News
CEV Champions League Volley 2023 | Men
BR Volleys have been reigning as German champions without interruption since 2016 improving their title count to a total of 12 in the history of the club. They have also won five national cup trophies and four national super cup crowns, including the most recent one in early October, when they defeated archrival VfB Friedrichshafen in straight sets in the final match.
Having already won their first four matches of the new Bundesliga season, BR Volleys remain the only undefeated team in the competition. While their Czech opposite Marek Sotola was honored as the Most Valuable Player of the super cup match, Berlin’s Japanese libero Satoshi Tsuiki has already picked up the MVP awards at two of the league games. The other two went to French outside Timothee Carle and to German middle blocker Anton Brehme.
22-year-old Sotola and 23-year-old Brehme are the youngest players on the team roster this season. They both rise to a height of 206 cm, but they are not the tallest. That honor goes to Slovenian middle Saso Stalekar towering at 214 cm. Coach Cedric Enard’s stellar international squad also includes the likes of Spanish playmaker Angel Trinidad and German setter Johannes Tille, outsides Ruben Schoot of Germany, Cody Kessel of the United States and Antti Ronkainen of Finland, middle blockers Nehemiah Mote of Australia and Matheus Krauchuk of Brazil, and Polish libero Adam Kowalski.
In 2015, BR Volleys finished third in the Champions League and that bronze was the best achievement in the club’s history. They also won the 2016 CEV Cup, as well as two bronze medals in Europe’s third-tier club competition, the CEV Challenge Cup, in 1999 and 2010.
Last season, Berlin topped the Champions League Pool D standings unbeaten. In the quarterfinals, however, they lost the away match at Italy’s Trentino Itas Trento in straight sets and, despite winning the return game at home by 3-2, they were eliminated. Timothee Carle was the team’s best scorer of the season with a total of 88 points to his name.
This season, BR Volleys will open the action in Pool B with a home game against Bulgarian champions Hebar Pazardzhik at the Max-Schmeling-Halle in the German capital on November 8 at 19:30 local time. Then, they will visit Turkiye’s Halkbank Ankara on November 16, and Poland’s Aluron CMC Warta Zawercie on November 30. Another home match will follow, against Halkbank on December 13. The away match at Hebar will be played on a date to be determined between January 10 and 12. The German team will finish its Pool B campaign at home, entertaining Aluron on January 25.
Watch the Champions League live on EuroVolleyTV.