The calendars for the 2023/24 season have been officially presented: the show that closed the Volleyball Market 2023 and presented the next season brought with it various innovations: in addition to formalizing the pairings and days (which will, as usual, be adapted to television or of event planning) the renewal of the sponsor Credem Banca for another two seasons was in fact announced. The dates of the events have also been announced, without officializing the respective venues: the only one already announced is the Final Four Del Monte® Italian Cup of Serie A2, scheduled in Cuneo on 11 and 12 May 2024.

As a corollary to the three-day Volley Market 2023, organized by the Serie A Volleyball League in the setting of the Zanhotel & Centergross in Bentivoglio (BO), the “Presentation of the 2023/24 Season and Calendars” of the 79th Serie A Volleyball Championship was staged Credem Banca, within which the calendars for the next season were announced.

The introduction of the event was all for the singer and actor Giò Di Tonno who, after singing “Every Breath You Take” invited the presenter, the RAI journalist Maurizio Colantoni, to the stage, who was immediately involved on stage the landlord, the President of the Serie A Volleyball League Massimo Righi, followed by the FIPAV President Giuseppe Manfredi.

The opening is from President Righi: “We are coming from a great season, we have witnessed sensational championships, not only in SuperLega, but also in A2 and A3, championships that have grown a lot. We have many companies that are growing, and I take this opportunity to greet the newly promoted companies, Acqui Terme, Sarroch and Cagliari. But now I have to talk about a sore point: we have reached a point of no return, I have to say “no mas”, never again. Never again such short championships, it’s intolerable. These are things that are no longer feasible and sustainable for our clubs. We have owners who invest a lot in the service of movement, with such short seasons the situation is starting to get heavy. We know that the problem comes from the upper floors, but a season of five and a half months is not conceivable ”.

President Righi then invited Roberta Li Calzi and Giammaria Manghi, institutional representatives of the Bologna and Emilia regions, to the stage. The first to speak was Roberta Li Calzi: “I’m a great volleyball fan, we’re doing excellent teamwork between sports institutions, the municipality and the region, here in Bologna we’ve brought two teams to Serie A, and I hope to see more and more volleyball in Bologna”.

It was then the turn of Giammaria Manghi: “we have great sports proposals in Bologna and throughout the region, in this period we are riding the Sport Valley, we know that there are many volleyball realities in the region, to which we always give great support, using them as a vector for the enhancement of sport. Regarding volleyball, we have always been in great synergy with President Manfredi. We can say that we are Sport Valley, but also Volley Valley”.

It then fell to the FIPAV President Giuseppe Manfredi: “I join in the sore point touched by Massimo Righi: fortunately, after much insistence, the FIVB abolished the World and European Qualifiers and once these have been eliminated there will never again be three international tournaments in one year. Another victory of ours is the new World Cup formula which will have Groups of four teams, Round of 16, Quarter Finals, Semifinals and Finals, making sure that the event ends in 12 days, while the VNL will also be reduced, to let rest in August the players. We need to find the right balance, everyone must understand that ours is the league that drives the whole world, and maybe we don’t realize it, we have a duty to defend all our players, clubs and leagues.”

The winning company of the Del Monte® Coppa Italia and Del Monte® Supercoppa Serie A2 Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia was then awarded, prizes collected by the former Sports Director Ninni De Nicolo and by the Team Manager Giuseppe Defina. Subsequently it was the turn of the winning club of the Del Monte® Supercoppa and the Del Monte® Coppa Italia Serie A3 ABBA Pineto, prizes collected by Lorenzo Calonico, now manager but until last season captain of the Abruzzo team.

Then came the SuperLega awards, with the recognition for the Del Monte® Coppa Italia won by Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza handed over to the General Manager Hristo Zlatanov, and with the banner dedicated to the Del Monte® Super Cup won by Sir Safety Susa Perugia collected by President Gino Sirci, also honored for Perugia’s victory in the Club World Cup.

The performance by Giò Di Tonno who played Riccardo Cocciante was the prelude to the speech by Nicole Galimberti, Sponsorship Manager of the title sponsor Credem Banca, a staple of the Volleyball League for years: “For me, volleyball was and is everything , thanks to volleyball I learned to manage conflicts and learn from defeats. I take this opportunity to remind you that just today 13 July, in 2018 we signed the first collaboration contract with Lega Volleyball, and we are still here. The relationship between Credem Banca and Lega Volley has been built over time, in a natural way, not only with the League but also with all the clubs, where I have always seen great professionalism and passion, and it was absolutely not obvious that this relationship would remain this way alive and whole, and it’s beautiful.”

Together with President Righi, Nicole Galimberti then announced with great satisfaction the renewal for another two years of the collaboration between Credem and Lega Volley, a now successful and very solid partnership, as demonstrated by the words of Credem’s Sponsorship Manager: “we are extremely satisfied with this renewal , in recent years we have met wonderful people and everything they have given us has pushed us to continue this very successful partnership”.

Nicole Galimberti and the President Massimo Righi then awarded the teams promoted from Serie A3 Credem Banca or Sieco Service Ortona and Farmitalia Catania, in addition to the newly promoted teams in Serie A3 Negrini CTE Acqui Terme, Sarlux Sarroch and CUS Cagliari.

Naturally, the well-deserved award ceremony also arrived for the Italian champions, the winners of the Scudetto Itas Trentino, with the prize collected by the Team Manager Riccardo Michieletto.

After Giò Di Tonno’s performance in “Bella Mia Esmeralda”, the fateful moment then arrived for the Presentation of the Calendars for the 2023/24 Serie A Credem Banca season, with the first day of SuperLega, Serie A2 and Serie A3, followed by from the video message from the head coach of the national team Fefè De Giorgi who brought greetings from all the Azzurri from Dubai.

The Valsa Group Modena was also honored for the victory in the CEV Cup 2023, an award collected by the President Giulia Gabana.

The Pistelli Award – Passion for Sport was awarded to the artistic director of the Serie A Volleyball League, Marco Caronna, who remembered his great friend of volleyball Adelio Pistelli by singing for him the touching song by Fiorella Mannoia “Oh Che Sara”, accompanied by piano by Giò Di Tonno, giving life to an exciting duet.

Then came the 2022/23 League Awards: Fabrizio Licchelli, coach Leo Shoes Casarano, received the award live, awarded as Best Coach of Serie A3 Credem Banca, and, again from Casarano, also the Best Italian Under 23 Player Nicola Cianciotta.

The “Ilaria Tognolo Award” for the best referee of the season could not be missing, delivered to Stefano Cesare.

Among the best Press Offices, however, were Damiano Beltotto of WithU Verona (SuperLega), Francesca Molteni of Pool Libertas Cantù (Serie A2), and Davide Mazzeo of Med Store Tunit Macerata (Serie A3) who won and collected the Stracca Award.

Awards and music alternated rhythmically with the succession of calendar days, projected and listed. The dates of the Championships were followed by those of the events of the season, with the Italian Cup and the SuperLega, Serie A2 and Serie A3 Super Cups. News of the day, the official location of Cuneo for the Final Four of the Del Monte® Coppa Italia Serie A2.

The conclusion was all for Giò Di Tonno with “The Best Years”, sung on the video of historic and evocative archive images of our volleyball championships, unforgettable moments that have written and marked the history of our sport.

The 79th Serie A Credem Banca championship is officially ready to go on stage.