CLVolleyW All-Star Team Vote: Head Coaches Nominees
A little bit more than two weeks before the culmination of an exciting #CLVolley season, the Volleyball fans across the continent still have the chance to choose the All-Star Team in both men’s and women’s side of the competition.
In the past few days, we have been presenting you the nominees in the different Volleyball positionс, and to finish this series, it is high time we paid attention to “the strategists behind the scenes”. Of course, this is just a metaphor because the figures that we are going to give you more details about, are far from being behind the scenes in the real meaning of the expression. These are the people who are in the driver’s seat of each team, guiding the players, and making it all possible that a squad works as a well-oiled machine in the right time.
Ladies and gentlemen, the coaches nominees at the 2024 #CLVolleyW!
Marco Gaspari
At the helm of the Italian Allianz Vero Volley Milano, the 42-year-old specialist is aiming at his first CEV Champions League Volley title as a head coach (he has one to his name back from 2007/2008 when he was an assistant coach of the winners of Colussi Perugia).
Gaspari, who is guiding Vero Volley since 2020/2021, helped the team write a brand-new page in the club’s history this season, as the Italians make it for a very first time to the #SuperFinals of Europe’s top club competition. He also has to his name one CEV Cup and one CEV Challenge Cup.
While reaching the title-deciding match on the European Volleyball stage, Gaspari and his players couldn’t do the same in the Italian league, as they were eliminated by Savino Del Bene Scandicci in the semis.
Stefano Lavarini
Lavarini is one of the best well-known coaches around the globe, as his name remains a reference for a quality work. Throughout the years, he has been working at some of the biggest clubs, such as the Brazilian Itambé/Minas, the Italians Unet E–Work Busto Arsizio and Igor Gorgnozola Novara. Currently, he is at the helm of the Turkish Powerhouse of Fenerbahçe Opet Istanbul and the Polish National Team - Women.
Lavarini and his Fenerbahçe were close to reaching the #SuperFinalsAntalya this year, but they lost after a Golden Set from Allianz Vero Volley Milano.
However, on a domestic level, the giants from Istanbul are doing pretty well - they became AXA Sigorta Cup Volley title-holders in March, and on Sunday, claimed the title in the Sultanlar Ligi.
Daniele Santarelli
Daniele Santarelli might very well be called the Star of the Volleyball Coaches in the recent years. There has not been a Volleyball challenge that he has put his mind to, and that he hasn’t overcome. From making Serbia’s women national team world champions in 2022, through delivering an outstanding success with Türkiye at the 2023 #EuroVolleyW when the Sultans of the Net were crowned champions of Europe, to 2021 when Santarelli and Prosecco Doc Imoco Volley Conegliano lifted the #CLVolleyW trophy after 3-2 against VakifBank Istanbul.
Now, the Italian and his Conegliano squad are getting ready for another #SuperFinals after outclassing twice Eczacibasi Dynavit Istanbul in the semi-finals this year, and on the 5th of May, they will lock horns against Allianz Vero Volley Milano in a battle for the 2024 trophy.
Ferhat Akbas
In 2021/2022 Ferhat Akbas accepted the challenge, called “Eczacibasi Dynavit Istanbul”, and is, since then, head coach of the Turkish team.
In the 2022/2023 #CLVolleyW season, he led the team to the Big Finale in Turin, where the Tigers met the well-known opponents of VakifBank Istanbul. Despite the fact that Eczacibasi did not claim the title back then, their overall performance has been steady and good in the past years, and Akbas definitely has a lot to do with this.
The Istanbul team did get a sweet revenge from their city rivals in December 2023, when the players of Akbas disappointed VakifBank in the Final of the Volleyball Club World Championship, and winning 3-2, claimed the title.
In the 2024 #CLVolleyW, Eczacibasi were really close to qualifying for a second consecutive time for the #SuperFinals, but lost in the semis to Prosecco Doc Imoco Volley Conegliano.