23/03/2014 12:00
Looking forward to their future cooperation CEV and DenizBank review memorable CL season
2014 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League - Men
Ankara, Turkey, March 23, 2014. On Sunday CEV President André Meyer and the CEO of DenizBank – title sponsor of the CEV Volleyball Champions League – Hakan Ates drew the line at the end of the first season of their cooperation addressing the many media in attendance at the Baskent Volleyball Hall shortly before the bronze and gold medal matches set to follow later in the afternoon.
Click here for a picture gallery of the CEV/DenizBank joint press conference
“Our three-year long partnership with DenizBank was announced right on the day the League Round of this edition got started and some months later we can proudly state that via their support the value and appeal of our flagship competition were additionally increased,” CEV President André Meyer said.
“As the first season of our sponsorship ends, we have been more than happy to witness great excitement in Ankara after the great Women’s Final Four held last weekend in Baku,” stressed the CEO of DenizBank Hakan Ates. “With this collaboration whereby we have associated our name and brand to the most prestigious Volleyball competition in Europe we have crowned our investments in sports, something that plays a key role in our corporate social responsibility. From now on, we will continue with our activities to contribute to the development of Turkish sports and athletes.”
The title sponsorship agreement was literally crowned by the Men’s Final Four Tournament that was held in Turkey for the very first time since the inception of the competition back 14 years ago. The cooperation between CEV and DenizBank will now continue for another two years.
DenizBank CEO Mr. Hakan Ateş expressed his feeling that thanks to the collaboration with CEV DenizBank has raised the bar and affirmed its brand and support for sport well beyond the Turkish borders. “We have attached great importance to our social responsibilities as much as to our financial activities since the day of our establishment and we have taken it as a mission to contribute to the development of our country, making sure this unfolds in line with a series of social requirements. Opening up individual and social development with the common language and the team spirit it brings along, sport is among the areas of social responsibility we focus on. It is a great honor for us to be the title sponsor of the CEV Volleyball Champions League for three years as Volleyball becomes the shining star of Turkish sports. We have thus carried the name of a Turkish bank onto the most prestigious club competition in Europe. Beyond that, we are providing strong support to the representation of Turkish Volleyball on the international stage.”
Stressing that Turkey will start to be seen as a sports country only once other institutions like DenizBank contribute more to sport and its development, Ateş said: “As the first year of our cooperation comes to a close, the fact that Halkbank, a Turkish team, is in the Final Four heralds the many more success stories which Turkey will write in the future. As DenizBank, we will continue our support to the development of Volleyball and all other sports in our country as well as to their global representation.”
Speaking at the meeting, CEV President André Meyer added: “Today we are drawing the line at the end of a very successful season in terms of attendance, TV coverage and quality of the matches. Volleyball has literally boomed in Turkey in recent times and therefore this partnership testifies that our Confederation continues to evolve with the times. We follow the trends of international markets and we are confident that with the help of DenizBank Volleyball will continue to flourish here in Turkey.”
Looking already forward to the next season, the CEV President added: “Actions will get started already on June 27 with the Drawing of Lots that once again will be combined with the annual European Volleyball Gala we co-host together with the Austrian Volleyball Federation in Vienna. The Board of Administration has also worked on some changes in the competition format. We hope to extend the men’s competition to 32 teams already in 2015 as we know that many more teams are eager to join the CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League. At the same time we will keep our focus on quality making sure that the competition lives up to the high expectations of our title sponsor, partners, fans and media alike.”
|