For more regular updates go to Twitter @CEVolleyballCL or search for the official event hashtag: #CLF4Treviso

We will aim to update this report after each set, but for more regular updates you can follow all of the action on Twitter @CEVolleyballCL or by using the official event hashtag: #CLF4Treviso

For more from the match go to @CEVolleyballcl on Twitter or just search for the official hashtag #CLF4Treviso

Click here for a comprehensive TV schedule

The following broadcasters will show the actions from Palaverde featuring a good share of the world’s best Volleyball players:

Eurosport S.A.S. (Eurosport Asia): Australia, Hong Kong (exclusive); Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Philippines, India, South Korea
Victory Consultancy Limited (CYTA): Cyprus
United Media Limited (Sportklub): Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Former Y.R. of Macedonia, Montenegro
MCS: France (exclusive); Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Portugal, Sub-Saharan Africa
OTE S.A.: Greece
D-Smart: Turkey
DSC: Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, the Palestinian Territories, Egypt, Sudan, South Sudan, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, Djibouti, Somalia and Eritrea.
Polsat: Poland
Digisport: Romania, Hungary
Claro Sports: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela.
AZTV: Azerbaijan
BNT: Bulgaria
Star TV / Match TV: Russia
Israel: Charlton TV
Česká televize: Czech Republic
Kwesé Sport: Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zanzibar, Zimbabwe.
ESPN 3: United States, Canada, New Zealand
Sport1+: Germany
Sportitalia: Italy
iQiyi: China

Today (Thursday) the Turkish teams Eczacibasi and VakifBank should arrive, tomorrow (Friday) Dynamo Moscow will finally join them. The four teams will all be training on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning on the playing court (behind closed doors).

 Saturday 22^nd April 2017 – SEMI-FINALS

5:00 pm VakifBank Istanbul vs. Eczacibasi VitrA Istanbul
8:00 pm Dynamo Moscow vs. Imoco Volley Conegliano

Sunday 23^rd April 2017 – FINALS

3:00 pm Bronze medal final – third and fourth place
6:00 pm Gold medal final – first and second place

MEDIA MEETING TOMORROW AT THE HOTEL “LE TERRAZZE”
On Friday, at 1:30 pm, there’s going to be a Media Meeting at the Hotel “Le Terrazze” with the coaches and the most representative players of the four teams that will be playing the Final Four. For the Panthers of Imoco there will be coach Mazzanti, captain Serena Ortolani and the American outside hitter Kelsey Robinson.

TICKETS: SINGLE-DAY TICKETS AVAILABLE
After a few hundred tickets where returned back by foreign supporters, single-day tickets are now for sale again.

Prices are listed below:
Saturday 22^nd, semi-finals (5:00 pm Eczacibasi VitrA Istanbul – VakifBank Istanbul and 8:00 pm Imoco Volley Conegliano – Dynamo Moscow), ticket valid for two matches: “Curva sud” not numbered seats = 30 euros (U10 reduced price = 25 euros), “Distinti” numbered seats = 40 euros (U10 reduced price = 35 euros), “Centrali” numbered seats = 85 euros (U10 reduced price = 75 euros).
Sunday 23^rd, finals (3:00 pm 3^rd/4^th place, 6:00 pm 1^st/2^nd place): “Curva sud” not numbered seats = 35 euros (U10 reduced price = 30 euros), “Distinti” numbered seats = 45 euros (U10 reduced price = 40 euros), “Centrali” numbered seats = 90 euros (U10 reduced price = 80 euros).
FOR SALE TODAY AND TOMORROW AT PALAVERDE (3PM-7PM) and online on the website www.clf4treviso.com (Tickets section).

MEDIA AND GUESTS
120 journalists and accredited photographers from all across the World: accreditation requests by Turkish, Swiss, Russian, Chinese and German media workers. There will be all the most important people in volleyball, such as CEV Presidente Boricic, Women’s Volleyball League President Fabris, and also illustrious insiders like the coach of China, the reigning Olympic champion, Lang Ping and the coach of Brazil Zè Roberto.
HASHTAG
It will be possible to publish photos and comments about Final Four experience at Palaverde and post them on social network websites using #CLF4Treviso hashtag.
ENTERTAINMENT BY CHEERLEADERS, BREAKERS AND THE ALPINI’S FANFARE

Before, after and during Final Four matches, there are going to be fun activities for the supporters (Bongo Cam, Kiss Cam, selfies with frames, etc.) to create the right atmposphere and entertain people during the periods of time in which there are no games to be played. The intervals within matches and sets are going to feature entertainment: on Saturday the breakers named “Blu Royals” will entertain people with their dance movements and tricks, on Sunday the Cheerleaders named “Fuoriclasse” will be performing. On Sunday, the day of the finals, between the 3^rd/4^th place final and the actual final, there will be a musical performance on the court by the Alpini’s Fanfare, always close to Imoco Volley during its historic moments in the past few years.

OUTSIDE SHOPPING AND FOOD AREA
Outside the Palaverde, for the whole duration of the event, there’s going to be a tensile structure to welcome supporters: the food area will be prepared by Max Siebenfoercher who will delight people with South Tyrol specialities. There are also going to be the stand of Veneto, partner of the event, of Mikasa and other sponsors.

MAKE UP ARTISTS
Cooperativa Comunica will set up an area outside Palaverde where the supporters of each team can paint themselves with the colours of their team.

MASTERPIECES BY VARISCO AS INDIVIDUAL AWARDS
Final Four individual awards, “dream team” awards (best player for each position) and tournament MVP award are masterpieces made by the glassworker Marco Varisco, one of the best in working crystal and specialized in making sports trophies.

Women’s Volleyball Champions League Final Four will be played for the first time in Veneto, at Palaverde in Villorba (TV), on 22^nd and 23^rd April, organized by Imoco Volley Conegliano, and for the occasion the “Bellini and his followers” exhibition, at Palazzo Sarcinelli
in Conegliano until 18^th June 2017, joins the great event. Every athlete and each event member will receive a special cut price ticket for only 6 euros instead of 11 (journalist, as usual, can visit the exhibition for free). So in just one weekend sports lovers rediscover precious Venetian Renaissance paintings. The exhibition “Bellini and his followers” is a real journey through the workshops of the Great Giovanni Bellini who left his unique mark, creating a reference point for numerous schools of artists.
Works of art by his followers and pupils such as Titian, Palma the Elder, Tintoretto, Andrea Previtali, Marco Bello, the Santacroce, Bartolomeo Veneto and many others, can be admired next to Bellini’s own masterpieces. The exhibition unfolds inside Palazzo Sarcinelli following a themed order, covering the great subjects in Bellini’s paintings form the Madonna with Child to the Devoted Meditations, from depictions of Christ to portraiture, as well as works denoting a distinctly Northern influence.

Palazzo Sarcinelli
Via XX Settembre 132, Conegliano
25th February – 18th June 2017

Prices are listed below:

Saturday 22^nd, semi-finals (5:00 pm Eczacibasi Istanbu – Vakifbank and 8:00 pm Imoco Volley – Dynamo Moscow), valid for two matches: “Curva sud” not numbered seats = 30 euros (U10 reduced price = 25 euros), “Distinti” numbered seats = 40 euros (U10 reduced price = 35 euros), “Centrali” numbered seats = 85 euros (U10 reduced price = 75 euros).

Sunday 23^rd,finals (3:00 pm 3^rd/4^th place, 6:00 pm 1^st/2^nd place): “Curva sud” not numbered seats = 35 euros (U10 reduced price = 30 euros), “Distinti” numbered seats = 45 euros (U10 reduced price = 40 euros), “Centrali” numbered seats = 90 euros (U10 reduced price = 80 euros).

The four best teams of the Old Continent will face each other at Palaverde for the title of European Champion in a two-day event which represents the most important appointment for continental club Volleyball.

Together with Italy’s reigning champion and organizing club Imoco Volley Conegliano, three battleships such as Russian team Dynamo Moscow and Turkish teams Vakifbank Istanbul and Eczacibasi Istanbul will take the field, to battle for the title that was conquered by an Italian team, Pomì Casalmaggiore, last year. The Region of Veneto, which had the highest number of tourists in 2016 among Italy’s regions, is the territorial partner of an event that will bring more than 5000 people to Conegliano and Treviso between 22 nd and 23 rd April, at least 1500 of them come from all over Europe and include supporters of participating
teams, insiders, fans and journalists, granting a significant profit to the territory. Three hotels in the area are almost completely occupied by teams, delegations, referees, media workers and insiders (teams arestaying at Le Terrazze Hotel, a few hundred meters from Palaverde), and soon there will be the long awaited “pacific invasion” of both Turkish teams and Moscow team supporters, that, after knowing their team qualified, started organizing things to purchase the tickets and go to Veneto for the event altogether.

It is a great chance to promote the territory of Veneto, show once more its hospitality and let everyone know about its typical products, particularly Prosecco, spearhead of the local economy.

SCHEDULE

Saturday 22 nd April:

5:00 pm Eczacibasi Istanbul (Tur) – VaKifbank Istanbul (Tur),

8:00 pm Imoco Volley Conegliano (Ita) – Dynamo Moscow (Rus).

Sunday 23 rd April:

3:00 pm 3 rd /4 th place Final.

6:00 pm 1 st /2 nd place Final.

Awards soon after that.

THE FOUR QUEENS

Imoco Volley: event organizing club, directly qualified after 2017 Champions League round-robin phase. In this season, after winning 2016 Italian title, it has already won Supercoppa Italiana and Coppa Italia too. It was founded in 2012, it’s a very young club, but very well rooted in the territory, as proved by continuous records of affluence at Palaverde and by the prize for 2016 Italian best team supporters. In its roster, coached by Davide Mazzanti, there are high level Italian athletes such as De Gennaro (2014 World’s best libero), Serena Ortolani and young players like Danesi and Malinov, and international superstars such as Polish Setter Skorupa, Dutch Middle Blocker De Kruijf (injured at the moment, but hoping she will recover for the Final Four), and also American players such as Kelsey Robinson (2016 Italian playoffs MVP) and Nicole Fawcett.

Dinamo Moscow: it will be the Panthers’ opponent in the second semi-final. It reached the Final Four yet undefeated in Champions League going through an impressing path: six victories out of six matches in the league round and another show of strength in the playoffs against Liu Jo Modena winning 3-0 both home and away matches. The team won 11 times the highest European Club competition in the 60s and the 70s. The superstars of the Russian squad, coached by Yuri Panchenko (the only non-Italian coach out of four), are Nataliya Goncharova, Ukrainian Opposite Hitter which became a naturalized Russian citizen and already won a World Championship gold medal in 2010 and two European ones in 2013 and 2015 with her national team, and the Croatian Middle Blocker Malja Polijak that has already won the Champions League four times, the last victory being in 2015 while playing for Eczacibasi.

Eczacibasi Istanbul: the Turkish team won the Champions League in 2015; coached by Italian Massimo Barbolini, this year the team began from the second round of the qualification phase, defeating both Plovdiv and Minsk without losing any of the four matches. In the round-robin phase it qualified as best second place team with 4 victories and 2 losses, both in the derby against VakifBank which will take place one more time in the semi-finals. In the playoffs that just ended it lost the first match against Fenerbahce Istanbul (another Turkish derby) 3-2, but was able to comeback in the home match and qualify by winning 3-1. In the roster there is former Imoco Panther Rachael Adams which won the Italian championship last year and came third in the Olympic Games, and other outstanding players such as Serbian Tijana Boskovic, leading scorer for Serbia and silver medalist of the last Olympic Games, American Larson and Brazilian Thaisa that will unfortunately be KO because of a bad injury.

VakifBank Istanbul: it won the Champions League 3 times, the last one in 2013, but has always participated to the Final Four six times in a row. In 2014 and in 2016 the team played but lost the final, in 2015 it came third. A clear path with no losses yet for the Turkish team coached by Italian Guidetti, with six victories out of six matches in the round-robin phase and a double victory against Volero Zurich in the playoffs (3-1 both in the away leg in Switzerland and in the home leg in Istanbul yesterday). This team doesn’t lack of superstars either, and can rely on amazing Chinese Outside Hitter Zhu Ting, MVP of both World Championship in 2014 (silver medalist) and Rio Olympic Games in 2016 (Gold medalist), and on American Kimberly Hill (also seen in Novara) gold medalist of 2014 World Championship and bronze medallist of 2016 Olympic Games.

PALAVERDE

Palaverde “home” of the Panthers of Imoco Volley will be renewed and dressed up for the occasion: outside Palaverde there will be a shopping area with food and wine stands prepared by sponsor Max Siebenfoercher, the stand of the Region of Veneto to promote the territory , a “makeup” area in which each team supporter can be painted with his own team colours, exhibition stands of CEV Champions League official sponsors Denizbank and Mikasa and many other stands for Imoco Volley sponsors and for fan engagement. Here, supporters of each team will also be able to purchase the official t-shirt of the event.

Inside the sporting hub, the Hospitality Room will be improved, enlarged and set up to receive guests and VIPs, the Press Gallery will be enlarged occupying part of the Northern arena seating area and Mixed Zones for after-match interviews and the “I Zone” for television media will be created. The cheerleaders named Fuoriclasse, the breakers named Blu Royals and the Alpini Band will perform  during the breaks within matches. There will also be the “Bongo Cam”, the “Kiss Cam” and games for the people inside the arena.

Luca Zaia, President of Veneto region which is Final Four territorial partner, greeted everyone with the following words: “This is a wonderful initiative and I would like to sincerely thank Maschio and Garbellotto families for what they were able to create together with Imoco Volley and aroud Imoco Volley. They are like Renaissance enlightened princes, they believed in a dream which then became true. The Veneto region is very proud of having entrepreneurs of such calibre that gift us with high level sports and extraordinary events, involving a lot of people and socially engaging, proven by hundreds of gilrs at youth level and thousands of young women attending Palaverde. Good luck for the organization and.. Go Imoco!”.

Next to speak was coach Davide Mazzanti, triggered by President Zaia himself which congratulated the coach from Marche for being recently named manager of Italy’s national team, asking him to stay at least “part time”: “Unfortunately regulations don’t let you do both things, meaning that this last part of my Imoco Volley experience is even more important, I would like to pay back the love and generosity of the club and its environment with something important, but I won’t speak any further. What about our Final Four? We qualified directly, so we have one more reason to prove that the team deserves it and we will be protagonists against Europe best teams at Palaverde. We are getting ready for the semi-final against a very strong Dinamo Mosca, its players are strong and potent, we need to surprise them with our speed. But before of that there are the Championship playoffs quarter finals where we absolutely have to pass the round and that are going to be a nice tough test for the European Final”.

Imoco Volley President Piero Garbellotto, committed to the manifestation preparation together with all his staff, introduced the Final Four organized by Imoco Volley as follows: “After winning our first Championship, we also brought Champions League Final Four in Veneto for the first time, a great pride but also a great responsibility for us. We are working hard in order to make everything run perfectly, Palaverde will be renewed and dressed up, there will be hundreds of foreign guests, delegations, supporters and journalists and we want them to have nice memories about this event and our territory. Besides, during the week before Final Four, Conegliano will become yellow and blue everywhere, in squares and historical monuments, and also in the shops in the Centre. In Cima Square there’s even going to be a mini-volleyball court, to gather as many people as possible and create the right enthusiasm for the two Final Four days and we want these days to be unforgettable”.

Two prominent athletes from the Panthers’ team were also there, captain Serena Ortolani and libero Monica de Gennaro. “I have to thank the club also on behalf of my teammates – said the captain – for being given the possibility to play the Final Four in our home ground. It’s my first time and it’s going to be an amazing emotion because Palaverde gives us a great charge when completely full of people, but it’s also going to be a nice chance to offer the best we have and we are going to try to make the most of it. It’s going to be an outstanding event between world’s best players, I sincerely hope there will be lots and lots of people first of all because that would help us, and then because it’s going to be a spectacular event absolutely not to miss”. ”We are not the current favourites – states Monica De Gennaro, “Moki” for her fans –, there are very strong teams with even stronger athletes, but I’m sure our supporters will give us an extra boost, playing at home will be a nice advantage and an extra motivation, come to watch us because the show won’t let you down!”.

The closing speech before the ritual toast was granted to one of the most loyal sponsors of Imoco Volley, Consorzio Prosecco DOC, that hosted the presentation in its lounge at Vinitaly. President Stefano Zanette spoke: “Five years ago, together with a lot of wineries and wine companies, we believed in a dream called Imoco Volley, but we would have never imagined to reach only five years later such a high level by playing a Final Four after also winning the Championship, for this reason we would like to thank Imoco and the entrepreneurs friends of ours that support it, and we wish the very best luck to the club for this event and to the team for the appointment awaiting it, having no doubts on the atmosphere at Palaverde being fantastic”.