CEV Champions League 2017

  • I think Volero has a chance if they stay in system and if Olesia doesn't choke again or if Coach Terzic sees the choker in her before the lead disappears for them or the lead blows against them.




    There's no point really for Italian teams to participate if the prizes are low and cost-inefficient and the Italian league being an open season for anyone doesn't help either.


    So there are differences between Italy and Germany as well in situation, especially financially, but also in posture: we in Germany see it as duty, to play European cups mostly the one qualified for, as long we can finanancially afford it. And while Champions League might be most attractive also for sponsors in Italy, in Germany this is pure pay for it without direct ROI, so hard to make and to justify it, also because of limited chances.

  • Tendencies of best European cups leagues considered:


    I have now compared the last two rankings for 2017 (current) season (results of 2013,2014,2015) and new 2018 ranking list for next season (2014,2015,2016 results) and current tendencies of competitions. This might be interesting for someone?


    1. Turkey went from 492 to 508 points: they are simply the best, always having a top team in each of the three competitions, will stay on top for several years at least


    2. Russia went from 459 to 478 points: also in every competition they have almost always one team getting far, collecting many points, will stay second also


    3. Poland dropped from 323 to 291 points: the 2017 results were also not the best of the last years, they are in danger to drop points and even one to three places in near future


    4. Azerbeidchan with feeble results and not participating in CEV cup or challenge cup 2017, are to drop heavily, shall lose the second firm CL group spot, lost so far points from 293 to 283 points only, but will lose more the next time


    5. Germany will roughly stay the same, at last gained some points from 265 to 282, 2017 results mixed, Schwerin as last team in competition can't get very much points in Challenge cup of course, regardless of exact result, position largely dependent of other leagues nearby, more likely to drop a bit


    6. Switzerland, effectively nearly Volero Zürich only, depends only of CL result of their outstanding team: if they should beat VakifBank, they are to rise even more, otherwise points at last increased from 230 to 273 will stay nearly the same because of now four consecutive Playoff-6 appearances


    7. Italy dropped (!) from 277 to 258 at last, but 2017 season looks well, with one CEV cup finalist guaranteed and a (IMHO small) chance to take the cup and a firm place in final four: they should rise again, but depends heavily of exact outcome especially of CL, in best case, they might grab fourth place and second firm CL group spot already for 2019


    8. France dropped considerably from 290 to 254 points, and because Cannes has weakened that much and there is no replacement strong horse for them, also with 2017 results they will drop even more, can vanish from top 8 places with firm group phase CL spot


    9. Romania has chances to improve, increased at last from 223 to 241 points, could replace already in 2019 ranking France to get a firm CL group spot


    10. Czech is also depending mainly of Prostejov, at last they increased a bit from 187 to 195 points, seems stable for me, because 2017 result was about expected


    11. Serbia increased a bit from 176 to 179 points, seems also stable to me, because they participate and perform acceptable, but are too weak to get big successes


    The others seem not to be very relevant now and in future. Only one remark may apply though: Hungary went up even before good 2017 result of champion Beshekabai in CEV cup, they increased from 39 to 69 points and are rapidly moving up, may get close to the above in the next few years coming (also Vasas Budapest was not too bad).

  • Azerbaijani teams are not as strong as before..they weaken the level of Cl according to the current situation.. i dont mean Polish teams are very good for CL except Chemik
    if Italy were able to get Azerbaijan's place,would be better


    talking about the spots of the countries not depending on the ranking points
    Turkey,Russia,Italy :3 teams
    Poland : 2
    Germany : 1
    Azerbaijan:1
    the others :1 as well


  • You are right, this does not make much sense now. I would even propose to let also Galatasaray (the 4th Istanbul top team) attend CL, the best three from Russia as from Italy, than Chemik Police from Poland (and the vice champion, if they can afford it financially, this season they couldn't), as Volero Zürick; currently it doesn't make much sense to have a Bundesliga team from Germany (too little resources for this level with just four groups of four teams) there for example: despite Dresden was the wrong team for CL this season (opposed to last), in that group of death neither Schwerin nor Stuttgart would have fared considerably better, or others like Azerbeidchan, France or Romania.

  • Pretty terrible performance. Dinamo far too strong at every aspect of the game, but I guess that isn't too surprising. None of these Modena players would get into that team

  • Modena only need to win 3-0 or 3-1 to force a golden set, right? They could turn it around but it would be quite a shock after watching that performance

  • Is Modena playing in the first or the second division at home? How did they manage to qualify?


    It is supposed to be one of the worst games of them the whole season. They are much better usually, but remember, that MOSCOW defeated even CL battleship Volero ZÜRICH twice, despite only in the tie-break in both cases.

  • Modena only need to win 3-0 or 3-1 to force a golden set, right? They could turn it around but it would be quite a shock after watching that performance


    How likely is this in Moscow at home for Russian champion, league round winner and fully stacked with world class players?

  • It is supposed to be one of the worst games of them the whole season. They are much better usually, but remember, that MOSCOW defeated even CL battleship Volero ZÜRICH twice, despite only in the tie-break in both cases.


    I have to say, two sets lost at 13 is not about Moscow greatness. Slow game, readable setting - De La Cruz with 70% in attack, Sherbanoid with 56%. Unless someone had consumed a hardcore dose of meldonium or polonium, these are not normal figures for female volleyball.

  • How likely is this in Moscow at home for Russian champion, league round winner and fully stacked with world class players?

    Very unlikely, but anything is possible. I'm sure they will play better than today anyway

  • I just can`t for tomorrow Vitra vs Fenerbahce :box: :heart:



    seems Fener is close to winning
    Kosheleva hasnt been playing well (maybe she will deliver a very good perf. tomorrow)
    Vitra's shaky passing causes troubles for them
    Fener has been better at team-play
    yet Vitra can beat Fener
    this is where it matters most ad where these players are to show their best so everything is possible