Mouth-watering new season of the #CLVolleyW ready to deliver fantastic matches

The new edition of the CEV Champions League Women will have, once again, 20 teams at the start, with the best teams in Europe fighting for the coveted title, secured last season by Italian powerhouse A. Carraro Imoco Conegliano.

Once again, the 20 teams will be divided into five pools of four teams each at the start of the 4th round, with the winners of the pools progressing directly to the quarter-finals, while the second placed sides, plus the best third-placed side making it to the play-offs.

The big change is the comeback of the Final Four, which will conclude the season, replacing the former system, which saw two doubleheaders played in the semi-finals, with the Super Finals deciding the title winners.

The scene is set, with three countries – Italy, Türkiye and Poland - having three teams each, while France and Germany each have two teams at the start. The rest seven remaining spots are occupied by teams from Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Portugal, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia.

Five former champions in the European premium competition– title holders Conegliano, Turkish sides VakifBank Istanbul, Fenerbahce Medicana Istanbul and Eczacibasi Dynavit Istanbul and SSC Palmberg Schwerin, the latter winning the title in 1978 – are also lined up at the start, some of them being also the main contenders for the current title.

In fact, with the exception of Igor Gorgonzola Novara, which won the title in 2019, the last six editions of the competition were either won by VakifBank Istanbul or A. Carraro Imoco Conegliano, with the Italian side moving swiftly on the transfer market this summer, to recruit several high-profile stars, like Gabi Guimaraes or Zhu Ting.

Conegliano have been drawn into Pool A, where they will be overwhelming favourites against Polish side DevelopRes Rzeszów, Bulgarian side Maritza Plovdiv, and Croatian team Mladost Zagreb, which will be returning for the first time since 2006, and have lost all their 26 matches played in the European premium competition.

Pool C looks set to be a well-balanced one, as the runners-up from last season, Numia Vero Volley Milano, aiming to return to the highest echelones of the competition. Just like in the previous season, the Italian side will face VakifBank Istanbul, which will be aiming to bounce back after being eliminated in the quarter-finals. Slovenian side Calcit Kamnik and newcomers FC Porto are the other two teams in the pool.

Two debutants will face off in Pool B, with the first team from the French capital to ever play in the CEV Champions League Women, Levallois Paris Saint Cloud, and Serbian side Tent Obrenovac being the outsiders against Eczacibasi Dynavit Istanbul and SSC Palmberg Schwerin.

Eliminated in the past three seasons in the semi-finals, Fenerbahce Medicana Istanbul will be favoured in Pool D, where they are due to face Vasas Óbuda Budapest, Polish side Grot Budowlani Łódź  and French runners-up Neptunes Nantes.

In Pool E, Italian side Savino Del Bene Scandicci are also favoured against Allianz MTV Stuttgart, BKS BOSTIK ZGO Bielsko-Biała and Romanian debutants C.S.O. Voluntari 2005, with the Italian side aiming to contend for the title, with a strong line-up which helped the side finish second in the Italian league.

The new season of the CEV Champions League Women will start on 5 November, with the match between Neptunes Nantes and Vasas Óbuda Budapest.