Vienna, Austria, June 26, 2009. The European Volleyball Confederation celebrated tonight a great party for all fans, with the real climax being the Drawing of Lots for the 2009/2010 CEV Indesit Champions League. The magnificent scenario of the local Town Hall hosted once again the traditional European Volleyball Gala, with three stars being honored for the great performances they displayed during last season’s finals – namely Italian Serena Ortolani and Swede Marcus Nilsson – plus legendary Irina Kirillova celebrating the CEV Honorary Award for an outstanding career that has been spreading through more than two decades.
The 24 teams competing in the Men’s Champions League have been drawn as follows:
Pool A
Olympiacos PIRAEUS (GRE)
Dinamo MOSCOW (RUS)
Jihostroj CESKE BUDEJOVICE (CZE)
TRENTINO Volley (ITA)
Pool B
Zenit KAZAN (RUS)
TOURS VB (FRA)
Unicaja ALMERIA (ESP)
CSKA SOFIA (BUL)
Pool C
Noliko MAASEIK (BEL)
Lube Banca Marche MACERATA (ITA)
Hypo Tirol INNSBRUCK (AUT)
Budvanska Rivijera BUDVA (MNE)
Pool D
PGE Skra BELCHATOW (POL)
Knack Randstad ROESELARE (BEL)
CAI TERUEL (ESP)
Radnicki KRAGUJEVAC (SRB)
Pool E
CopraNordMeccanica PIACENZA (ITA)
Panathinaikos ATHENS (GRE)
VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN (GER)
JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel S.A. (POL)
Pool F
PARIS Volley (FRA)
Asseco Resovia RZESZOW (POL)
ISTANBUL B. Sehir Beledyesi (TUR)
ACH Volley BLED (SLO)
Mrs. Iris Wintzek, Organizational Director of defending champion TRENTINO Volley, commented right after the DOL: “We are quite happy with the outcome of the Drawing, we’ll have to play against Dinamo which is a very tough team but in that kind of competition, if you are aiming at the top, you have to be ready to compete against the strongest opponents. Anyway, our coach Radostin Stoychev worked for a certain period in Russia; he knows the language and the ambiance very well, so we’ll rely also on that additional strength”.
The 16 teams competing in the Women’s Champions League have been drawn into four pools as follows:
Pool A
RC CANNES (FRA)
Universitet BELGOROD (RUS)
ZOK RIJEKA (CRO)
Volley BERGAMO (ITA)
Pool B
Scavolini PESARO (ITA)
ASPTT MULHOUSE (FRA)
Vakifbank Günes S. ISTANBUL (TUR)
MKS DABROWA GORNICZA (POL)
Pool C
Dinamo MOSCOW (RUS)
Aluprof BIELSKO-BIALA (POL)
Fenerbahce ISTANBUL (TUR)
VK PROSTEJOV (CZE)
Pool D
Fakro Muszynianka MUSZYNA (POL)
Asystel NOVARA (ITA)
Metal GALATI (ROU)
Zarechie ODINTSOVO (RUS)
Mrs. Riet Ooms, CEV Vice President and President of the European Cups Commission, said: “I think that for the ladies the toughest competition will be coming up in Pool A and D, I expected some hard-fought matches there as the level of the teams is potentially very even. I also think that TRENTINO will have quite a tough job to defend the title they notched a few months ago, to start out against Dinamo and Olympiacos will be quite a good way to test out their ambitions and strength”.
Mr. Vladimir Zinichev, who attended the DOL for Russian powerhouse Dinamo MOSCOW, commented: “We’ll be renovating our team in comparison with the last season and for sure we want to have a shot at the victory after we missed it twice against the Italians of Volley BERGAMO. Luckily we were not drawn into the same pool, but I guess we’ll seek for revenge at a later stage of the competition”.
CEV President André Meyer started out the evening with a detailed presentation of the great accomplishments the European Volleyball Confederation achieved over the past season and later on extended the partnership along with sportswear manufacturer Champion up to 2015, thus confirming the great appeal that the Champions League still has towards the global market.
Last but not least, earlier that afternoon, the Drawing of Lots for both CEV Cups was also carried out at the Town Hall under the supervision of CEV Vice President and ECC President Riet Ooms; detailed results are available in the PDF file attached at the bottom of this page.
The match calendar for the League Round of the CEV Indesit Champions League is also available right here.
Match calendar 2009/10 Pool B
02/12/2009 + 1 day RUS - Zenit KAZAN vs BUL - CSKA SOFIA
09/12/2009 +/- 1 day ESP - Unicaja ALMERIA vs RUS - Zenit KAZAN
16/12/2009 +/- 1 day RUS - Zenit KAZAN vs FRA - TOURS VB
06/01/2010 +/- 1 day FRA - TOURS VB vs RUS - Zenit KAZAN
13/01/2010 +/- 1 day RUS - Zenit KAZAN vs ESP - Unicaja ALMERIA
20/01/2010 BUL - CSKA SOFIA vs RUS - Zenit KAZAN
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