The 2012 CEV Champions League

Volleyball will never reach the popularity we all hope for when there are international federations like CEV!!! So many things that disgusted me from the beginning of the ceremony and the draw for the guys hasn't even started yet! So it will get even worse! If the users of inside-volley gather in one place and rehearse for 5 minutes, we will host the draw procedure much better than CEV!!! How can you promote the game and the tournament in a positive way when this assembly looks more like an anniversary meeting of war veterans! The guys who presented the press award for Generali Unterhaching initially announced that the award goes to Friedrichshafen And the worst thing of all - representatives of most participating teams across Europe are there, the draw is broadcast in Europe, meant for the entire continent to watch, but the guys decided to lead the whole ceremony in German only Shame on you, CEV!!! I am ashamed that the European Federation of my favourite sport, the one making decisions about my favourite tournament as well, can destroy my eagerness to watch the draw ceremony!

It was only in Germany?? That's is really shamful...

these are the 6 pools:

POOL A: Noliko Maaseik (Belgio), Iraklis Thessaloniki (Grecia), Arkas Izmir (Turchia), Cska Sofia (Bulgaria).

POOL B: Zenit Kazan (Russia), Euphony Asse-Lennik (Belgio), Vfb Friedrichshafen (Germania), Remat Zalau (Romania).

POOL C: Trentino Diatec (Italia), Zaksa Kedzierzyn-Kozle (Polonia), Cai Teruel (Spagna), Partizan Termoelektro Beograd (Serbia).

POOL D: Stade Poitevin Poitiers (Francia), Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo, (Italia), Generali Untheraching (Germania), Jihostroj Ceske Budejovice (Repubblica Ceca).

POOL E: Fenerbahce Istanbul (Turchia), Lokomotiv Novosibirsk (Russia), Hypo Tirol Innsbruck (Austria), Lube Banca Marche Macerata (Italia).

POOL F: PGE Skra Belchatow (Polonia), Tours Vb (Francia), ACH Volley Ljubljana (Slovenia), Budvanska Rivijera Budva (Montenegro).

Pool E seems to be the harder to me.

But, of course, Lube Macerata was drawn from the pot with outsiders, which automatically means their group will be the strongest. As a matter of fact, they could have been even drawn to a stronger pool, but they were lucky enough to avoid Zenit, Skra, Friedrichshafen, for example. Same thing happened to Trentino 1 or 2 seasons ago, they entered the draw from the pot with outsiders. I should say that this time (only as a result of luck) there is no real group of death, but some groups which will be highly attractive. Pool A also has no clear favourite and is quite balanced, CSKA is still a mystery because we do not know who will play for them next season, but the rest in the pool seem to be at about the same level.

Quote from Kk15

Pool E seems to be the harder to me.

It was a given that Macerata's pool would be the hardest, and Iraklis's would be the easiest. In fact the only solution for a balanced drawing was to have them in the same pool !

What I didn't get before the drawing was that champions from Russia, Italy, Poland, Belgium, Turkey, Germany and France could not face each other !
I discovered that Tours had to be automatically with Kazan, Trento, or Belchatow! (So we defintely got the best possible drawing!)

Quote from YavorD

But, of course, Lube Macerata was drawn from the pot with outsiders, which automatically means their group will be the strongest. As a matter of fact, they could have been even drawn to a stronger pool, but they were lucky enough to avoid Zenit, Skra, Friedrichshafen, for example. Same thing happened to Trentino 1 or 2 seasons ago, they entered the draw from the pot with outsiders. I should say that this time (only as a result of luck) there is no real group of death, but some groups which will be highly attractive. Pool A also has no clear favourite and is quite balanced, CSKA is still a mystery because we do not know who will play for them next season, but the rest in the pool seem to be at about the same level.

True true , but I hoped for them to get a weaker group from the second category And I've no idea of how stron Innsbruk is...

I agree about the poolA, I thought the same, It will be interesting, it seems to be quite balanced...

Very good and rather easy gropu for Skra. They should have no problems. ZAKSA has stronger group, but I think they also should qualify to the playoffs without big difficulties.

Fenerbahce has no lucky. Obviously they have big chance for play offs, but second time in the row to land in "group of death".

The Champions League is the next tournament that started tonight already with a relatively entertaining opener between the newcomers Euphony Asse-Lennik and Remat Zalau. The game had ups and downs on both sides, but I think overall Lennik deserved the win a bit more because of their bigger consistency despite the advantage that Remat had at 2-1. A good night for the two opposites Overbeeke (Lennik) and Nagy (Remat), maybe the reason Lennik had a slight advantage was that Overbeeke was helped a lot by the attackers Claes and Westphal. Something else that took my attention was the relatively weak performance of the setters. I have watched Sladecek (Remat) already when he played with Jihostroj in the CL before, so I am not surprised by his often mistakes, but it was the first time I watched Verschueren and I thought he is a bit better (could also be the case, of course, that it is the first CL game).

Overall, a good start of the new CL season. More tomorrow

Quote from Mattisse

Fenerbahce has no lucky. Obviously they have big chance for play offs, but second time in the row to land in "group of death".

Fener should easily advance frm this group... Novosibirsk isnt same team as last year

Quote from YavorD

The Champions League is the next tournament that started tonight already with a relatively entertaining opener between the newcomers Euphony Asse-Lennik and Remat Zalau. The game had ups and downs on both sides, but I think overall Lennik deserved the win a bit more because of their bigger consistency despite the advantage that Remat had at 2-1. A good night for the two opposites Overbeeke (Lennik) and Nagy (Remat), maybe the reason Lennik had a slight advantage was that Overbeeke was helped a lot by the attackers Claes and Westphal. Something else that took my attention was the relatively weak performance of the setters. I have watched Sladecek (Remat) already when he played with Jihostroj in the CL before, so I am not surprised by his often mistakes, but it was the first time I watched Verschueren and I thought he is a bit better (could also be the case, of course, that it is the first CL game).

Overall, a good start of the new CL season. More tomorrow

I also watched this match and it was really low level of volleyball. Setters were tragic, Sladecek almost broke Nagy's back with balls behind him and was forcing Dos Santos. IMO Westphal was best player on field, few blocks in 5th set, solid attacking %. But both teams are more suitable for CEV Cup not CL

Quote from Kaziyski

I also watched this match and it was really low level of volleyball. Setters were tragic, Sladecek almost broke Nagy's back with balls behind him and was forcing Dos Santos. IMO Westphal was best player on field, few blocks in 5th set, solid attacking %. But both teams are more suitable for CEV Cup not CL

I don't think the level was that bad actually, we have seen worse in the CL before, I considered it interesting due to the same level these two teams represent. I don't know about CEV Cup, but there are a lot of weak teams over there as well and someone has to play in the CL after all, with or without a Wild Card. Besides, Lennik this year is better than Roeselare, so I would surely pick them up instead to represent Belgium in the CL. We both share the same opinion about the setters though

Leonel Marshall and Ivan Miljkovic very ready ...

Zenit won easily 3-0... Great Vermiglio and Mikhailov, also Volkov... Priddy so poor again, so he was substituted after 10 points

Arkas very poor so far

Nice to see Stefanov again. He ruled the Turkish league in the early 2000s

So the most expected thing happened after all- 3 easy points for Arkas.

Arkas

First set taken from CSKA for me is a big pleasure and a real heroism because these guys play with such a big heart provided that more than a year they have taken no pay. And also the team this year consist mainly of so-called veterans like Nikolai Ivanov who is 39 years old, Ivailo Stefanov - 38 years old, Evgeni Ivanov - 37, Svetozar Ivanov - 34 and if it's necessary the second libero Daniel Peev - 41. Imagine for a moment what effort is on this age to jump on the blockade against Agamez
I often think why it is so diffcult to have a normal sport in Bulgaria ?

Generali Unterhaching 1-3 Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo
(25-16;15-25;23-25;23-25)

..not a good game for Cuneo....Vissotto top scorer with 17 points!

ZAKSA Kędzierzyn Koźle beat Partizan Beograd 3:1.
Not a very impressive game by Polish side, but such games are often difficult. Especially when you are back to the competition after some years as ZAKSA is.