Is this official?
Will Skra qualify automatically to the Final Four and there will be 12 teams to the play-offs? Or there will be 16 teams to the play-off, like last year?
According to the last news on CEV's website, only 12 teams will play the play-off. But the venue of the final 4 (and consequently the qualified organizing team) is not officially known.
before today's match between Skra and Teruel the president of Skra said it's 99% that Skra will host CL again. to be honest -that's sucks really. i think Skra has to finally proof that they can reach F4 by playing well in play offs rather than get a place becaouse they are host team;/ and overall i do think that there are better teams in CL who deserves this place more. skra's performance in this year CL is so-so.
a word on today's match. a news of a day is fact that Winiarski has finally returned and played whole match(he was rather avarage but if we consider his long break it can be said he played alright . specially end of 3 rd set was great he is great blocker!!those single blocks ahh 
) and Kurek reception need to improve. during ECH he was quite good at receiving but now its times worse but he was great in attack so he payback 
Yes, it was very nice to watch Winiarski play again. He was quite good against CAI Teruel. Kurek is so-so right now - he forgot how to recieve definitely. But he will improve 
Nice performance by Resovia again - they played with young players a lot yesterday and almost without Oivanen who got injured. Five wins and only one defeat in the group is very good result for them. 
I hope for good playoffs.
And Jastrzębie... They lost clearly yesterday, but generally the most important was the first defeat against "full of injuries" Panathinaikos in Poland. Although group was difficult - 4th place is disappointing, especially that Copra performance wasn't great this season.
Final Four for Skra? Nothing against - at least audience will be great But of course, I would be more happy to see Skra in Final Four because great games in playoffs.
I really don't think that any team should qualify automatically for elimination stage because of hosting the event. This is another stupid bullshit from CEV, like the tournament scheme of the ECH 2009. They really suck big time with their decisions 
Едно голямо БРАВО за ЦСКА
Playoffs 12
Trentino BetClic - Knack Randstad Roeselare
CSKA Sofia - Asseco Resovia Rzeszow
VfB Friedrichshafen - Hypo Tirol Innsbruck
ACH Volley Bled - Lube Banca Marche Macerata
Dinamo Moscow - Panathinaikos Athens
Olympiacos Piraeus - Zenit Kazan
Playoffs 6
Winner of Trentino BetClic - Knack Randstad Roeselare VS Winner of CSKA Sofia - Asseco Resovia Rzeszow
Winner of VfB Friedrichshafen - Hypo Tirol Innsbruck VS Winner of ACH Volley Bled - Lube Banca Marche Macerata
Winner of Dinamo Moscow - Panathinaikos Athens VS Winner of Olympiacos Piraeus - Zenit Kazan
so Resovia will face CSKA in the irst round-very good draw definitly better than getting any Greek team but in the next round(if they overcome CSKA) very hard opponent the best of them all Trentino 
the bottom of the draw looks sooo scary
and Skra is a host officially...oh well 
i was hoping some other team will get it, Skra was host in 2008 
my prediction of F4
Skra Trentino VFB and hmmm Athens
Resovia shouldn't have any problems against CSKA, but then they'll play Trento. I'm afraid they won't be succesful against Stoychev's team.
Display MorePlayoffs 12
Trentino BetClic - Knack Randstad Roeselare
CSKA Sofia - Asseco Resovia Rzeszow
VfB Friedrichshafen - Hypo Tirol Innsbruck
ACH Volley Bled - Lube Banca Marche Macerata
Dinamo Moscow - Panathinaikos Athens
Olympiacos Piraeus - Zenit Kazan
Playoffs 6
Winner of Trentino BetClic - Knack Randstad Roeselare VS Winner of CSKA Sofia - Asseco Resovia Rzeszow
Winner of VfB Friedrichshafen - Hypo Tirol Innsbruck VS Winner of ACH Volley Bled - Lube Banca Marche Macerata
Winner of Dinamo Moscow - Panathinaikos Athens VS Winner of Olympiacos Piraeus - Zenit Kazan
c'mon are you kidding me???? 
Trento will avoid all the favourites for the win!!! Kazan, Panathinaikos, Friedrichshafen, Moscow and Olympiakos!!!
i don't have nothing against Roeselare or Resovia but c'mon, it's obvious that Trento has the same fucking luck of every year!
last year they faced Bled, Beauvais and Viena in the pool, Maiorca in the 8t finals and Czestochowa in the 4th finals.....
this year after a hard pool, again an easy draw...
please Skra,Friedrichshafen, Kazan, Olympiakos or Dynamo....stop them, they don't deserve to win
Very difficult draw for the Greek teams. Russian teams always cause us problems. Especially when we play away.
I can't recall when was the last time that a Greek team won in Russia.
A few things I wanted to say after I celebrated the victory of CSKA last night Congrats to Olympiacos for the great game they made in Trento, they totally deserved their place in the nest round. The away victory they achieved was, for me, the best game in this year's tournament so far! Full of drama and great spikes! The anger of Kaziyski was enough to help Trento win the pool, but not last night's game I am very happy that namely Olympiacos made it through as best ranked 3rd team
For the other games, I think the situation was more or less clear already.. I should, however, mention that Unicaja and Paris Volley had sometings to say in the last round at home to let CSKA and Bled qualifiy, respectively!
Now, about the draw. A lucky draw for Trentino again, but I still do not agree with what Copra Piacenza said.. If they don't deserve to win the trophy, then try to find a team to beat them This is possible, of course, but we will see what is going to happen.. I am also a bit disappointed that the last two couples are drawn together. This means we are going to have either a Greek or a Russian team in Lodz at the end.. This is not good for the overall impression of the tournament, but now Friedrichshafen and Trentino have pretty good chanes to reach the FF. I think VfB might be strong enough to beat Macerata after surviving the pool of death, but it IS sad that Panathinaikos, Olympiacos or Zenit will have to leave that early..
Last, I am very disappointed with the choice of a host for the FF. Come ooooon, Poland got the tournament TWO years ago, it's just not fair to send Skra again directly into the final round.. The positive thing will be the overcrowded hall , but there were other candidates that deserve MORE than Skra to qualify directly! 2 years is just a very small period to grant Poland that privilege again..
If they don't deserve to win the trophy, then try to find a team to beat them
Dinamo Moscow and Olympiakos...
but OBVIOUSLY, they are on the other side after the draw...
QuoteDinamo Moscow and Olympiakos...
In a single game, yes, but in a play-off with a return game... it would be much harder I think only Piacenza knows the secret of course, they are beatable, but in an earlier phase.. in the final rounds of the tournaments they have played in the last years it's another story... and with the current draw they shouldn't have problems to go to Lodz! Anyway, Trentino can be defeated by Skra, for example, in a fully packed arena in Poland, but you should confess they are the best team right now with the best chances to repeat the success from last year
I think that the level of CL Cup is too high this year.The Russian teams are very strong.The Greek teams played until now very good games and with too many problems.
I think the best teams to play in final4 this year are Trento,Kazan,Panathinaikos and Olympiakos,but this can not be happened.
My prediction is:Trento vs Friedrichshafen and Skra vs Panathinaikos
Final:Friedrichshafen vs Panathinaikos 
I really hope Skra will win the cup this time, because I'm afraid they'll be hosting the Final Four every year till they win it.
I really hope Skra will win the cup this time, because I'm afraid they'll be hosting the Final Four every year till they win it.
Why the CEV changed formula of the competition again?
Last year there was no full house but 8000-12.000 fans in FF is not good?
Let's write a petition to CEV to stay with FF without place for host!
With all the respect to CSKA Sofia the draw is very good for Resovia. At least it seems to be good.
And Final Four in Łódź... I have given my opinion about that recently. We will have great atmosphere, but FIVB makes Skra's way a little bit easy. Some years ago Mostostal Kędzierzyn-Koźle played in Final Four two times, but only once as a host...And it will be secon F4 for Skra - both without fighting in playoffs...