Pools for the 2011 campaign are drawn, dazzling matches coming up in the League Round

2011 CEV Champions League - Men & Women

Vienna, Austria, June 25, 2010. The Drawing of Lots for the 2011 CEV Champions League was staged this evening in the very charming scenario of the Platinum Vienna (UNIQA Tower). CEV President André Meyer opened the traditional European Volleyball Gala – organized in cooperation with the Austrian Volleyball Federation – recapping the main facts and figures of a fabulous 2009/2010 season.
Every single record, in terms of TV audience and spectators attendance in the many competition venues located across Europe, was totally demolished as the CEV Champions League was celebrating the 10th anniversary since its official introduction. A total of 48’000 fans attended the final four of the men’s competition held this past May 1-2 in Lodz (Poland) where Italy’s TRENTINO BetClic eventually clipped the trophy for the second year in a row.

Click here for a picture gallery

Very much attention was then drawn to the Drawing of Lots for the next campaign in what stands definitely out as the most prestigious Volleyball club competition worldwide. The officials of the 44 clubs that had registered for the 2011 CEV Champions League were all anxiously waiting for the names of their next opponents and finally, with the help of some VIPs and illustrious guests, the Pools for the next season were set as follows:

Men

Pool A
Zenit KAZAN (RUS)
AS CANNES (FRA)
Generali UNTERHACHING (GER)
CSKA SOFIA (BUL)
 
Pool B
Bre Banca Lannutti CUNEO (ITA)
Noliko MAASEIK (BEL)
CAI TERUEL (ESP)
Radnicki KRAGUJEVAC (SRB)

Pool C
Olympiacos PIRAEUS (GRE)
JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel (POL)
ACH Volley BLED (SLO)
Budvanska Rivijera BUDVA (MNE)

Pool D
PGE Skra BELCHATOW (POL)
TRENTINO BetClic (ITA)
VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN (GER)
Remat ZALAU (ROU)

Pool E
TOURS VB (FRA)
Lokomotiv BELGOROD (RUS)
Fenerbahce ISTANBUL (TUR)
Sisley TREVISO (ITA)

Pool F
Knack Randstad ROESELARE (BEL)
Panathinaikos ATHENS (GRE)
Hypo Tirol INNSBRUCK (AUT)
Dinamo MOSCOW (RUS)


Women

Pool A
Zarechie ODINTSOVO (RUS)
VGS Türk Telekom ISTANBUL (TUR)
Crvena Zvezda BEOGRAD (SRB)
Bank BPS Fakro MUSZYNA (POL)
 
Pool B
FenerbahceAcibadem ISTANBUL (TUR)
Dinamo MOSCOW (RUS)
ZOK SPLIT 1700 (CRO)
Norda Foppapedretti BERGAMO (ITA)

Pool C
CV Jamper Aguere LA LAGUNA (ESP)
ASPTT MULHOUSE (FRA)
Voléro ZÜRICH (SUI)
Eczacibasi ISTANBUL (TUR)
 
Pool D
RC CANNES (FRA)
MC-Carnaghi VILLA CORTESE (ITA)
Organika Budowlani LODZ (POL)
VK Modranska PROSTEJOV (CZE)

Pool E
Scavolini PESARO (ITA)
Aluprof BIELSKO-BIALA (POL)
Dinamo Romprest BUCHAREST (ROU)
Rabita BAKU (AZE)

For both the men’s and women’s division, teams were drawn according to the provisions included in the Official Regulations and namely according to the European Ranking List worked out for the 2011 European Cups and their classification in the respective national competitions. Quite an interesting and exciting Pool came out in the men’s division with defending champion TRENTINO BetClic of Italy playing PGE Skra BELCHATOW of Poland – that finished the competition in third place last year – and Germany’s VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN. Mrs. Iris Wintzek-Mosna, Organization Director of the Italian club, commented: “Finally I have to say that I am happy with the results of the DOL. If you play the Champions League and you want to make it to the end, you know that you have to play against the real European Volleyball elite. Moreover, VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN is a very experienced and well-organized club; you can always learn something useful from the guys there. And I expect many of our fans will travel there with the team for a great Volleyball evening”.
In the women’s division, defending champion Norda Foppapedretti BERGAMO will play a remake of this past season’s final match already in the League. The Italians around superstar and final four MVP Francesca Piccinini will indeed have to test again the likes of an extremely ambitious Turkish team - namely FenerbahceAcibadem ISTANBUL - that narrowly missed the trophy this past April in Cannes and recently signed some more international stars to have a clear shot at the title.

The European Volleyball Gala did not only feature the DOL for the 2011 CEV Champions League. Two teams, namely France’s RC CANNES and Germany’s VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, were especially honored for having continuously competed in the CEV Champions League since this competition was introduced back in the 2000/2001 season. Mr. Pierre-Alain Vuolo, Organization Director of RC CANNES, was extremely pleased to receive that special distinction: “This is an enormous accomplishment for our club and as I receive this award, I would like to pay my tribute to all the staff there in Cannes that has helped us so much in the past few years and also with the organization of the final four we celebrated this past April”. Jürgen Hauke, CEO of the German club based on the Bodensee, added: “This award comes as a real surprise but we are definitely more than pleased to see that we are a regular and important player in the European Volleyball arena”.
Having a look at the future, the European Volleyball Gala was also a very precious chance to fire up and speed up the preparations for the final round of the 2011 CEV European Championship – Men that Austria will organize together with the neighboring Czech Republic. The logo of the competition was officially unveiled tonight and will serve as the real trademark of an event that will take place in a total of four cities (Vienna, Innsbruck, Prague and Karlovy Vary) to look for Europe’s best national team.

DOL 2011 CEV Champions League - Men

DOL 2011 CEV Champions League - Women