The first official act of the 2024 CEV Champions League is set for Wednesday 19 July. At the European Broadcasting Center in Luxembourg, starting from 12 noon, the European Volleyball Confederation will draw the first preliminary rounds of the top European competition and the five groups of the Main Phase which will see Cucine Lube Civitanova as top seed, i.e. in the first band.
The red and white club will take part in the top European event for the eighteenth time, the thirteenth in a row.
The debut for the Italian vice-champions in the most prestigious continental tournament is also expected this year in the Group Stage which will include two other Italian teams, Itas Trentino (in the first pot) and Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza (in the second pot). By regulation, teams from the same country cannot cross paths before the knockout matches. On the day of the draw, Chicco Blengini’s team will be paired with a Pool and will meet its second and third tier opponents, while Lube’s last rival will come out of the fourth tier and could be back, as in last season, from the preliminary rounds which they will finish in November. At the moment there are 18 known names of the teams participating in the five groups of four teams, while the last two formations will come out of the aforementioned preliminary clashes. Lube will definitely make their home debut against a fourth tier team. The CEV indicates that the groups will open between Tuesday 21 and Thursday 23 November 2023.
The four pots are divided by European ranking. The first includes five seeded players, including Civitanova. The draw will create groups comprising one team for each pot.
I:
Cucine Lube Civitanova (Italia)
Itas Trentino (Italia)
Jastrzebski Wegiel (Polonia)
Grupa Azoty Kedzierzyn-Kozle (Polonia)
Berlin Recycling Volleys (Germania)
II:
Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza (Italia)
Asseco Resovia Rzeszow (Polonia)
VfB Friedrichshafen (Germania)
SVG Luneburg (Germania)
Knack Roeselare (Belgio)
III:
Greenyard Maaseik (Belgio)
Ziraat Bank Ankara (Turchia)
Halkbank Ankara (Turchia)
VK Lvo Praha (Repubblica Ceca)
Jihostroj Ceske Budejovice (Repubblica Ceca)
IV:
Tours VB (Francia)
ACH Volley Ljubljana (Slovenia)
Sport Lisboa e Benfica (Portogallo)
TBD
TBD
Teams to Preliminar Rounds
Hypo Tirol Innsbruck (Austria), Ok Radnik Bijeljina (Bosnia ed Erzegovina), Neftohimik Burgas (Bulgaria), Mladost Zagreb (Croazia), Ford Levoranta Sastamala (Finlandia), Olympiacos Piraeus (Grecia), Fino Kaposvar (Ungheria), Ok Strumica (Macedonia), Budva Budva (Montenegro), Dynamo Apeldoorn (Olanda), C.S. Arcada Galati (Romania), Partizan Belgrado (Serbia), Guagas Las Palmas (Spagna) e Sc Prometey Dnipro (Ucraina).
