8th finals. The eventual #CEVCupW champion will be crowned in mid-April.
In the CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup – Men, only eight teams remained in the quest for a trophy. On January 10, the first quarter-final will be played between Olympiacos Piraeus and Steaua Bucuresti. In the other encounters, we will see Maccabi Yeadim Tel-Aviv vs Omonia Nicosia, A.J. Fonte Bastardo vs Sporting CP Lisboa and Orion Doetinchem vs Panatinaikos Athens. The winners of home-away duels will progress to the semi-finals and the new champions will be known in the middle of February.
In the women's quest for the Challenge Cup trophy, we will see the last 16 that includes: Haifa VC, VfB Suhl Thurningen, Avarca de Menorca, VK Prostejov, Holte IF, Sliedrecht Sport, Reale Mutua Fenera Chieri, Panathinaikos Athens, Jedinstvo Stara Pazova, ZOK Ub, AJM FV Porto, Rapid Bucuresti, Aris Thessaloniki, Asterix AvoBeveren, Kairos Ponta Delgada and C.S.M. Lugoj, fighting for the spots in quarter-finals. The new #ChallengeCupW champion will lift the trophy in late March.