“Once again welcome to Vienna, the city that has been playing host to this event for the past 16 years. My gratitude goes to the Austrian Volleyball Federation and to its President, Peter Kleinmann” said CEV President André Meyer, “extremely valuable partners we are always happy to cooperate with, as well as to the local authorities”.
As he was describing the unique flavor of the most prestigious among all European Cups, Meyer added: “The CEV Volleyball Champions League is much more than a sports event: it is actually a real show everyone wants to be part of! This is the feeling that is spreading around in all sports halls; we may well realize that there is something special in the air when Europe’s best Volleyball clubs square off to battle for glory and all our fans can finally re-joy by saying: finally it is Champions League time!”
After going through the many pluses of the campaign that was completed this past March, the CEV President drew additional attention to the starting field for this year’s edition: “After reviewing our recent achievements, I would like to look forward to the future as tonight we are drawing the preliminary Pools for the next edition of the CEV Volleyball Champions League. The major change is that we have extended the starting field for both genders, with 28 teams participating in the men’s competition that will be spanning throughout 11 weeks of great actions up to the finals scheduled for March 2013. This decision was motivated by the huge interest clubs are showing in the Champions League and to fulfill our goal to involve more teams thereby still safeguarding the very special quality and elitist spirit associated to this event”.
The first ones to be drawn were actually the 24 teams lining up in the women’s division to find their way to the podium after showcasing their great array of skills and fighting spirit. A very tough group – Pool A – will see last year’s runner-up RC CANNES play Vakifbank ISTANBUL, winner of the 2011 edition, Switzerland’s Volero ZÜRICH as well as a major force from the past, i.e. Russia’s Uralochka-NTMK EKATERINBURG, that will be back in action in the Champions League after a few years of absence. Other interesting matches are coming up right from the start of the League Round in Pool C where the rookies of the year, i.e. Italy’s Unendo Yamamay BUSTO ARSIZIO and Turkey’s Galatasaray ISTANBUL will prolong their rivalry resulting from the finals of the 2012 CEV Volleyball Cup. The Drawing of Lots assigned to the same preliminary group – and namely to Pool D – also two more clubs that never hide their ambition to make it all the way through up to the top, namely Eczacibasi VitrA ISTANBUL and Azerrail BAKU, the side that has recently signed some of the world’s finest Volleyball players, including Korean star Kim Yeon-Koung, MVP of the finals played this past March in the capital city of Azerbaijan.
Click here for detailed results of the DOL (see Downloads box)
