16/04/2015 09:36
Facts and figures to review record-breaking European Cup season
2015 European Cups
Luxembourg, April 16, 2015. The 2015 European Cup season came to a close on Sunday night after 504 matches were played since last October when the campaign got underway with the first round on schedule for the CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup. As Europe’s Volleyball family draws the line at the end of another memorable season, some interesting facts and figures can help us review the latest edition of the European Cups that once again sparked a real Volleyball fever across the whole of Europe.
504: matches played across all three European Cup competitions – 2015 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League, 2015 CEV Volleyball Cup and 2015 CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup.
715,346: this is the ‘grand total’ when it comes to the number of fans who attended matches of the 2015 European Cups. This is an impressive result, which improves on what was achieved in the 2014 edition where the European Cup matches were followed by as many as 691,471 fans, thereby accounting for an increase by 3.5% year on year.
54,225: the combined audience for the Final Four tournaments of the 2015 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League held in Berlin and Szczecin. This is one of the best figures ever, in recent years topped only by the 2010 Finals that took place in Lodz and Cannes for men and women, respectively.
11,500: the record of attendance in this year’s European Cups was set by Poland’s PGE Skra BELCHATOW in their Playoffs 6 home match with Italy’s Sir Safety PERUGIA at the Atlas Arena in Lodz. This is another confirmation that Poland is Europe’s real and undisputed Volleyball ‘Mecca’.
9,350: a record-breaking crowd attended the gold medal match of
the 2015 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League – Men between
Russia’s Zenit KAZAN and Poland’s Asseco Resovia RZESZOW at the
Max-Schmeling-Halle in Berlin. This figure breaks the all-time record
- 9,070 - for that venue set during the final match of the 2002 FIVB Volleyball
Women’s World Championship starring Italy and USA.
4,827: the eventual hosts of the men’s Final Four tournament, Germany’s BERLIN Recycling Volleys, accounted for the highest average in terms of attendance at their home matches in the League Round of the 2015 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League – Men. The top three positions are completed by Poland’s Asseco Resovia RZESZOW (4,138) and Russia’s Belogorie BELGOROD (3,917). The average / match in the men’s competition stands at 2,510.
4,565: Poland’s rookies Chemik POLICE set the highest average of attendance in the League Round of the 2015 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League – Women. They did so before hosting the Final Four tournament on April 4-5 and top the charts ahead of Russia’s Omichka OMSK REGION (3,017) and Germany’s DRESDNER SC (3,000). The average / match in the women’s competition stands at 1,957.
3: the magic number for both Zenit KAZAN and Russia’s Volleyball family. The armada from Tatarstan claimed in Berlin their third title in the CEV Volleyball Champions League after topping the charts in 2008 and 2012. Russia won three European trophies this season for Zenit KAZAN were joined by Dinamo MOSCOW and Dinamo KRASNODAR who won the 2015 CEV Volleyball Cup for men and women, respectively. Dinamo MOSCOW celebrated their second title in four years in Europe’s second most prestigious competition whilst Dinamo KRASNODAR added the CEV Cup crown to their collection which already includes the 2013 edition of the CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup. Russian teams have won four consecutive editions of the men’s Champions League (Zenit KAZAN in 2012 and 2015, Lokomotiv NOVOSIBIRSK in 2013 and Belogorie BELGOROD in 2014).
Turkey’s rule: following Eczacibasi VitrA’s success at the Final Four tournament in Szczecin, Turkey have won four of the five last editions of Europe’s women’s elite competition. Quite remarkably they have achieved this feat with three different teams: VakifBank (2011, 2013), Fenerbahce (2012), and Eczacibasi VitrA (2015).
Maiden wins: Serbia’s Vojvodina NS Seme NOVI SAD and Turkey’s BURSA BBSK celebrated their first European hurrahs on Sunday after claiming the title of this year’s CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup for men and women. Vojvodina’s win is additionally historic since this is the first European crown for a Serbian team since the break-up of the former Yugoslavia. On the other hand, BURSA BBSK further cemented Turkey’s leading role in women’s Volleyball after Eczacibasi VitrA’s historic win at the Champions League Finals in Szczecin.
|