Cucine Lube Civitanova will be Itas Trentino's opponent in the final series of the playoffs for the Scudetto in the Credem Banca 2025 SuperLega. The long-awaited clash, which will be played in a best-of-five format, starts this Sunday.

The team from Marche secured a place in the final after winning the dramatic fifth match of the semi-final series away against Perugia. Thus, the final will pit the first and third teams from the 2024/25 regular season against each other.

Thanks to their better regular season standing, Itas Trentino will have home-court advantage in the first, third, and eventual fifth matches of the series, which will be played at the ilT quotidiano Arena in front of their home crowd.

The schedule for the final clashes is already known:

• Match 1:Sunday, April 27,7:30 PM, Bulgarian time (ilT quotidiano Arena, Trento)

• Match 2:Thursday, May 1,7:15 PM (Eurosuole Forum, Civitanova Marche)

• Match 3:Sunday, May 4,4:20 PM(ilT quotidiano Arena, Trento)

• Possible Match 4:Wednesday, May 7,9:30 PM (Eurosuole Forum, Civitanova Marche)

• Potential Match 5:Sunday, May 11,7:00 PM(ilT quotidiano Arena, Trento)

The 2025 Scudetto playoff final will, for the fourth time in history, feature a direct clash for the title between Trentino Volley and Lube Volley. The two giants have determined the champion in 2012 (Lube won after a tie-break in V-Day in Assago), in 2017 (Lube won in a best-of-three series), and in 2023 (Trento triumphed in Match 5).

In addition to Scudetto finals, the two clubs have met four times in the semi-final phase of the playoffs (2010, 2019, 2021, and 2022), with Trento having only one victory – in 2010. The two teams have also competed in finals of the Coppa Italia (three times: 2012, 2013, 2017) and the Supercoppa (three times: 2009, 2012, 2013).

With a total of 103 official matches against each other, Cucine Lube Civitanova is the opponent Trentino Volley has played against the most in its history.

The statistics from the official matches played so far between Trentino Volley and Cucine Lube are as follows:

• Official matches played: 103 (42 in Trento, 17 in Macerata, 26 in Civitanova, 18 on neutral ground).

• Victories for Trento: 47(26 in Trento, 9 in Macerata, 4 in Civitanova, 8 on neutral ground); 16 with 3-0, 16 with 3-1, 15 with 3-2.

• Victories for Lube: 56(16 in Trento, 8 in Macerata, 22 in Civitanova, 10 on neutral ground); 16 with 0-3, 17 with 1-3, 23 with 2-3.

• Sets: 191 won for Trento and 217 lost.

• Previous encounters in the Scudetto playoffs: 26; 10 victories for Trento (5 at PalaTrento) and 16 victories for Civitanova (9 in Marche).

A new chapter is about to unfold in the rich rivalry between the two teams, which will determine the Italian volleyball champion for the 2024/25 season.
photo: Nikolay Varadinov