The Block Devils, two-time defending European champions, will face Ankara, Montpellier, and Bucharest in the group stage, the first stage of their journey to the 2027 Champions League. This is the result of the draw held this morning at the headquarters of the European Volleyball Confederation: Sir Sicoma Monini Perugia, as the defending champion of the competition, entered the “Drawing of Lots” with the highest prize available in the European rankings, placed in Cup I, the first pot of the draw reserved for the top seeds of the tournament.
The first draw placed Perugia in Pool B, which was gradually reconstructed in subsequent draws: Turkish team Ziraat Bankkart Ankara was drawn from the second-tier group, French team Montpellier was drawn from Cup III, and finally, a newcomer, Romanian team Dinamo Bucharest, was drawn from the fourth-tier group. And it is with this team that the Block Devils will begin their European campaign, between Tuesday, December 8th and Thursday, December 10th, at home at PalaBarton.
Juventus’ Sporting Director and CEV representative, Goran Vujevic, highlights the group’s technical difficulty: “In terms of team quality, we know Ziraat well because last year they were top seeds in the Champions League in the group stage, where they won every game without dropping a single point. They finished third and also won the championship in Turkey. This makes them a formidable opponent, certainly one of the highest caliber, as they’ve demonstrated in previous years by winning the CEV Cup. They’re a club that always invests; we’ll have Ishikawa back on the team, so they’re definitely the toughest opponent in the group. Then we have two other champions from last year: Montpellier, who won the championship in France, which is always a demanding and very technical league; and Ishikawa, who won the championship in France, which is always a challenging and very technical league.” Last year they played in the Champions League with the “wilde card”, this year they earned it on the pitch: they are a fairly technical team with a couple of Argentine players who always bring technique to the pitch and certainly a very tough team that gave Lube a hard time last year in their group… they are a very respectable opponent.
