The volleyball players of Grupa Azoty ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle won the Champions League for the second time in a row. In the final in Ljubljana, Slovenia, they defeated the Italian team Itasu Trentino 3: 0 (25:22, 25:20, 32:30). This is the first Polish club to win the European competition more than once.

In the first two sets, the dominance of the players and coach Gheorghe Cretu was clear. The Kędzierzyn players had much better reception and kept a safe advantage in the end of both games although made a lot of mistakes in the service.

The third part of the match was more exciting when Itasu’s volleyball players led to the advantage game. ZAKSA Kędzierzyn volleyball players only used the seventh match ball when Kamil Semeniuk ended the action of importance and led to the historic triumph. Thanks to a great game in the entire match, Semeniuk was chosen the MVP (the most valuable player) of the final. Tears appeared on Semeniuk’s face after the match ball.

“It rarely happens to me. Even after winning the Polish championship, there was no such emotion. Here, after the match ball, everything broke, because it could have been my last game in ZAKSA”, said the volleyball player. The Polish representative will most likely become a player of the Italian Perugia.

ZAKSA became the first Polish club to win the Champions League more than once. So far, the title of the best European team in volleyball was won by Płomień Milowice in 1978, and in handball Łomża Vive Kielce in 2016, but neither of these teams managed to defend the title.

The team from Kędzierzyn-Koźle has become the fourth volleyball club in history to defend the title in the Champions League. So far, it has been done by the Russian Bielogorie Belgorod (2003, 2004) and – defeated on Sunday – Itas Trentino that won the Champions League three times in 2010-12. Zenit Kazan remains the record holder. The Russian team has triumphed four times in this competition for the title of the best team in Europe.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński