Russia (bbabo.net), - The European Volleyball Confederation (ECV) has held the draw for the play-offs of the men's and women's Champions League. Five of our teams will continue the fight for the trophy in the quarterfinals.
Men. Zenit (St. Petersburg) - Perugia (Italy), Kendzezhin-Kozle (Poland) - Dynamo (Moscow), Trento (Italy) - Berlin (Germany), Macerata ( Civitanova Marche, Italy) - "Jastszembski" (Jastszebie-Zdroj, Poland).
Women. Dynamo-Ak Bars (Kazan) - Dynamo (Moscow), Lokomotiv (Kaliningrad region) - Fenerbahce (Istanbul, Turkey), Monza (Italy) - Conegliano (Italy), Rzeszow "(Poland) -" Vakifbank "(Istanbul, Turkey).
The first legs will take place on March 8-10, the second legs in a week, on March 15-17.
The quarter-finals were preceded by a group stage with the same rules for men's and women's clubs. Two dozen teams were divided into five quartets. The winners of all groups and three more participants from second places advanced to the playoffs. Here the ranking was carried out according to the following criteria (listed in order of importance): the number of wins, the number of points, the ratio of sets, the ratio of goals.
In the men's tournament, the current champion of Russia, the capital's "Dynamo" showed almost one hundred percent result - six wins, but scored 17 points out of 18 possible. The only point was uncritically lost in the starting round - 3:2 with the Polish "Warsaw". The upcoming rival of the "white-and-blue" "Kendzezhin-Kozle" is the current holder of the Champions League trophy. This team in the group in rivalry with the Italian Macerata, Novosibirsk Lokomotiv and Slovenian Maribor won four victories with two defeats and advanced to the playoffs in the ranking of second places. Alas, the railway workers took third place and dropped out of the further struggle.
St. Petersburg "Zenith" was also in the top 8 for additional indicators. The team of the head coach of the Russian national team Tuomas Sammelvuo suffered three defeats, and two of them - in a paired confrontation with "Berlin" on February 16-17. Opponents on the banks of the Neva immediately held both the match transferred from Germany and the calendar meeting. Both times “Zenith” lost with the same score 2:3. Let's notice that for "Berlin" the skilled Russian setter, the Olympic champion of London-2012 Sergey Grankin acts.
Among the participants in the men's quarter-finals of defeats in the tournament, in addition to the capital's "Dynamo", do not yet know the Polish "Jastszembski", "Berlin" and the Italian "Perugia", which went to rivals St. Petersburg. As part of the "Perugia" - American Matthew Anderson and Cuban with a Polish passport Wilfredo Leon. These players in the FC Zenit-Kazan won the Champions League four times (seasons 2014/15, 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18).
Kazan is still fighting for the continental trophy, but the second most important is the CEV Cup. On February 24 and March 2, the team from the capital of Tatarstan will have a semi-final confrontation with the Italian club Monza. The other pair was Skra (Belchatow, Poland) and Tour (France).
WHERE WE WILL WATCH
February 19, Saturday"TV Start"
13.00. Kuzbass (Kemerovo) - Dynamo (Moscow). Superleague. Men. Live Stream.
February 20, Sunday
"Match! Country"
18.00. Zenit (St. Petersburg) - Lokomotiv (Novosibirsk). Superleague. Men. Live Stream.
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