Champions League Final Four volleyball 16-17 May – Turin

While the entire population of Norway is getting ready for the May 17th celebration, volleyball fans are turning their attention to Turin and the year's big highlight, the Champions League Final Four!

Four of Europe's best teams will compete for the most prestigious title in club volleyball. Two of the semi-finalists come from Poland, Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie and PGE Projekt Warszawa, while Turkey's strong Ziraat Bankkart Ankara will compete. In addition, we find the reigning champions from Italy, Sir Sicoma Monini Perugia, who are chasing another trophy.

This will be a volleyball weekend filled with intensity, star players and matches at the highest level. When Europe's best gather in Turin, everything is set for a spectacular Final Four that no volleyball fan will want to miss!

Champions League Final Four Volleyball

Location: Turin, Italy
Date: May 16–17
Arena: Inalpi Arena
Capacity: 15,657

Betting Market – Winner Bet Champions League Final Four

Layer	Outright odds	Comment
Sir Safety Perugia	2.05	Reigning Champions League champion and natural favorite heading into the Final Four.
Ziraat Bank	3.80	Comes with enormous offensive quality and could have the tournament's highest top level.
Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie	4.40	The PlusLiga winners are seeking revenge after their final loss last year.
Project Warsaw	10.00	The outsider in the field, but has shown great form after the coaching change in February.

Sir Safety Perugia – the world's best volleyball team

Sir Safety Perugia enters the tournament as the clear favorite to win the Champions League again. The Italian giants are the reigning champions and have established themselves in recent seasons as perhaps the most complete volleyball team in the world. They combine enormous physicality with technical quality and routine in all positions. Perugia has a team without obvious weaknesses, but what really sets them apart is the serve pressure and the ability to control the tempo of the matches. With Simone Giannelli as the conductor of the attacks, they have one of the best leggeras in the world. At the same time, players like Kamil Semeniuk and Wassim Ben Tara give the team both stability and raw scoring power. Perugia comes to Turin with expectations of gold and anything else will almost be seen as a disappointment.

Ziraat Bankasi – arsenal of an attacking trio

Ziraat Bankasi is the team that has perhaps surprised the most this season. The Turkish club has dominated at home in Turkey and comes to the Final Four with a clear ambition to become the first Turkish club to win the Champions League on the men's side. The team plays offensive volleyball with a high tempo and relies especially on an extremely strong attacking trio. With Tomasz FORNAL is a player who can decide the biggest matches with experience and composure, while Trevor Clevenot contributes with stability in reception and defense. In addition, Nimir ABDEL-AZIZ gives the team a lot of power from the diagonal space. When the reception works, Ziraat can produce points at a high pace from all positions, and precisely the width offensively makes them difficult to read. At the same time, they lack the quality in the midfielders needed in the Final Four and the routine that the Italian and Polish top teams have shown over several years.

Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie - the time of revenge?

Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie comes to Turin with a huge desire for revenge after the final loss in the Champions League last season. The Polish team has been among Europe's most stable throughout the year and won the regular season in PlusLiga by a landslide. Under coach Michał Winiarski, the team has developed an aggressive and structured style of play with a high serve load and heavy blocking. Zawiercie plays with high intensity and at the same time has a wide squad that makes them less vulnerable than many other teams. Mateusz Bieniek is perhaps the team's most important player with his dominance on the block and first pace, while Aaron Joseph RUSSELL gives the team enormous offensive power with his tactical choices. Bartosz Kwolek contributes with explosiveness from the wing, and Miguel Tavares creates a lot of speed in the attacks. Zawiercie looks like the team that is perhaps best equipped to challenge Perugia over a whole match, especially if they get fluent on serve and blocking.

Project Warsaw – underdog

Projekt Warszawa is the tournament's big outsider. Their season seemed to end in disappointment after weak results throughout much of the winter, but after the coaching change in February, the team has been almost transformed. They have played with far greater self-confidence, energy and aggression, and come to the Final Four with the feeling that they have little to lose. Warsaw lives a lot on momentum and intensity, and they have several players who can deliver at a very high level in single matches. Jakub Kochanowski is one of the world's best midfielders in the block and gives the team great confidence on the block, while Kévin TILLIE adds experience and leadership from the wing. Bartosz Bednorz has also shown a very high top level offensively recently, but is unfortunately out for Warsaw out with an overstep to the Final Four. Projekt Warszawa may not be the most complete team in this year's Final Four, but they can be extremely dangerous if they gain early flow and self-confidence.

What can we expect?

Everything is set for a Final Four with very small margins in the decisive points that will define both the semi-finals and the Champions League final itself. Perugia goes in as the favorite due to the quality and experience of the squad, but both Zawiercie and Ziraat have the weapons needed to challenge the Italians. At the same time, Warsaw can play completely without pressure, which often makes the outsider role extra dangerous in the Final Four format, where one match can decide everything. Turin can therefore offer some of the very best volleyball matches of the year.

Who will win this year's Champions League final? I'm taking a chance on Ziraat Bankasi, who come to Turin with an offensive arsenal that few teams in the world can match. With Polish international Tomasz Fornal, French star Trevor Clevenot and perhaps the Netherlands' best volleyball player, Nimir Abdel-Aziz, Ziraat have an attacking trio that can decide games on their own. At the same time, they are made up of the four semi-finalists who have had the most rest heading into the Final Four, which could be an important advantage physically. If everything works out for Ziraat offensively, it's hard to see how any of the other teams will be able to stop their attacking power.

Volleyball: Final Four Champions League volleyball: Ziraat Bankası win Champions League (3.80)

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