Groupe stage draw
The draw of the CEV Champions League 2016-17 was carried out on Thursday evening in Rome as part of the European Volley Gala presented by Andrea Lucchetta and the Northern American player Norisha Campbell.
This was also the time to hand in awards, the Bulgarian champion Vladimir Nikolov, former Trento, Cuneo and Piacenza player, got one for his stand-out career. Modena’s French spiker Earvin Ngapeth received a prize as the most spectacular player, Tine Urnaut (Trento) was the young player of the year, while the Russian Serguei Tetioukhine (former Parma player) was voted Volleyball Ambassador together with the Italian international Francesca Piccinini.
Meanwhile the Italian protagonists of the draw were Civitanova, Modena and Perugia. Here are all the groups as well as the preliminary rounds:
First preliminary round
001/002 Mladost Marina Kastela (CRO) – PAOK Thessaloniki (GRE)
003/004 Abiant Lycurgus Groningen (NED) – Dobrudja 07 Dobrich (BUL)
005/006 Hapoel Mate-Asher Akko (ISR) – Hypo Tirol Innsbruck (AUT)
007/008 Selver Tallin (EST) – Crvena Zvezda Beograd (SRB)
009/010 KV Besa Peja (KOS) – Volley Amriswil (SUI)
011/012 Omonia Nicosia (CYP) – ACH Volley Ljubljana (SLO)
013/014 Stroitel Minsk (BLR) – Tiikerit Kokkola (FIN)
015/016 Gentofte Volley (DEN) – Budvanska Rivijera Budva (MNE)
Second preliminary round
Winner 015/016 – Belogorie Belgorod (RUS) – section 1
Winner 009/010 – Sir Safety-Sicoma Perugia (ITA) – section 2
Winner 007/008 – Arkas Izmir (TUR) – section 3
Winner 001/002 – PGE Skra Belchatow (POL) – section 4
Winner 005/006 – VfB Friedrichshafen (GER) – section 5
Winner 003/004 Noliko Maaseik (BEL) – section 6
Winner 011/012 Arago de Sete (FRA) – section 7
Winner 013/014 Dukla Liberec (CZE) – section 8
(The teams coming out of the preliminary round will get in the CEV Cup 32 of finals)
GROUP STAGE
Pool A
Zaksa KEDZIERZYN-KOZLE (POL)
Dinamo MOSCA (RUS)
ISTANBUL BBSK (TUR)
Winner section 6
Pool B
BERLIN Recycling Volleys (GER)
Cucine Lube CIVITANOVA (ITA)
Asseco Resovia RZESZOW (POL)
Winner section 8
Pool C
Zenit KAZAN (RUS)
PARIS Volley (FRA)
Winner section 3
Winner section 5
Pool D
MODENA Volley (ITA)
S.C.M. “U” CRAIOVA (ROU)
Winner section 4
Winner section 7
Pool E
Halkbank ANKARA (TUR)
Knack ROESELARE (BEL)
Winner section 1
Winner section 2
Schedule:
PRELIMINARY ROUND
First leg: 16-17 November 2016
Return leg: 20-21 November 2016
LEAGUE ROUND
6 rounds (3 home and 3 away for each team). Games will be played Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday)
6-7-8 December 2016
20-21-22 December 2016
17-18-19 January 2017
31 January-1-2 February 2017
14-15-16 February 2017
1 March 2017
PLAYOFFS DRAW
3 March 2017
PLAYOFFS 12
First leg 14-15-16 March 2017, Return leg 21-22-23 March 2017
PLAYOFFS 6
First leg 4-5-6 April 2017, return leg 11-12-13 April 2017
FINAL FOUR
29-30 April 2017
