Brazil used to have it in the past and I'm pretty sure Russia had it at least once in the last few years too.
Yes, in Brazil it was not long ago also the case, didn't remember at first, because I follow primarily the better European leagues than others, only a little Brazil and China.
Good, I'm not at all a fan of deciding the championship in one single match after such a long season.
This is only in France, so far I know (at least of the better leagues), and I guess, they did it there at least partly, to make the championship more interesting due to the long years dominance of teams like Cannes and Tours.
Its awesome that Hanna Orthmann can speak italian
The foreigners in Italy are forced to speak Italian, it is the language, in which they communicate.
From the potential I would see Stuttgart as a favorite. But i think it will be more a Mental Game. So i see Schwerin as a easy Favorite in the Finals.
Former Stuttgart headcoach Hernandez claimed 50:50 chances in the finals this year - by the way, Stuttgart has now also a special mental coach, former Dresden beach volleyball player Anni Schumacher 
.
There was no block touch?
It was just the shadow of the ball, which irritated - no block touch.
I thinks also, such a league should never have more than 12 teams.
After what we have watched so far third place and therefore the third CL ticket should be won by Fenerbahce against Galatasaray in bronze medal playoff.
And newbies Kaliningrad elimated easily Kazan in their home in three sets, confirming their strong season and second place after league round, booking their CL ticket for 2020 (!).
Has anyone already had the chance, to lookup/view leaked CEV league ranking lists for CL and the other European Cups? Because of the pure Italian final these are now already fixed...
Some TV numbers from the last two semis: Stuttgart vs. Aachen was below 80,000 at average, but was a short and very one-sided affair, Potsdam-Schwerin had yesterday 110,000 spectators at average, which is okay, I think.
I really want to see Parubets in Turkey.
She should change to one of the better Russian teams IMHO. There is hardly any point to play abroad for her.
Is Novara not already out? In former times the sets were counting in the quarters of both matches, because Novara won no set at home, this would mean losing one set suffices to be out?
I have not seen the Schwerin vs. Potsdam match, but statistics show interesting differences: while Schwerin was better in attack (42 to 36 %) and service (especially 5 aces more), they made way more mistakes than the guests (28 to 20).
Aachen looked tired to me both physically and in their heads today. But of course it is a totally different thing to play against at last feeble team of Dresden or against the league round winner.
So you have talked to all of them?
No, but it seems to be a widespread opinion - it would be interesting, to make a poll among them, I guess...
I don't agree. First of all, it's not like he worked 10 years with the same team, so there is a different "relation" every year. And looking at Dresden's roster this year, they had two good setters, a good OPP once she recovered from her injury, a very good set of MBs, but the problem yet again was at OH position, and there was a bit of bad luck that Radosova missed the playoffs with her injury because undoubtedly she would have played better than Schwabe. I have no idea why Segura was in such a bad shape lately, throughout regular season she was pretty good. With Dürr instead of Benson and keeping most of the rest of the team, Dresden would for sure be competitive with whichever coach. Either way, the club already announced that there is no discussion about the coach.
Most fans of Dresden disagree and would prefer a change at head coach position. Just for your information.
Apparently Dresden wants to sign Lenka Dürr as libero for next season which would unquestionably be a major upgrade to the team. If that really happens they don't even need to make too many changes in the rest of the roster to return being competitive with Schwerin and Stuttgart.
I don't think, that Lenka Dürr alone can repair the enormous deficits, which were revealed at last at Dresden. I'm still convinced, that the most urgent move for Dresden is to replace the head coach, after ten years the relation of him to the team is not working anymore IMHO.
Mulhouse lost yesterday in Nantes in tie-break, but their advantage also against Cannes is too big, that it would be a real threat to lose the lead of the league round.
She left Rio today
This becomes kind of Kosheleva watch here and now 
- she may be no more at her best, but she is still a big Russian star...
By the way, Dresden should be eligible to CEV Challenge Cup anyway, as best league round team, which failed to proceed to the semis. I write should, because CEV is about to change again allocation of European Cup slots and of course the now finishing season will change the ranking points of the leagues as well. I calculate for now with one CL slot, two CEV Cup slots and two CEV Challenge Cup slots for the VBL teams, and one CEV Cup slot was already as minimum already secured by DVV cup winner Schwerin. All teams in the semis now (Stuttgart, Schwerin, Potsdam and Aachen) should be eligible for CEV Challenge Cup at least. And Vilsbiburg should not be allowed to participate in European Cups, because of Dresden was in front of them in league round, so this time 5. place after league round doesn't suffice for it - save for not participating teams of the semis, which may open up a chance for Vilsbiburg anyway.
