Milan’s “Allianz Powervolley” from Italy was drawn to the Jevabpils “Lynx” CEV Challenge Cup 1/16 final, but RTU / “Border Guard” / “Jurmala” will be the first opponent of Prague “Lvi”.
The strongest opponent was Latvia’s best team of last season “Credit24” in the master Jēkabpils “Lūšiem”, which must meet the star of Milan’s “Allianz Powervolley”, who took the fifth place in the “The games reached the semi – finals of the cup, which was also prevented by the viral pandemic.
It has already been reported that before the draw, the president of Jēkabpils club Māris Trušelis said that he would have no choice but to bring a European grand to Jēkabpils: “We are not afraid to lose in the first round. Maybe it would be even better if someone in the form of a Milan team hit the Saaremaa team in the quarterfinals of last season. Half of Estonia followed the games. “
Now his wishes have come true.
Other Latvian clubs will have opponents from the Czech Republic. The first opponent of the newly established RTU / “Border Guard” / “Jurmala” club will be the “Lvi” from Prague, which took the fifth place in the Czech top league before the end of the competition last season.
Last season, the Prague club did not play in the European Cups.
“The federation offered to consider the possibility that we could also start in the European Cups, and we agreed. If we can give the young volleyball players such an opportunity, we have to do it,” said Arnis Tunte, a representative of the new team, before the draw.
For women in the CEV Challenge Cup, Riga Volleyball School (RVS) will meet “Ostrava” from the Czech Republic in the 16th final.
The Ostrava team also took fifth place in the interrupted Czech championship, not playing in the European Cups.
RVS made its debut in the Challenge Cup last season, conceding Bekēščaba’s “Roplabda” from Hungary 1-3 and 0-3 in the 1/16 final.
It has already been reported that after the leader of previous years Marta Kamēlija Levinska went to study in the USA, there were thoughts about the usefulness of starting in the CEV Challenge Cup, but with the support of LVF it was decided to start in such high level competitions.
Last season, RVS was the team that, after a five-year break, allowed Latvia to be represented again in one of the European Cups.
Other units represented by Latvians also found out their opponents in the CEV Challenge Cup 1/16 final.
“BarkomĶažaņi” from Lviv, coached by Uģis Krastiņš, will meet “Dinamo” from Bucharest, “Parnu” led by Avo Kēl, the Estonian head coach of the Latvian men’s national team. team “Saaremaa” with Artūrs Tinti as a physical training coach will meet with the Swiss “Lausanne”.
32 teams will participate in the challenge cup competition for men and 26 teams for women this season.
In the most prestigious Champions League tournament, Edward Buivida’s Amrissila “Lindaren Volley” from Switzerland in Group E will meet with Soligorsk “Shahtjor” from Belarus and Maasika “Greenyard” from Belgium.
Only the winners of the group will continue the competition in the league, together with the winners of groups D and F forming the H group in the 2nd round. Also from Group H, only the winners will advance to the fourth round of the Cup, with the other teams continuing to compete in the CEV Cup.
36 teams have entered the men’s competition.
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