On Saturday 10 April in Lodz’s Atlas Arena (Poland), the Champions League Final Four will begin. In its second consecutive participation, Trentino will try to defend the title conquered on the 5th of April 2009 in Prague.
The Final will take place on Sunday at 2.30pm, while the game for third place is scheduled just before the final. The winner of the Champions League will qualify for the FUVB Club World Championships 2010, which will take place in Doha again (Qatar).
This will be the 51st edition of the event: Amongst the four semi-finalists 2009-10, Trentino is the only one that has already won it. It was last season, 3-1 over the Greek team of Iraklis Thessaloniki in Prague. Trentino is also the only survivor of the 2009 Final Four: Macerata was knocked out in the 8th of final this season, while Iskra and Iraklis were not even in the starting blocks.
PAST WINNERS
1960 CSKA Mosca (URSS)
1960/61 Rapid Bucarest (ROM)
1961/62 CSKA Mosca (URSS)
1962/63 Rapid Bucarest (ROM)
1963/64 SC Leipzig (GDR)
1964/65 Rapid Bucarest (ROM)
1965/66 Dinamo Bucarest (ROM)
1966/67 Dinamo Bucarest (ROM)
1967/68 Spartak Brno (CEC)
1968/69 CSKA Sofia (BUL)
1969/70 Burevestnik Alma Ata (URSS)
1970/71 Burevestnik Alma Ata (URSS)
1971/72 Zetor Zbroyovka Brno (CEC)
1972/73 CSKA Mosca (URSS)
1973/74 CSKA Mosca (URSS)
1974/75 CSKA Mosca (URSS)
1975/76 Dukla Liberec (CEC)
1976/77 CSKA Mosca (URSS)
1977/78 Plomien Milowice (POL)
1978/79 Stella Rossa Bratislava (CEC)
1979/80 Klippan CUS Torino (ITA)
1980/81 Dinamo Bucarest (ROM)
1981/82 CSKA Mosca (URSS)
1982/83 CSKA Mosca (URSS)
1983/84 Santal Parma (ITA)
1984/85 Santal Parma (ITA)
1985/86 CSKA Mosca (URSS)
1986/87 CSKA Mosca (URSS)
1987/88 CSKA Mosca (URSS)
1988/89 CSKA Mosca (URSS)
1989/90 Philips Modena (ITA)
1990/91 CSKA Mosca (C.S.I.)
1991/92 Il Messaggero Ravenna (ITA)
1992/93 Il Messaggero Ravenna (ITA)
1993/94 Edilcuoghi Ravenna (ITA)
1994/95 Sisley Treviso (ITA)
1995/96 Las Daytona Modena (ITA)
1996/97 Las Daytona Modena (ITA)
1997/98 Casa Modena Unibon (ITA)
1998/99 Sisley Treviso (ITA)
1999/00 Sisley Treviso (ITA)
*In 2000-2001: the competition was named ‘Champions League’
2000/01 Paris Volley (FRA)
2001/02 Lube Banca Marche Macerata
2002/03 Lokomotiv Belgorod (RUS)
2003/04 Lokomotiv Belgorod (RUS)
2004/05 Tous VB (FRA)
2005/06 Sisley Treviso
2006/07 Vfb Friedrichshafen (GER)
2007/08 Dinamo Kazan (RUS)
2008/09 Trentino Volley
In the semi-final, Trentino will meet Ach Volley Bled. The Slovenian team finished second of its Pool F, group won by Rzeszow, and then it got rid of Macerata and Innsbruck on route to the Final Four. This is their third participation thanks to one of the three wild cards given by the European Federation. Last season, it clinched its fifth consecutive Slovenian title (6 overall) and its third cup running (4 all together). On both occasion, it beat Salonit Anhovo, coached by Italian Fracascia (ex Ancona and Pineto), in the finals. Bled boast a Top Teams Cup won in 2007 in the PalaPanini at the expense of Modena. This season, it also gathered its third Mevza cup in the club history, overcoming Vienna 3-1 in the final. Last season, in the Champions League, it was knocked out in the 8th of finals by Zenit Kazan. It has previously met Trentino twice: in the group stage of last season’s edition: The Italians won 3-0 at home and 3-1 in Ljubljana.
Here is Garcia Riad’s comment on the Final Four coming up:
“I came back to Trento this fall after my injury for the Champions League so I am particularly pleased to be able to play again, a year on, another Cup final. This is a very special event for me, the most important one, and I really understood that only once I won it for the first time last year. We are facing a tough task, because it’s never easy to win it a second time in a row, and we’ll have three great teams there, Belchatow, Dinamo Moscow and Bled. There will be a spectacular atmosphere in the Atlas Arena with nearly 13.000 fans but we are used to play important games in heated gyms. It will be the other teams that will feel the pressure, not us. Looking at names people might think it will be an easy semi-final, but that won’t be the case by any means. Bled has already knocked out Macerata and will have nothing to lose. Still, I’m sure we won’t underestimate them. I know my teammates too well, we’ll go there and do what we came here to do, to try to obtain another historical result”.
Schedule
Saturday 10 April 2010
3.30: PGE Skra Belchatow – Dinamo Moscow – Live on Sportitalia 2 (Sky 226)
6.30: Trentino BetClic – ACH Volley Bled – Live on Sportitalia (Sky 225)
Sunday 11 April 2010
11.30am: Game for third place – Live on Sportitalia (Sky 225)
2.30pm: Final – Live on Sportitalia (Sky 225)
Internet – Live streaming
www.laola1.tv – Andio and video streaming of the four Final Four games, with commentary in English.
