16/10/2017 10:12
The CEV Champions League is back!
2018 CEV Volleyball Champions League - Men & Women
Luxembourg, October 16, 2017. Europe’s elite Volleyball competition is back! The fans have been counting the days down for months and the wait is now over with the second round of the 2018 CEV Volleyball Champions League set to get underway on Tuesday and Wednesday for women and men, respectively! After last year’s major revamping, participation in Europe’s elite club competition was again open to all national champions –as many as 58 teams registered for participation in the ultimate Volleyball show! All matches will be streamed live and for free here.
Action will begin on Tuesday night with five matches on schedule for the second round of the women’s competition – and a number of newcomers playing their historic, first-ever matches in the CEV Volleyball Champions League.
The second round features, among others, also the silver medallists from the 2017 edition – Italy’s Imoco Volley CONEGLIANO, who are taking on Hungary’s four-time national champions Linamar-BÉKÉSCSABAI RS KFT. A ‘derby’ between the reigning Dutch and Belgian national champions, SLIEDRECHT Sport and Asterix Avo BEVEREN is on offer as well – with another three matches taking place in Israel, France and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bulgaria’s Maritza PLOVDIV will host LP SALO of Finland on Thursday night.
The men’s competition will get underway on Wednesday – with four matches hosted by the national champions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, Israel and Kosovo taking on opponents from Slovenia, Montenegro, Belarus and the Netherlands.
The away matches – with the exception of only a few fixtures – are coming up later this weekend, with the women taking to the court again on Saturday and the men following next on Sunday.
Last year’s gold medal winners VakifBank ISTANBUL of Turkey and Russia’s Zenit KAZAN will start their title defence in the third and fourth round of the women’s and men’s competition, respectively.
The eventual winners of the second-round fixtures will progress to the third round scheduled for early November where a spot in the much-anticipated group stage of the competition will be at stake. The Drawing of Lots determining the composition of the fourth-round pools will take place on November 17 in Moscow shortly before the annual European Volleyball Gala co-hosted this year by the CEV and the Russian Volleyball Federation. A number of outstanding players, coaches and sports officials will receive awards in the Russian capital to acknowledge their startling performances and unique contribution to the development of the game.
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