TRENTINO Itas - TOURS VB

• The first round of the return leg (the fourth in total) of Pool B of the 2024 CEV Champions League will be played at the ilT quotidiano Arena in Trento on Thursday December 21st, featuring a challenge between the top two in the ranking.
• Trentino Itas, still with a full score and the only undefeated team in the Pool, will receive the visit of French team Tours Vb.
• Tours Vb will return to Trento for the first time since the 2017 CEV Cup Final; on April 12th 2017, the French played the first match at PalaTrento, losing it 3-0, but winning the return match three days later at home and also the subsequent golden set. In Trento, Tours played a total of three matches, always losing 0-3, also taking into account the previous matches of December 5th 2012 and December 2th 2015.

TRENTINO Itas

• Trentino Itas comes to this match after a victory against Perugia in the SuperLega, which gave them first place in the Italian league ranking.
• Taking into account all the European competitions played, Trentino Volleyball has so far taken part in 166 official matches: the balance is 132 victories (67 in Trento, 65 away) and 34 defeats (28 in the Champions League, 5 in CEV and 1 in the Top Teams Cup). The most frequently obtained result is the 3-0, resorted to in 47% of the cases (79 matches, 48 of them home); the one that has occurred the least number of times is the 0-3 defeat (eight times). Taking into account also the ten participations in the Club World Cup (between 2009 and 2014 and then in 2016, 2018 and 2021), the number of international matches played by the club of via Trener is 212: 134 away, 78 in Trento.
• Trentino Itas will be on court for the second home match of the 2024 CEV Champions League without only the opposite Gabriele Nelli, who had already missed the away match in Rzeszow the week before due to a knee injury.
• Jan Kozamernik (Trentino Itas player): "Tours Vb plays very good volleyball and proved it in the first leg match played November 29th in France. We have to enter the court with the right attitude and with great attention, because this is the only way to go if we want to win this match as well".
• Fabio Soli (Trentino Itas Head Coach): “So far we have collected very positive results in this competition and we certainly want to continue to do so; we have a good ranking at the moment, but we have to remember that it is the result of hard-fought competitions won thanks to the commitment and quality of our players. (...) On this occasion we are looking for a solid performance against a strong opponent, knowing that to translate into reality what we hope to achieve, we will have to play high level volleyball. Tours is a very "square" and consistent team, which will take advantage of every opportunity, as its history tells us. It is a very intense and exciting period because every match offers a great challenge”

TOURS VB

• Tours Volley-Ball will play its final group match away from home against group leaders Itas TRENTINO, before hosting its final 2 matches against Asseco RESOVIA and Ach LJUBLJANA in early 2024.
• Tours VB travels to Italy after a Champions League trip to Poland and a National Championship match in Nice. The team arrived in Italy after spending just one day in Tours in 10 days, so they were tired from all the travelling.
• The squad will be weaker but full. The only change to the squad that travelled to Resovia is the inclusion of young Czech international Jakub KLAJMON.
• In this match against the unbeaten leaders of the group, the result will be important but not crucial to qualification. Nevertheless, the players of Marcelo FRONCKOIWAK, coach of TOURS VB, will be keen to pick up a few points.