#RoadToTorino resumes with mouth-watering Playoff fixtures

Following the announcement that the iconic Inalpi Arena in Torino will be playing host to the Final Four scheduled for May 16-17 (click here), action resumes in the elite #CLVolleyM with the first leg of the Playoffs – with two fixtures held in Poland and the remaining matchup in the Canary Islands. With a place in the quarterfinals at stake and all teams fielding star-studded rosters including multiple former winners of the competition, you can expect a tight battle and Volleyball action of the finest level to unfold later this week! 

PGE Projekt WARSZAWA (POL) vs. TRENTINO Itas (ITA) 

These two teams play each other for the first time in a European competition. PGE Projekt WARSZAWA have a record of one win and five losses against Italian clubs in the Champions League, including 0-3 and 2-3 losses against Cucine Lube CIVITANOVA earlier this season in Pool E. On the other side, TRENTINO Itas have won 14 of their 22 Champions League matches against Polish opposition. They faced a Polish club in three Champions League Finals, losing 1-3 (2021) and 0-3 (2022) versus Grupa Azoty KĘDZIERZYN KOŹLE, before securing a 3-0 win against JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel in 2024. Current TRENTINO Itas coach Marcelo Méndez was the coach of JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel in that 2024 Super Final played in Antalya, Türkiye. Méndez also finished runners up with JASTRZEBSKI Węgiel in 2023. Last season he won the bronze medal match with the Polish team against Halkbank ANKARA (3-1).

PGE Projekt WARSZAWA make their first appearance in the Play Off round. They have reached the knockout stages for the second time in five campaigns. Last season, PGE Projekt WARSZAWA were eliminated by Halkbank ANKARA in the quarterfinals after losing the Golden Set 12-15 (following a 1-3 away loss and a 3-0 home win). The team from the Polish capital city won three and lost three of their group matches this Champions League season. They had won all six games in last season’s Round 4. Three of their group matches this season were decided in a fifth set. 
As Projekt WARSZAWA they won the 2024 Challenge Cup after defeating Mint Vero Volley MONZA 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. Their players Jakub Kochanowski and Michal Kozlowski won the Champions League with Grupa Azoty KĘDZIERZYN KOŹLE in 2021 (in the Super Final against TRENTINO Itas) and 2022, respectively. Bartosz Bednorz, top scorer this season with 96 points, also won the Champions League with Grupa Azoty KĘDZIERZYN-KOŹLE in 2023. Yurii Semeniuk registered 20 kill blocks in the group phase, second-most after Ahmet Tümer’s 21 blocks for Galatasaray HDI ISTANBUL. After a difficult and quite rocky start to the season, in late January assistant coach Kamil Nalepka replaced Tommi Tiilikainen at the helm of the team. 

This is TRENTINO Itas’ first appearance in the Play Off round in the current format. They previously played Play Off 12 and Play Off 6 matches in six seasons between 2010 and 2018. TRENTINO Itas progressed from eight such Play Off fixtures and they were eliminated on three occasions. They could reach the quarterfinals for the sixth time. The last time they achieved this feat was in their 2023/2024 victorious run. 
TRENTINO Itas have a 4-2 win-loss record from their six group phase matches this season. Their 3-2 home win against TOURS VB on 29 January 2026 set a Champions League record of 251 points scored in a single match. Théo Faure registered 40 points in that match, the most by a player in a Champions League game this season. His personal tally from Round 4 stands at 139 points, joint-second-most after Knack ROESELARE’s Basil Dermaux (179). Nik Mujanovic (TOURS VB) also scored 139 points in the group phase. Moreover, Faure’s 21 aces are only one fewer than the leading 22 aces by Dermaux in this season’s pool phase. 

TRENTINO Itas won the Champions League four times: 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2024. Only Zenit KAZAN won more Champions League trophies (six). The Italians have reached the Champions League Final seven times, one fewer than Zenit KAZAN’s record eight Finals. They achieved such a feat in three of their last four Champions League campaigns (2021, 2022, and 2024). They were eliminated in the quarterfinals in 2023 when they lost the Golden Set 9-15 to Grupa Azoty KĘDZIERZYN-KOŹLE. Last season, the club won the Italian Serie A1. They also reached the semis of the CEV Cup in which they lost against Ziraat Bank ANKARA (3-2 home win, 1-3 away defeat).
Outside hitter Alessandro Michieletto and setter Riccardo Sbertoli won the men’s FIVB World Championship gold medal with Italy in September of 2025. Michieletto was named MVP of the competition where he scored a team-high 93 points for Italy. Michieletto was the overall Champions League top scorer in the 2021/2022 season on 181 points. Last season, he also led TRENTINO Itas in scoring in their CEV Cup campaign (143 points, fourth-most of all players).

Marcelo Méndez, head coach of TRENTINO Itas: “I know PGE Projekt WARSZAWA well, having faced them several times in previous seasons when I coached JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel in the Polish league. They have a roster with many players with international experience: Bednorz, Weber, Tillie, Semeniuk, Kochanowski, and setter Firlej have often played important matches in the European Cups and with their respective national teams. It will be a high-level double-header because we will be facing an opponent who plays good Volleyball and has a very strong club behind them. Our path will not be easy; we have probably found the strongest team of the round, but if you want to win the competition, you necessarily have to overcome some very tough obstacles. I am confident, especially because we will be able to play the return leg in front of our home fans.” 

Jordi Ramon Ferragut, outside hitter of TRENTINO Itas: “These will be two tough matches, and we will need to approach them with the utmost concentration. We will need to get off to a good start in the first match on Wednesday in Poland, so we can create the best possible conditions for the return game at home. PGE Projekt WARSZAWA is a strong team, with players who know how to perform well and who have already experienced many similar matches.” 

Guaguas LAS PALMAS (ESP) vs. MONTPELLIER HSC VB (FRA) 

This is the first ever encounter between these clubs in any European competition. Guaguas LAS PALMAS face a French team for the first time in the Champions League and the same applies to MONTPELLIER HSC VB – as they have never played against Spanish opposition in the CEV Champions League either. 

Guaguas will be trying to repeat their sensational feat from the 2024 season, when they reached the quarterfinals after starting their campaign from the early rounds and their journey ended following a Golden Set loss at the hands of Ziraat Bank ANKARA. Their Brazilian-born player Francisco Wallyson Bezerra Souza has scored 142 points in this Champions League campaign, third-most of all players, behind Tonček Stern (236 for ACH Volley LJUBLJANA) and Basil Dermaux (179 for Knack ROESELARE). The Spaniards finished the group stage on a record of three wins and three losses – thereby repeating what they had achieved in 2024. The winners of four of the last five editions of the Spanish national league, Guaguas have a roster including superstar Osmany Juantorena, who reached the Champions League Final Four (or semis) eight times with his former clubs – and the Final five times. Juantorena has won the Champions League three times: with TRENTINO BetClic in 2010 and 2011, and with Cucine Lube CIVITANOVA in 2019. Belgian outside hitter Tomas Rousseaux won the 2023 CEV Cup with Valsa Group MODENA. Their head coach Sergio Miguel Camarero led the women’s Volleyball team Hotel Cantur LAS PALMAS to the final of the 2003 CEV Cup (0-3 loss vs Asystel NOVARA of Italy).

MONTPELLIER HSC VB entered this season after having received one of three wild cards, alongside Halkbank ANKARA and Asseco Resovia RZESZÓW. The Turkish team were eliminated in the group phase, while the Polish side also reached the Play Off round. 
MONTPELLIER HSC VB have progressed to the knockout stages of the Champions League for the first time, after recording four wins and two losses in their group, thereby much improving on their 1-5 record from their previous appearance in the competition in 2022/2023. The last French team to reach the quarterfinals was CHAUMONT VB 52 Haute Marne in 2018/2019 (eliminated by Sir Sicoma Colussi PERUGIA). Historically, French clubs have lost each of their last nine knockout matches. The last win was a 3-2 by CHAUMONT VB 52 HM in the 2017/2018 Play Off 12 against TRENTINO Diatec. The French team eventually lost the return game 0-3 and were eliminated. The roster of MONTPELLIER HSC VB includes Nicolas Le Goff – a two-time Olympic gold medallist with France, in Tokyo in 2021 and at Paris 2024. Le Goff also won the CEV Cup with BERLIN Recycling Volleys in 2016. Quentin Jouffroy secured Olympic gold at Paris 2024 with France too and he lifted the CEV Cup trophy in 2017 (with TOURS VB) and the Challenge Cup in 2022 (with NARBONNE Volley).

Asseco Resovia RZESZÓW (POL) vs. Knack ROESELARE (BEL) 

These teams play each other for the second time in the history of the competition. It did previously happen in the Playoffs 12 of the 2013/2014 edition, when Asseco Resovia recorded 3-1 wins at home as well as away. Therefore, the multiple Belgian national champions will be aiming for revenge after delivering a very impressive campaign in the group stage where they finished second to another Polish team – Bogdanka LUK LUBLIN – in Pool B. When they played Resovia back in 2013/2014, the roster of Knack ROESELARE already included their current setter Stijn D’Hulst as well as middle blocker Pieter Coolman – plus their head coach Matthijs Verhanneman and co-CEO Stijn Dejonckheere, who were playing as outside hitter and libero, respectively. D’Hulst won the Champions League with Cucine Lube CIVITANOVA in 2019. On the other side of the net, Resovia also have some former winners of this elite competition: Marcin Janusz and Erik Shoji achieved this feat with Grupa Azoty KĘDZIERZYN KOŹLE in 2022 and 2023, while Pawel Zatorski won the Champions League as player of Grupa Azoty KĘDZIERZYN KOŹLE in 2021.

Asseco Resovia, ranked fourth in the standings of the Polish national league, have an immaculate 4-0 win-loss record against Belgian teams in the Champions League. Apart from the two wins versus Knack ROESELARE, they also beat Volley ASSE-LENNIK twice in the 2015/2016 group phase. On the other hand, Knack ROESELARE have lost their last 16 Champions League matches against Polish opposition, including both games against Bogdanka LUK LUBLIN - by a 2-3 score - in this year’s group phase. As a result, the Belgian club’s Champions League record against Polish teams currently stands at seven wins and 19 losses. 

Knack ROESELARE Basil Dermaux (179) was the top scoring player in the group phase this season. He registered at least 24 points in all six games, including 30 or more in three of their matches. Dermaux also scored 22 aces in this season’s group phase, most of all players. Dennis Deroey (23.66%) had the second highest efficiency as receiver in this season’s Round 4. This campaign coincides with Knack ROESELARE’s 24th appearance in the Champions League, an outright record. They surpassed VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN and Greenyard MAASEIK (both contesting 23 seasons, including early rounds). 

The game will be an interesting contest between Resovia setter Janusz who had the third-highest efficiency (56.96%) in this season’s group phase, with Knack’s counterpart D’Hulst following in fourth on the same list with 56.22%.

Mathijs Desmet, outside hitter of Knack ROESELARE: “Asseco Resovia RZESZÓW is a Polish team with much history and tradition. Two years ago, they won the CEV Cup, last year they were finalists in that same competition, qualified for the Champions League again, and finished second in Pool D behind Aluron CMC Warta ZAWIERCIE, but ahead of Germany’s SVG LÜNEBURG and Portugal's Sporting CP LISBOA. As in the previous matches, we will give everything to get the game off to a good start and then we will see how far we can go.”