Turkish League continues to be the HOME of some of the world’s biggest volleyball stars in Volleywood.
alkbank ANKARA just experienced the most successful season in their history: after winning the 2013 edition of the CEV Volleyball Cup, Turkey’s Volleyball heavyweight signed some of the major stars out there – Matey Kaziyski, Osmany Juantorena, Mitar Tzourits, and Raphael Vieira de Oliveira as well as Bulgarian-born head coach Radostin Stoytchev – for a 2013/2014 campaign where they swept all domestic competitions and only lost to Russia’s Belogorie BELGOROD in the final match of the CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League at Baskent Volleyball Hall.
These international stars joined forces with some of Turkey’s best Volleyball players – Emre Batur, Burutay Subasi, Resul Tekeli, and Hüseyin Koc – to complete a clean sweep in the domestic arena where Halkbank won the national league as well as Turkey’s national cup and Supercup.
Though they could add some more trophies to their showcase, the management of the club was not completely satisfied and decided to set the bar even higher for the 2014/2015 season.
There have been once again many changes in the roster of the team: Matey Kaziyski has gone back to Italy to play for TRENTINO Volley, whereas Raphael Vieira de Oliveira and middle-blocker Mauricio de Souza have packed their staff and moved back to their home country, Brazil. Mitar Tzourits has also left Ankara to play in the Korean league whereas two home players, Sabit Karaagac and Hüseyin Koc, have moved to different clubs within Turkey. Head coach Radostin Stoytchev has also ended his cooperation with Halkbank, going back to Trento.
Since the major goal set for the coming season is to win the CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League, Halkbank has once again put together a very impressive roster and coaching staff.
The former mentor of Poland’s JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel and Player of the XX Century, Lorenzo Bernardi, has been hired to coach Halkbank in the coming season. Halkbank has also signed Cuban-born setter Raydel Hierrezuelo Aguirre and Bulgarian opposite Tsvetan Sokolov. Bernardi is not the only familiar face from JASTRZEBSKI to move to Ankara since Halkbank has reached an agreement also with Michal Kubiak, another superstar of the club from Upper Silesia that last year won bronze in the CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League. The team has also contracted Turkish setter Caner Peksen.
All of these players have signed long-term contracts since the management believes in the importance of stability within the team to achieve success. Apart from that, some players from the youth division will join the senior team. Another youngster who is set to join the ranks of the club is Faik Samed Günes, who last year played for Maliye Milli Piyango ANKARA.
Halkbank ANKARA was drawn in preliminary Pool G of the 2015 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League together with Italy’s rookie Sir Safety PERUGIA, Noliko MAASEIK of Belgium and France’s TOURS.
(image: Magda Wojtecka)