09/04/2016 15:45
Cremona and CEV with joint press conference to celebrate the start of Final Four
2016 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League - Women
Cremona, Italy, April 9, 2016. On Saturday morning a press conference was given in a very unique setting as five key stakeholders connected to the 2016 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League - Women, spoke to the media at Cremona Town Hall.
With competition due to begin later in the day, everyone spoke of their excitement about the tournament that will be broadcast in front of thousands at PalaGeorge and to 83 countries around the world.
Gianluca Galimberti, Mayor of Cremona: “Thank you to CEV and their representatives for being here. It is a great honour for us that everyone is here. There is a strong relationship between Cremona and Pomi Casalmaggiore. The sport is vitality and life. Cremona is about culture, art, beauty, music, innovation and good food. This competition is able to connect different European cultures. This moment for us is very important.”
Filippo Bongiovanni, Mayor of Casalmaggiore: “It's a great opportunity to have this Final Four and thank you to the CEV and Italian Federation for letting us have this big sports event. It gives us a chance to feel much closer to Europe than maybe we have felt in recent times. We are in the European atmosphere. Sport is giving the opportunity to combine and unite what are sometimes wars and conflicts. It's another confirmation of the importance of sport. It will be two days of top level volleyball and we are excited about the days ahead.”
Carlo Magri, FIPAV President: “It’s great to feel the enthusiasm of the two young mayors and it's confirmed the interest around the event. They are enthusiastic about their own cities and in Cremona you are fully convinced about how big and great Italy is. We have to be proud of this. It's the right reward for such a young team to host this event of top level volleyball. This two-day event is a great challenge for us but it's a great opportunity to be here. Hopefully we can grow more and more on an international level.”
Aleksandar Boričić, CEV President: “On behalf of the European Volleyball Confederation I would like to thank the mayors for the great opportunity to organise the Final Four in Italy. I would like to thank the Italian volleyball federation. They are one of the most important on the volleyball map in the world. The great work from the Italian people means that we are here today. Mr Renato Arena brought the idea of coming to Italy and Cremona. It's very important that we have one young team with a lot of positive energy to organise the Final Four. We have the four best teams in Europe and we hope the best team can win. I hope our athletes can make it spectacular and make it good for everyone around Europe. Different cultures and religions but I'm happy we made a good volleyball community. Friendship and hard-working is our target in the volleyball family. We would like to improve things in the future but tomorrow we give all our positive energy to the athletes, the clubs and thanks to the media because without you we don't have an event. Thank you for your hospitality.”
Renato Arena, CEV Senior Vice President: “I would like to thank Carlo Magri for his support to the organisation of this Final Four and to Volleyball in general. This is the last season with the Champions League as it was up to now because next year we have a new format and the competition will expand to possibly 56 teams or even more.”
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