Italy’s Trentino and Qatar’s Al-Rayyan complete the puzzle!
The qualification process for the FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship Belo Horizonte 2014 is complete after the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) and the organisers announced on Wednesday that the two wild cards for this year’s event, which will take place from May 5 to 10, have been allocated to four time champions TRENTINO Volley of Italy and Qatar’s Al-Rayyan.
TRENTINO are the most successful club in FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship history having won four successive titles from 2009 to 2012 before finishing third last year in Betim. They missed out on qualifying for the FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship this year after being knocked in the CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League quarterfinals. The three-time European champions also failed to defend their Italian League title after also being knocked out in the quarterfinals by Casa MODENA.
Meanwhile, Al-Rayyan’s only previous appearance in the FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship was in 2012 when they finished fifth with one victory over Mexico’s Tigres UANL after participating as the host club. However, their silver medal performance at the Asian Men’s Club Championship, where they lost to Matin Varamin of Iran 3-1 (19-25, 25-17, 26-24, 25-16) despite the best efforts of their Italian star player Cristian Savani in the final on Wednesday, earned them the coveted second wild card.
The wild card decisions, which were made jointly between the FIVB and the organisers, complete the eight-team qualification process for the FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship Belo Horizonte 2014.
Defending champions Sada Cruzeiro, who finished second to Italy’s TRENTINO in the FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship Doha 2012, are joined by UPCN of Argentina, who qualified after finishing as runner-up at the South American Men’s Club Championship, Europe champions Belogorie BELGOROD of Russia, African champions Esperance of Tunisia, the NORCECA representative Guaynabo Mets (Puerto Rico) along with the Asia champions Matin Varamin of Iran.
The FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship Belo Horizonte 2014 will be followed by the women’s tournament, which will take place from May 7 to 11 in Zurich, Switzerland.
Here’s a cool article about the VENUE released by the FIVB:
From May 5 to 10, the FIVB World Club Championship will be hosted by Belo Horizonte-MG at the volleyball temple the Mineirinho. But before that, the arena will host another major event: the Men’s Superliga finale on April 13 between Sada Cruzeiro and the winner of Sesi-SP and Vôlei Brasil Kirin.
To be sure the venue is ready to accommodate the great volleyball public – around 18,000 spectators – the arena is undergoing improvements.
“The Mineirinho is certainly able to stage the events,” said the Superintendent of Management Sports Structures of Minas Gerais, Ricardo Raso. “It needs some changes and the press area should receive special attention, but we already started to adjust a few things and by the end of this week we hope to have more information so we can accelerate the maintenance.”
According to Sada Cruzeiro opposite Wallace, his team is looking forward to the Superliga final at the Mineirinho.
“Our team evolves every day; we are preparing and training hard to get another title this season,” he said. “To play here in Mineirinho with our fans will be very special.”
With a little over a month before the Club World Championship in Mineirinho, five of the eight participating teams have been decided. Besides hosts and defending champions Sada Cruzeiro, UPCN from Argentina and European champions Belogorie Belgorod from Russia, two more teams have guaranteed their spots recently.
From NORCECA (North, Central America and Caribbean), Guaynabo Mets will come from Puerto Rico. The African continent will again be represented by a team from Tunisia: Esperance, who won their continental tournament at the end of March. On April 16, the Asian champions will be decided and the final two teams will be determined by the FIVB.
(images: FIVB/ Marco Trabalza)