Luxembourg, April 26, 2017. Zenit KAZAN, aka the ‘Team of Gladiators’, will be chasing this coming weekend their fifth crown in the CEV Volleyball Champions League – Men. If they achieve this feat, they will break another record after last season they became the first team to claim the most coveted crown in European Volleyball as many as four times. The Tatars will start their quest for yet another gold taking on Germany’s sensation BERLIN Recycling Volleys in the semis, in a remake of the semi-final match they won (3-1) in 2015 at Max-Schmeling-Halle.

Zenit KAZAN have been truly dominant so far – sweeping all of the matches they have contested this season in Russian competitions as well as in the CEV Volleyball Champions League. Their record in Europe’s elite competition is truly impressive – they have dropped only two sets so far in ten matches, and this happened in the pool phase when they played Germany’s VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN on the shores of the Lake of Constance and later on in their home fixture with Belogorie BELGOROD in the Playoffs 6.

The ‘armada’ from the Republic of Tatarstan will try to extend Russia’s supremacy in the men’s CEV Volleyball Champions League. Teams from this country have taken the top honours for the past five years, with Zenit standing on top of the podium in 2012, 2015 and 2016 – and Lokomotiv NOVOSIBIRSK and Belogorie BELGOROD adding further glory with their gold-medal performances from 2013 and 2014, respectively.

Russia are the most successful nation in the men’s Champions League since the establishment of this competition back in 2000 – next to the five titles in a row their teams have won since 2012, Belogorie BELGOROD stood on top of the podium in 2003 and 2004 as well, this accounting for a total of seven gold medals for Russian teams.

The fans travelling to Rome as well as those who will be following the matches on TV and on the Internet can start looking forward to another show of strength from the players coached by Vladimir Alekno. Maxim Mikhailov, Wilfredo Leon and Matthew Anderson compose a trio that knows no equal on the international Volleyball scene but Zenit KAZAN have even more to offer with their setter Alexander Butko, an Olympic champion from London 2012, middle blockers Andrey Ashchev and Artem Volvich, and libero Alexey Verbov.

Do the BR Volleys, Cucine Lube CIVITANOVA and hosts Sir Sicoma Colussi PERUGIA possess what it takes to stop the triumphal march of the ‘Team of Gladiators’? Stay tuned, as we will get the answer to this question later this week in Rome!

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