Itas Trentino, countdown to SuperFinals

Itas Trentino in the final

The last appointment of the season is approaching with wide strides for Trentino Itas, which on Sunday afternoon (at 4:00 p.m. Italian time) will challenge the Polish formation of Jastrzebski Wegiel to be able to raise to the sky the CEV Champions League, a trophy that the Trentino team coached by Fabio Soli has been able to put in its trophy case three times so far (with three finals reached in the last four years).

Since the competition’s inception (i.e., the 2000/01 season, when the current Champions League replaced the Champions Cup) as many as 15 times an Italian team has managed to reach the final act of the event (not counting this year’s edition), lifting the trophy to the sky on six occasions. Trento, as mentioned, holds the record, with three Champions League victories (2008/09, 2009/10 and 2010/11), followed by Lube (with Macerata in 2001/02 and with Civitanova in 2018/19), while for Treviso came the’only success in 2005/06.

Before the name change, three successes in a row had come from Italian teams, first with Modena and then with Treviso, capable of racking up an extraordinary encore before having to surrender, the following year, against the French Paris Volleyball (2000/01).

The Trentino lineup has è become accustomed, in past years, to such prominent events, with as many as two finals played in the past three seasons. Indeed, in 2020/21 and 2021/22 the Polish lineup ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle got the better of the Dolomite club in the Finals, overcoming Trento’s defenses.