VICE CHAMPIONS OF NEIGHBOUR COUNTRIES GERMANY AND BELGIUM MEET

Men's Indesit European Champions' League 2005/06

Düren, Germany, January 4, 2006. When evivo DÜREN and Noliko MAASEIK meet on Wednesday at 19.30 hrs, a preliminary decision will be made in the race for the third place of Pool C in the Indesit European Champions League.

The winner will be close to entering the IECL playoffs by keeping a comfortable distance to VIENNA, who are ranked fifth. When the two teams met in the first leg, Champions League novice DÜREN surprisingly beat MAASEIK 3:1. But things have changed due to some injury problems in DÜREN. German attacker Thomas Kröger has been missing several weeks now due to a knee injury. He won’t be able to play until the IECL League Round has finished. The same forecast has been made for evivo’s first setter Ilja Wiederschein, who suffered a torn ligament in his right hand during the quarterfinal match in the German Cup. The Germans are struggling to find their rhythm during the preparation for the MAASEIK match.

Whilst DÜREN finished fourth in a five team tournament in Almelo (NED), Noliko has been doing better after Christmas by winning the Fortis Cup at home.

The match will start at 19.30 hrs in the Arena Kreis Düren.

Guido Jansen
Press Officer
evivo DÜREN

 

VIENNA CHALLENGE CANNES

Cannes, France, January 4, 2006. After having brilliantly won the away match against the team of MAASEIK in the seventh leg, AS CANNES took the second place in Pool C with ten points, just behind the untouchable leader TREVISO.

In the eighth leg of the men’s 2005/2006 Indesit European Champions League the match against the hotVolleys will be very important for both teams, as Laurent Tillie, CANNES’ head coach says: “This match is essential for the two teams and will be highly spectacular because VIENNA line up two 2m10 blockers, a strong Hungarian setter and an experienced spiker with Darko Antunovic.”

The most important for the Austrian team will be to finish well. The last win against TREVISO gave a smile back to Darko Antunovic, who expressed: “I hope this last victory against one of the best team in the world will supply us with the energy needed for the last matches.”

The match will take place on Wednesday, 4th January at 19.00hrs in Palais des Victoires.

Pierre-Emmanuel Franchet
Press Officer
AS CANNES

 

“NOTHING TO LOSE AGAINST IRAKLIS”

Innsbruck, Austria, January 4, 2006. This Wednesday at 20.15 hrs Hypo Tirol will receive Iraklis THESSALONIKI for the first time. The Greeks are the designated favourite in Pool A after finishing second behind TOURS VB last season. Therefore, the Austrian's motto is: “Nothing to lose!”.

Is Austrian Champion Hypo Tirol capable of starting the year 2006 with a win? On Wednesday, Pool A favourite Iraklis THESSALONIKI will be in Innsbruck. It’s a difficult task for Hypo Tirol, as the Greek stardom roster has earned the favourite’s role in Pool A by finishing second in the Indesit European Champions League last season. In the away game in early December the Greeks won 3:0 in front of their own audience. There seems to be no question about who is the favourite - however, the Austrians aren’t uncomfortable in their role as underdogs.

Head coach Pietro Scarduzio confirms: “In our last game against ROESELARE we nearly managed to beat the Belgians despite being the underdogs. THESSALONIKI lost 2:3 to ROESELARE, same as we did, which is a result we can build on. We surely won’t hide against the big favourite and make it as difficult as possible for them to seize a win. This means though that we need to perform at top level, that’s clear! We face a hard match and my players will give all!”

The match will be broadcast live at 20.15 hrs by the Austrian host broadcaster ORF on channel TW1.

Michael Weiss
Press Officer
Hypo Tirol INNSBRUCK

200TH MATCH FOR OLYMPIACOS PIRAEUS

Piraeus, Greece, January 4, 2006. Olympiacos PIRAEUS celebrate 200 matches in the European Cups on Thursday evening at the Piraeus suburb of Rentis, when they take on volleyball.cz KLADNO from the Czech Republic in Pool B of the 2005/06 men’s Indesit European Champions’ League.

Olympiacos need to end a four-match losing streak in the competition on Thursday against winless volleyball.cz KLADNO in order to stay in contention for a berth in the next round of the Indesit European Champions’ League. Victory on Thursday would mean that Olympiacos will compete for the third qualifying berth of Pool B, probably against Germany’s VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN whom they will meet on 12th January. Dinamo MOSCOW and pool leader TOURS VB from France have already clinched the top two qualifying spots in Pool B.

In 199 matches, since first taking part in a European competition in the 1969-70 Champions’ Cup, Olympiacos enjoys a 121-78 record and has won two trophies.

The Olympiacos vs. volleyball.cz KLADNO match begins at 18.00 hrs local time at the Rentis Municipal Sports Centre and will be televised live in Greece on ET1.

Constantine Dimaras
Press Officer
Olympiacos PIRAEUS

 

BELCHATOW WANT A GOOD START IN 2006

Belchatow, Poland, January 4, 2006. BOT Skra BELCHATOW are eager to start well into the new year in the eighth round of the men's Indesit European Champions League. On Wednesday, the Polish champion will meet the Bulgarian champions Siconco Levski SOFIA.

For the Polish IECL newcomer it will be a very important game. “If we win, we qualify for the next round“, stated BOT Skra head coach Ireneusz Mazur, “We are very close to reaching the play-off phase, but we must win to be absolutely sure so that we can comfortably prepare our last trip to BELGOROD. We won 3:1 in Sofia, but we know how strong the Bulgarians are. They suprised us at the start of the match, as we had not gained enough information about Levski. Now we are much better prepared. We know the way Boyan Yordanov and Todor Aleksiev play and attack.“

“We are going to start the new year with a win“, added Polish captain Andrzej Stelmach, “In 2005 we only lost four official matches. We know that the Bulgarian team have won seven consecutive championships, but we are confident in beating them in Poland, as we did in Sofia“,.

Tha match starts on Wednesday at 18.00 hrs. BOT Skra won four games and lost twice against EMU RPA PERUGIA, which gives the Polish champion second place. Siconco Levski are at the bottom of the table with only one win but with one match less played. Theoretically, the Bulgarian champion is still able to overtake BOT Skra if they win all three games, including the clash in Belchatow.

Zelislaw Zyzynski
Press Officer
BOT Skra BELCHATOW

ROESELARE WELCOME ROTTERDAM WITH RESPECT

Roeselare, Belgium, January 4, 2006. Knack Randstad ROESELARE, the proud leader of Pool A in the men’s Indesit European Champions’ League following their 3:2 victory against Iraklis THESSALONIKI, welcome their Dutch neighbours from Ortec ROTTERDAM Nesselande.

We asked head coach Dominique Baeyens if the game on Wednesday could be seen as a revenge match:

“Certainly not”, he replied, “We will treat our Dutch opponents with a lot of respect. After all, they are the best team in the Dutch competition. But it will certainly motivate my players, as every game in the Champions League competition does. For the moment, we are leading in Pool A and are already qualified for the next round, which was our ambition from the start. Nevertheless, we will do our utmost to win this game in front of our own faithful supporters. We are facing a very busy programme in the Belgian competition and Cup. Important in this period is to find a good balance between practice and rest. But I don’t fear that we will lack match-rhythm because we participated in the Flanders Volley Gala between Christmas and New Year where we finished third.”

A lot of Knack Randstad ROESELARE fans will be looking out for Albert Cristina who played for ROESELARE for five successive years and who is now one of the key players in the Dutch team.

The match is scheduled on Wednesday, 4th January at 20.30 hrs in the International Events Hall Schiervelde. The game will be broadcast later in the evening on Kanaal 2 and Regional Television WTV will be showing highlights the next day.

Johan Eeckhout
Press Officer
Knack Randstad ROESELARE