TOP GLOBAL TEAMS GET CLUB WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP GOING ON TUESDAY

Trentino, Lube, Sada Cruzeiro, Praia, Ciudad, Foolad, Shahdab and Al Ahly fight for the world title in Uberlândia – watch live on VBTV

Italians Trentino and Lube are among the favorites to take the title in Uberlândia (Photo: Lega Volley)

With teams from five different countries and some of the biggest international stars of the sport on the court, the FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship 2024 starts on Tuesday, in Uberlândia, Brazil.

Between Tuesday and Sunday, eight teams from hosts Brazil, Italy, Iran, Argentina and Egypt will play for the world title, having the Sabiazinho stadium as the venue for the tournament.

• Watch the FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship live on VBTV

The eight participating teams were split into two pools, with Italy’s Cucine Lube Civitanova, Brazil’s Praia Clube, Iran’s Foolad Sirjan Iranian and Egypt’s Al Ahly SC forming Pool A and Italy’s Itas Trentino, Brazil’s Sada Cruzeiro, Iran’s Shahdab Yazd and Argentina’s Ciudad Voley competing in Pool B. The two best teams in each pool advance to the semifinals.

Scheduled for 10:00 local time (13:00 GMT), the opening match of the tournament will have five-time world champions Trentino and Shahdab, who will appear in the tournament for the first time, in Pool B. The Italians have a strong roster, highlighted by world champions Alessandro Michieletto, Daniele Lavia and Riccardo Sbertoli, while the Asians have Cuban national team middle blocker Javier Concepción and veteran Iranian national team opposite Amir Ghafour as their standouts.

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Later, at 13:30 local time (16:30 GMT), another duel between Italians and Iranians will get Pool A started, with Lube meeting Foolad. Lube will have French two-time Olympic champion middle blocker Barthélémy Chinenyeze, Italian world champion libero Fabio Balaso and Bulgarian rising star outside hitter Aleksandar Nikolov, while Foolad boast a solid foundation, with Iranian national team regulars Amirhossein Esfandiar, Ali Ramezani and Seyed Mousavi.

“This is a prestigious tournament and a great opportunity for our team to grow,” said Lube’s head coach Giampaolo Medei. “It’s going to be a new experience for this group, but we’re ready. We’re here to chase medals, that’s the goal. We respect every opponent here, but Lube is here to be a protagonist and we’ll be ready for anyone.”

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Men’s Club World Championship – Match Schedule

Brazilians play the later matches

Hosts Praia will initiate their first Club World Championship participation against Al Ahly at 17:00 local time (20:00 GMT), in the second duel of the day in Pool A. The home team has opposite Franco Paese and outside hitter Lucas Lóh as their most popular faces, while Al Ahly bring Egyptian national team setter Hossam Abdalla and longtime Cuban national team libero Yonder García.

“It will be the first time at the Club World Championship for most of our players and we’re all looking forward to playing the best teams and players in the world,” Franco reflected. “We know it’s going to be a very difficult tournament, but we want to go out there and show our best.”

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In the last match of the day, at 20:30 local time (23:30 GMT), four-time world champions Sada Cruzeiro will face Ciudad in a rematch of the South American Championship final, held last February. The Brazilian side has a strong trio of Olympic champions formed by opposite Wallace de Souza, middle blocker Lucas Saatkamp and outside hitter Douglas Souza, while Ciudad has Argentinean national team veterans Facundo Conte and Demián González.

“The Club World Championship is a quick tournament and we need to be consistent to get a good result,” Sada Cruzeiro’s outside hitter Rodrigo ‘Rodriguinho’ Leão remarked. “I think we’ve been playing at a good level in the Superliga, but we still need to find that consistency.”

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