Eight outside hitters compete for the #CLVolleyM All-Star team

After a fantastic season, the CEV Volleyball Champions League Men has reached its business end, with the Final Four ready to deliver more drama in Lodz in only one months' time. It was a roller-coaster of a season so far, yet there are only three matches left to decide the champions, and now it is high time we take a look on how the four sides got here and how their best players performed this season. 

As we gear up for the deciding matches, the attention will certainly be on them, but until their throw-offs, fans are invited to choose their favourites, which will then be selected to the 2024/25 CEV Champions League Volleyball All-Star Teams.

The voting has been going on for more than a week, but if you still haven't picked your favourites, now is the time to sit back, see what the eight candidates for each position did so far and choose accordingly. The women's outside hitters are next, so let’s see who are the eight nominees.

The four sides which are in the Final Four in Lodz are all represented here, with five players from the four participants earning nominations.

Three of the four teams still alive in the competition have players nominated for this category in the CEV Champions League Men, with four of the best 20 scorers in the competition on the shortlist.

Jastrzębski Węgiel’s Tomasz Fornal, a perennial contender for the All-Star teams, is nominated, as the Polish star produced once again a fantastic season for the runners-up in the past two seasons of the European premium competition. He was Jastrzębski’s top scorer, with 111 points in 30 sets played, for an average of 3.7 points per set.

Between the outside hitters who scored the largest number of points this season is Dick Kooy, who was absolutely fantastic for Halkbank Ankara and a big reason why the Turkish side is back between the top four teams this season. Kooy had 139 points and an average of 3.31 points per set, being crucial in the 42 sets and 10 matches played by Ankara so far. He also produced one of the highlight reels of the season, scoring three consecutive aces against Allianz Milano in the play-offs doubleheader.

Japan star Yuki Ishikawa represents Sir Sicoma Monini Perugia in the nominees list, the third of the four teams which have made it to the Final Four. Ishikawa was also his team’s top scorer this season, with 100 points in 24 sets played, an average of 4.17 points per set, which is one of the top 10 of the season.

Owing to their excellent performance throughout this season, when they came from the Qualification Rounds and reached the quarter-finals of the European top competition, two Olympiacos Piraeus players are nominated for the All-Star team. John Gordon Perrin has been absolutely shining this season, scoring 213 points this season throughout the competition, being the second best scorer, after teammate Aleksandar Atanasevic.

Another Olympiacos player who made the All-Star nominees list for the outside hitter position is a Greek player, Rafail Koumentakis, who is 11th in the top scorer standings and had 133 points in 54 sets.

While Jordan Ewert left Saint-Naizaire VB Atlantique midseason to sign for Verona Volley, he was still the best contributor for the French side, helping them secure a play-offs berth. The American outside hitter had 96 points in six matches played, for an average of 4.17 points per set scored.

Another outside hitter who had an average of over four points per set was Knack Roeselare’s Seppe Rotty, who finished the season with 92 points, an average of 4.18 points per set. Unfortunately for Rotty and Roeselare, the Belgian side finished third in their pool and did not make it to the knock-out phase of the competition.

Allianz Milano’s Yacine Louati is also on the shortlist for the best outside hitter position. Louati has scored 86 points this season in 30 sets played for the Italian side, which was eliminated in the play-offs.

The 2025 CEV Champions League Volley All-Star Team voting is now open!

How it works

•    There are 8 nominated players for each position, as well as head coaches: you are asked to cast three votes for each category
•    For Middle Blockers and Outside hitters, the 2 players with the highest amount of votes will be selected as part of the ALL-Star Team.
•    The Fan Vote will count for 50% of the final voting result, with the other 50% being represented by the votes given by Champions League clubs team captains and team Head Coaches