#CLVolleyM Pool Previews – Lube and WARSZAWA the red-hot favourites in Group E

Two-time #CLVolleyM winners Cucine Lube CIVITANOVA and Poland’s PGE Projekt WARSZAWA are the major forces to reckon with in Pool E of this year’s competition – where they are due to play rookies Volley Haasrode LEUVEN of Belgium and wildcard holders MONTPELLIER HSC VB of France. Will these outsiders find a way to threaten the alleged supremacy of the sides representing the two most competitive national leagues in Europe? The first-leg matches in Civitanova and Warsaw scheduled for this coming week will provide a first test to assess the strength of the respective rosters. 

Cucine Lube CIVITANOVA (ITA) 

The Italians are two-time winners of the competition – they managed to achieve this feat in 2002 as Lube Banca Marche MACERATA and subsequently repeated themselves as #CLVolleyM winners in 2019, when the inaugural Super Finals were held in Berlin. Their current mentor Giampaolo Medei was involved in both occasions – as assistant coach in 2002 and as their head coach in 2019. There and then, they stopped the reign of Russia’s Zenit KAZAN – who had won the competition for four years in a row between 2015 and 2018. Their resume also includes CEV Cup titles (in 2001, 2005, and 2006) plus a Challenge Cup triumph in 2011. 

They have been a regular feature in the #CLVolleyM since the competition was introduced and this year coincides with their 19th appearance – and their return after a year of absence since last season they played in the Challenge Cup where they reached the final and lost it to Poland’s Bogdanka LUK LUBLIN. Most recently, in 2023/2024, they reached the Champions League semis losing to their domestic rivals and eventual winners TRENTINO Itas. Lube have progressed from the pool stage to the knockout phase in 17 of their 18 previous appearances. 

Last year, Cucine Lube CIVITANOVA finished second in the Italian League after losing the championship series 1-3 against TRENTINO Itas. They won the Italian Cup (3-2 vs Rana VERONA), finished runners-up in the Challenge Cup, and fourth in the FIVB Club World Championship.

Their roster includes three members of the Italian national team that won gold at the FIVB World Championship earlier this year – libero Fabio Balaso, outside hitter Mattia Bottolo, and middle blocker Giovanni Maria Gargiulo. The trio also won the Volleyball Nations League silver medal this past summer. Balaso is the sole member of the 2019 winning team still playing for Lube. 

In the World Championship final, they played their teammate Aleksandar Nikolov, who was representing Team Bulgaria. Nikolov emerged as the top scorer of the tournament on 173 points – 67 more than his closest competitors, Ferre Reggers of Belgium and Patrik Indra of Czechia. Nikolov’s father, Vladimir, won the #CLVolleyM with TOURS VB in 2005 and the father-son duo did even share the court together in late November of 2018 during a Challenge Cup fixture while they were representing Levski SOFIA. At 41, Vladimir was also the coach of the team at that time, while Aleksandar was to turn 15 the following day.  

Both Wout D’Heer and Marko Podrascanin won the Champions League with TRENTINO Itas in 2024, when the team eliminated Cucine Lube CIVITANOVA in the semis. On the other hand, setter Santiago Orduna has won the Challenge Cup (2018 with Bunge RAVENNA) and the CEV Cup (2021 with Vero Volley MONZA), but he has yet to win the Champions League.

MONTPELLIER HSC VB (FRA) 

This is MONTPELLIER HSC VB’s second season in the Champions League, after they made their debut in 2022/2023. They were eliminated in the group phase after winning only one match and losing the other five. MONTPELLIER HSC VB’s only win was a 3-0 victory against Serbia’s Vojvodina NS Seme NOVI SAD in their final group match. 

The club enters this season after having received one of three wild cards, alongside Halkbank ANKARA and Asseco Resovia RZESZÓW.

MONTPELLIER HSC VB finished runners up in the French League and Cup last season, after they had won the 2024/2025 Super Cup.

Middle blocker Nicolas Le Goff is a two-time Olympic gold medallist with Team France, in Tokyo in 2021 and at Paris 2024. Moreover, he won the CEV Cup with BERLIN Recycling Volleys in 2016. Quentin Jouffroy also won Olympic gold at Paris 2024 and he lifted the CEV Cup in 2017  with TOURS VB and the Challenge Cup in 2022 (while playing for NARBONNE Volley). As assistant coach Loïc Le Marrec won Olympic gold with France in Tokyo in 2021, and last year he claimed the U21 European Championship title.

PGE Projekt WARSZAWA (POL) 

This is PGE Projekt WARSZAWA’s fifth Champions League season, after 2019/2020, 2020/2021, 2021/2022, and 2024/2025. They qualified after claiming third place in the last edition of the Polish national league. Last season, they reached the knockout phase for the first time. They were eliminated by Halkbank ANKARA in the quarterfinals after losing the Golden Set 12-15. They had previously won all six group phase fixtures, and conceded only two sets.

As Projekt WARSZAWA they won the 2024 Challenge Cup after defeating Mint Vero Volley MONZA of Italy twice in the final (3-1, 3-1). Linus Weber (25), Yurii Semeniuk (24) and Kévin Tillie (23) were among the club’s leading scorers in those games.

Kévin Tillie won Olympic gold with France both in Tokyo in 2021 and at Paris 2024. 

Jakub Kochanowski, Michal Kozlowski and Bartosz Bednorz are all former #CLVolleyM winners – they did so with Grupa Azoty KĘDZIERZYN KOŹLE in 2021, 2022, and 2023, respectively. Kochanowski, Bednorz, and Jan Firlej won the 2025 Volleyball Nations League with Poland. Kochanowski was named MVP of the Finals held in Ningbo, China. Ukraine’s Yurii Semeniuk was the leading blocker in the 2025 Volleyball Nations League main phase, with 37 kill blocks and an average of 3.08 per match to his name.

This will be Tommi Tiilikainen’s first Champions League campaign as coach. As coach of Tiikerit KOKKOLA, he has previous experience in the Challenge Cup and CEV Cup.

Volley Haasrode LEUVEN (BEL) 

Volley Haasrode LEUVEN will make their debut in the Champions League. They are the sixth Belgian club to appear in the competition. Four of the five previous Belgian teams won their first-ever Champions League match: Knack Randstad ROESELARE (2000/2001), Noliko MAASEIK (2001/2002), Euphony ASSE-LENNIK (2011/2012), and Precura ANTWERP (2014/2015). The last Belgian club to make their debut in the Champions League was Decospan VT MENEN in 2022/2023. They lost all six group matches in straight sets.

The last Belgian club to survive the group phase was Knack ROESELARE in 2019/2020 (a season cut short following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic). Back then, current Volley Haasrode LEUVEN coach Hendrik Tuerlinckx was a player of Knack ROESELARE. 

Last season, Volley Haasrode LEUVEN were eliminated in 32nd Finals of the CEV Cup (0-3, 3-2 vs Sport LISBOA e Benfica). They also finished runners-up behind Knack ROESELARE in the Belgian League and in the BeNe Conference. As a player, Tuerlinckx competed in the Champions League with Knack ROESELARE uninterruptedly from 2008/2009 to 2020/2021.