New signing Antonin Klimes arrives at Italian giants Cucine Lube Civitanova, joining Aleksandar and Simeon Nikolov, as the new U22 Men's European Champion. Just hours after Lube officially announced the signing of the 20-year-old Czech middle blocker on a three-year contract, he led his national team to a historic title at the European Championship in Albufeira (Portugal).
Czechia defeated Poland 3:1 (25:27, 27:25, 25:20, 25:13) in tonight's final, winning their first-ever European title in this age category. Klimes finished the match with 9 points and made an important contribution to his team's success.
The final started better for the Poles, who dramatically edged out the first set 27:25. However, the Czechs were not discouraged and responded with the same score in the second set. It was then that blocking became one of their strongest weapons – Czechia scored seven block points, and Klimes contributed with three successful blocks.
The third set proved to be the turning point of the match. With the score tied at 20:20, the Czech team scored a series of five consecutive points, closed the set 25:20, and took full control of the game. In the fourth set, Czechia dominated from the start, built a solid lead, and after a convincing 25:13, deservedly clinched the European title.
On their way to the final, the Czechs also pulled off one of the most impressive comebacks of the tournament. In the semi-finals, they eliminated Israel 3:2 (21:25, 40:42, 25:20, 25:23, 15:9), after trailing 0:2 in sets. The second set ended with an exceptionally rare score of 42:40 in favor of the Israelis, but this did not break the Czech team.
In the decisive tie-break, Czechia was dictating the play on the court, and it was Antonin Klimes who scored the last point of the match with a block, putting an end to the dramatic comeback. In this semi-final, Vaclav Seidl finished with 32 points, captain Matej Pastrnak added 30, and Klimes was once again among the key figures at the net.
Thus, the young Czech national player arrives at Lube with the confidence of a European champion and a member of the tournament's Ideal Team. The middle blocker, born in 2005, is 208 cm tall and comes to Civitanova after winning a championship title in the Czech Extraliga with VK CEZ Karlovarsko. Before that, he won the Czech Cup with Black Volley Beskydy, and is already part of the senior men's national team of Czechia, with whom he played a semi-final against Bulgaria at the 2025 World Championship in the Philippines. In the new season, Klimes will be a teammate of the two Bulgarian national players Aleksandar and Simeon Nikolov in one of the most ambitious projects in the Italian SuperLega.