#CLVolleyW Pool Previews – Eczacibasi and Vero Volley to headline Group C

Two real Volleyball powerhouses – Türkiye’s Eczacibasi Dynavit ISTANBUL and Italy’s Numia Vero Volley MILANO – headline Pool C in the #CLVolleyW, where they will be trying to assert their supremacy over two rookies making their historic debut in the group phase of the competition – Serbia’s OK Železničar LAJKOVAC and Greece’s Olympiacos PIRAEUS. Eczacibasi and Vero Volley look like the heavy favourites for the top spots in the group – yet the outsiders will be trying their best to spring a surprise across the six rounds of play in the pool. 

Eczacibasi Dynavit ISTANBUL (TUR) 

The Turkish heavyweight is the sole former winner of the #CLVolleyW in this group – they lifted the trophy in 2015 when they beat Italy’s Unendo Yamamay BUSTO ARSIZIO in Szczecin. Since that glorious day, their best result is a silver medal from the 2023 edition – when they lost the gold medal match to city rivals VakifBank. 

This is their 22nd appearance in the competition and as many as 19 times they have progressed from the group phase to the knockout stage. To this extent, they are second only to VakifBank (21 appearances in the knockout phase) – also in terms of wins in pool play, as they have as many as 95 to this day (vs. 111 for VakifBank). No club other than VakifBank has broken the 100-mark since the inception of the CEV Champions League in 2000/2001. 

When it comes to pool play, Eczacibasi have a terrific record of 35 wins from their last 37 matches. Since February 2018, they have only lost twice in the group stage – both times to Savino Del Bene SCANDICCI in 2023/2024. Last year, they claimed six wins from as many matches in their pool, conceding only one set in the process. However, their run ended in the quarterfinals where they were eliminated by Numia Vero Volley MILANO (0-3, 0-3). They face the Italian team again in this season’s Round 4. 

After finishing third in the Turkish league last season, the roster of Eczacibasi underwent major changes. Tijana Bošković left the club after 10 years and signed for city rivals VakifBank. She was Eczacibasi Dynavit ISTANBUL’s top scorer in each of their last seven Champions League campaigns. Turkish charismatic superstar Ebrar Karakurt has joined the ranks of the team – she previously won the Champions League with VakifBank in 2018. Karakurt, Elif Sahin, Yaprak Erkek, and Sinead Jack-Kisal all claimed silver with Türkiye at the 2025 FIVB World Championship. Moreover, Sahin was the player with the highest setter efficiency (53.13%) in last season’s Champions League. Meliha Diken (Ismailoglu) returned to Eczacibasi, where she played from 2017 to 2019, winning the CEV Cup in 2018. Diken reached the Final Four (or Semi Finals) in four of the last five Champions League seasons: with VakifBank in 2021 (runner up) and with Fenerbahçe Medicana ISTANBUL in 2022, 2023, and 2024. 

The Turkish team is now coached by Giulio Bregoli. He led Reale Mutua Fenera CHIERI ‘76 to a European Cup Final in each of the last three seasons: 2023 Challenge Cup (won), 2024 CEV Cup (won), 2025 Challenge Cup (runners-up).

Numia Vero Volley MILANO (ITA) 

The Italian team finished third in last season’s Champions League after winning the bronze medal match 3-1 against VakifBank ISTANBUL. A year earlier, competing as Allianz Vero Volley MILANO, they were runners up after losing the final 2-3 versus A. Carraro Imoco CONEGLIANO. This remains their best result to date in the competition. 

This is Numia Vero Volley MILANO’s fifth straight Champions League campaign. They survived the group phase in each season and they currently have a 19-5 win-loss record across their group matches. Four of their five defeats have come against VakifBank ISTANBUL. The other loss was versus Volero LE CANNET in 2022/2023.

Their season started magnificently, as they secured the 2025 Italian Super Cup after a 3-2 win against A. Carraro Prosecco DOC CONEGLIANO. It was the first major Italian trophy for the club (Italian Serie A1, Coppa Italia, Supercoppa Italiana) and it ended a run of 18 consecutive domestic titles for the ‘Panthers’. 

Paola Egonu is obviously the superstar of the team. She recently added the World Championship gold medal to her extensive trophy cabinet and resume. With 22 points, she was Italy’s top scorer in the FIVB World Championship gold medal match against Türkiye. Anna Danesi, Eleonora Fersino and Benedetta Sartori also won the FIVB World Championship with Italy this year.

Egonu was the top scorer of the 2023 Champions League (275 points for VakifBank ISTANBUL). She won the Champions League three times, with three different clubs: Igor Gorgonzola NOVARA (2019), A. Carraro Imoco CONEGLIANO (2021) and VakifBank ISTANBUL (2023). Moreover, Egonu’s club reached the Final Four (or Semi Finals) in each of the last  six completed Champions League seasons, from 2018/2019 to 2024/2025 (excludes the cancelled season 2019/2020, which was cut short by the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic).

As a former member of Imoco CONEGLIANO, Khalia Lanier has won every major trophy her club could possibly claim since the start of the 2023/2024 season: Champions League (2024, 2025), Club World Championship (December 2024), Italian Serie A1 (2024, 2025), Italian Cup (2024, 2025) and Italian Super Cup (2024, 2025). She recently added the 2025/2026 Italian Super Cup to the list – this time with Numia Vero Volley MILANO. 

Francesca Bosio won a European trophy in each of the last three seasons: 2023 Challenge Cup (Reale Mutua Fenera CHIERI), 2024 Challenge Cup (Igor Gorgonzola NOVARA), 2025 CEV Cup (Igor Gorgonzola NOVARA).

Their coach Stefano Lavarini has reached the Final Four (Semi Finals) of the Champions League four times, but he has yet to progress to the gold medal match. As coach of Poland’s women’s national team, Lavarini lost 0-3 against Italy in the quarterfinals of the 2025 World Championship.

OK Železničar LAJKOVAC (SRB) 

Last season’s Serbian League winners OK Železničar LAJKOVAC are making their historic debut in the CEV Champions League. They can become the fourth Serbian club to survive the group phase, after Jedinstvo UZICE did so in 2002/2003, Postar 064 BEOGRAD in 2008/2009 and Tent OBRENOVAC achieved this feat last season. Should they win their opening match in the competition, they would emulate Jedinstvo UZICE – who did so against Günes VakifBank ISTANBUL in 2002/2003 (3-2, 17-15 in the fifth set).

The roster of the team is incredibly young, with as many as five players under the age of 20. Their coach Ratko Pavličević has a wealth of experience in the competition, even though he is yet to win a group phase match. His Crvena Zvzeda BEOGRAD side did not win any of the 30 group matches they played under his tenure from 2010/2011 to 2013/14 and in 2022/2023. Pavličević led Crvena Zvzeda BEOGRAD to the Final of the 2009/2010 CEV Cup in which they lost against Yamamay BUSTO ARSIZIO. This result accounts for the most recent European Cup Final contested by a Serbian women’s team.

Olympiacos PIRAEUS (GRE)

Olympiacos have qualified for the #CLVolleyW group phase for the first time. They did so after defeating Asterix Avo BEVEREN (3-0, 3-0) of Belgium and Hungary’s Vasas Óbuda BUDAPEST (3-0, 2-3) in Round 2 and 3, respectively. They were eliminated in the qualifying rounds in 2021/2022. Milica Kubura was Olympiacos PIRAEUS’s top scoring player in all four matches in this season’s qualifying rounds, scoring as many as 79 points in those four games.

Olympiacos are the first Greek women’s team to appear in the Champions League since the inaugural campaign contested in 2000/2001, when Panathinaikos ATHENS and Filathlitikos THESSALONIKI played in the pool phase without advancing any further. 

The reigning Greek national league champions and Cup winners, Olympiacos won the Challenge Cup under Branko Kovacevic in 2018 (2-3, 3-1 against Türkiye’s BURSA BBSK). They had lost the final against the same opponent a year earlier. Kovacevic returned as coach of Olympiacos this season. Angeliki-Melina Emmanouilidou played for the Greek side in that lost Final in 2017 and she is still with the team.

Jovana Stevanović is their star player – the Serbian is a two-time World champion and she also won the 2016 Champions League with Italy’s Pomì CASALMAGGIORE. Isabella Di Iulio is another former European Cup winner, courtesy of the CEV Cup title she claimed with Savino Del Bene SCANDICCI in 2023.