Dinamo MOSCOW start CEV Champions League journey with new coach
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Shortly before the start of their campaign in the group stage of the CEV Champions League Volley 2022, Russia’s heavyweight Dinamo MOSCOW delivered an online press conference due to the restrictions currently in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus in the Russian capital city. The journalists could interact with players from the team as well as with the club’s management through the Zoom platform.
Last year, Dinamo MOSCOW were the recipients of the silver medal in their national league as well as in the Russian Cup. The club’s Director General, Mr Vladimir Zinichev emphasised that the club has set very high goals for the 2021/2022 season:
“Our goals are high, as always: we wish to win one of the Russian domestic competitions and play in the final of the other, as well as to finish among the top four in the CEV Ch¬ampions League. I th¬ink that we are able to achieve these goals. We want to be the best women’s team in Russia again."
Dinamo will play in the CEV Champions League for the 16th time in a row, with their opponents in the group stage being Italy’s Igor Gorgonzola NOVARA, rookies THY ISTANBUL of Turkey and Czech Republic’s VK Dukla LIBEREC.
The middle blocker of Dinamo and the Russian national team, Irina Fetisova shared her views on the upcoming opponents.
“I think NOVARA will be the most difficult rival, because in the Italian championship there is a much higher speed than in others, and they play faster than most of our usual opponents. When the opponent plays such a fast game, the middle blockers have the most problems. I know this from my own experience. THY ISTANBUL is a very good team too. I think they are especially good when it comes to their reception game. We need to prepare very seriously for the matches against Dukla too. Everything will depend on us, on our own game. We need to prepare ourselves properly and perform well in the Champions League,” Fetisova said.
On November 9, after five rounds of the Russian Superleague, Konstantin Ushakov replaced Serbian Zeljko Bulatovic as Dinamo’s head coach. Ushakov was the head coach of Dinamo KRASNODAR for the last seven seasons, winning the CEV Cup (in 2015 and 2016) and the Russian Cup twice during his tenure there. Moreover, Ushakov helped Dinamo KRASNODAR take silver from the FIVB Volleyball Women’s Club World Championship (in 2015), as well as bronze medals in the Russian Superleague and the Russian Cup. In 2017, Ushakov was the head coach of the Russian women’s national team at the European Championship held in Baku, Azerbaijan.