Dinamo MOSCOW and Allianz MTV STUTTGART were due to lock horns to determine the last team progressing from the early rounds to the pool phase of the CEV Champions League. However, the match initially scheduled for early November on neutral ground in Winterthur can no longer go ahead following measures introduced by the Swiss authorities to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. The CEV and the two clubs have worked closely to assess a number of options but eventually agreed upon cancelling the relevant 2nd Round fixtures.
As per the official Volleyball Competitions Regulations (see Art. 14.1 §6), the CEV identified the following three criteria to fill in the remaining two vacancies available in the 4th Round:
- The results achieved in the previous stage of the competition, i.e. the second round of the CEV Champions League Volley 2021
- The final standing in a previous competition of such participant
- The latest CEV Champions League Ranking List published ahead of the 2020-2021 season.
A sort of ‘final standing’ resulting from the application of the above-mentioned criteria involving the losers of the 2nd Round fixtures – Calcit Volley KAMNIK and Khimik YUZHNY – as well as the two teams who could not contest their 2nd Round matchups sees Dinamo MOSCOW and Allianz MTV STUTTGART as the two sides coming out on top of the charts.
Therefore, Dinamo MOSCOW and Allianz MTV STUTTGART join Eczacibasi VitrA ISTANBUL of Turkey and another elite Russian team, Lokomotiv KALININGRAD Region, to compose a star-studded field in Pool D.
