Why should you vote for each of the eight middle blockers nominated for the All-Star Team in the #CLVolleyM

The CEV Champions League Men has reached its business end, with the Final Four ready to deliver more drama in Łódź one month’s time. But before the last three matches will decide the new champions, we are looking back on how they got here and how their best players performed this season. 

As we gear up for the deciding matches, the attention will certainly be on these matches, 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 in full fledge for a few days, 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 middle blockers in the men’s competition are next, so let’s see who are the eight nominees.

The four sides which are in the Final Four in Łódź are all represented here and, according to the statistics, there is one player who cannot be overlooked, basically lifting his side time and time again this season.

There are two players from Jastrzębski Węgiel, the runners-up of the previous two seasons, with Norbert Huber leading the way. The 26-year-old, who has been constantly one of the best players on his position in the past seasons in the CEV Volleyball Champions League Men, has the best average of kill blocks per set between the players who have featured in at least 25 sets,  with his 25 kill blocks seeing Huber averaging 0.83 per set.

The second Jastrzębski Węgiel to be nominated for the All-Star team is Anton Brehme. The German middle blocker has 15 kill blocks so far, an average of 0.5 per set, but has also served nine aces, one more than Huber, and scored 88 points, an average of 2.93 per set, four more than Huber throughout this season.

Halkbank Ankara, one of the teams which surprised this season and provided some incredible comebacks, also has one player on the shortlist, with Marko Mert Matic having 15 blocks so far, playing in 29 sets this season. Matic did not score as much as the other middle blockers, but his performance in crunch time was truly impressive, earning him a nomination on this list.

Making the Final Four for the first time in history meant that Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie were always going to have players nominated for the All-Star team and for the middle blocker position the chosen one was Mateusz Bieniek. The Polish player, who was the best middle blocker at the World Championship in 2022, has 12 kill blocks this season, featuring in only 24 sets for the Polish side.

In his maiden season at Sir Sicoma Monini Perugia, Argentinian middle blocker Agustin Loser showed his strength, with an excellent display all year round, as he registered 20 kill blocks and an average of 0.74 kill blocks per set, being a key ingredient for the Italian side’s defence.

But the standout performer of the season was Olympiacos’ Alen Pajenk. The 38-year-old Slovenian, who has been playing for the Greek side since 2021, is the sixth overall scorer this season, with 166 points, served 18 aces and has the joint-largest number of kill blocks, 30. However, the statistics work his way, because Olympiacos also had the largest number of sets played, 61, with three rounds of qualifying played before the team entered the 4th round.  

Another player who shined this season in his position was Simon Valentin Torwie, who helped SVG Luneburg secure their maiden quarter-finals berth in the European top competition. Torwie, who made his debut in the competition this season, had 28 kill blocks, an average of 0.7 per set played, as well as 93 points scored, becoming one of the players to watch for the next seasons.

Last, but not least, Taylor Constantine Averill is also nominated, as the Mint Vero Volley Monza finished the season with 20 kill blocks in 32 sets played, an average of 0.62 blocks per set. The American also had 84 points, making him one of the best-scoring middle blockers this season. 

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