Turkey will host the CEV Women's Champions League Final Four, according tomilliyet.com.tr. The most prestigious club competition in Europe will take place on May 3-4 this year. This was announced by the European Volleyball Confederation (CEV). It is expected that the venue for the event will be announced in the coming days. The Turkish press claims that the semi-finals and final will be played at Fenerbahçe Ülker Sports and Event Hall in Istanbul!
The probable reason for this hosting is the guaranteed participation of at least one Turkish team in the finals, as in the 1/4 finals, they will face each other:Vakıfbank and Fenerbahçe. They play their first match on March 5, with Zehra Güneş and co. as hosts. The return leg is on March 12.
The hosts have a chance to qualify another Turkish team for the final tournament ifEczacıbaşıeliminates the winner of the playoff pairVero Volley Milanoand German Schwerin. In the first match played yesterday, the Italians achieved a convincing 3-0 away win and are calmly awaiting the home return leg on February 20 in Milan. The first match of this 1/4 final is on March 13 in Istanbul.
Another Italian team - that ofScandicci, has qualified for the 1/4 final, waiting for the winner of the playoff pair Tent Obrenovac (Serbia) and PolishGrot Budowlani Łódź. The Poles won their away match in Serbia yesterday with a score of 3:0 and will almost certainly meet the Italians in the 1/4 final.
The third Italian team in the 1/4 finals isConegliano, which awaits the winner of the playoff pair Allianz Stuttgart and the familiar team from matches with MaritsaDevelopRes (Rzeszów, Poland).