In focus: Halkbank Ankara
Halkbank Ankara is one of the two teams to represent Turkiye in the pool stage of the men’s CEV Champions League Volley 2023. As the 2022 silver medalists of the AXA Sigorta Efeler Ligi, the club from the Turkish capital will compete in Pool B as it starts its eighth Champions League campaign since the competition was introduced at the turn of the century.
At its debut in Europe’s most prestigious tournament, Halkbank hosted the Final Four in 2014 and achieved a runner-up finish. That silver medal was the best result in the club’s history. After competing in the Champions League regularly through the pandemic-interrupted 2019-2020 season, the Turkish team spent the next two seasons in the third-tier CEV Challenge Cup tournament and is now about to reunite with the continent’s elite clubs in Europe’s top-tier competition.
Last season, led by outside hitters Nicolas Bruno of Argentina and Yigit Gulmezoglu of Turkiye, Halkbank reached the Challenge Cup final, only to lose to France’s Narbonne Volley in the golden set and settle for silver. A year earlier, Halkbank went as far as the semifinals in the same tournament. The club’s overall medal count in the European Cups also includes a 2013 CEV Cup gold and a 2007 CEV Cup (which was the name of the third-tier tournament back then) bronze. In addition, Halkbank has two BVA Balkan Cup trophies on its international honors list, in 2020 and 2021.
Domestically in Turkiye, the club from Ankara has collected nine national titles, seven national cups and four national super cups. The squad steered by head coach Taner Atik has stormed into the new AXA Sigorta Efeler Ligi season on a five-match winning streak and lead the current standings as the only team yet to be defeated in the league.
Halkbank’s new stellar addition, Dutch opposite Nimir Abdel-Aziz, has been the best scorer and the most efficient spiker not only of the team, but also of the entire league so far, with an average of 6.72 points per set and a 63% success rate in attack. Turkish middle Dogukan Ulu has been the team’s best blocker. Turkish libero Volkan Done and Bruno have been the most efficient receivers, while three players - Abdel-Aziz, playmaker Micah Ma’a of the United States and 211-cm-tall Turkish middle Mert Matic – have each scored the highest number of aces from the service line. Setter Aslan Eksi, opposite Serhat Coskun, outsides Oguzhan Dogruluk and Yigit Hamza Aslan, middles Mustafa Koc and Yunus Emre Tayaz, and libero Deniz Ivgen, all from Turkiye, are the remaining athletes on Halkbank’s 14-strong roster this season.
Halkbank’s opening match in Pool B of the Champions League at Poland’s Aluron CMC Warta Zawercie is scheduled on November 10 at 18:00 local time in Dabrowa Gornicza. The first home game at the magnificent Baskent volleyball hall in Ankara is against German champions Berlin Recycling Volleys on November 16 at 17:30 local time. Next is the away match with Bulgarian champions Hebar Pazardzhik to be played on a date to be determined between November 29 and December 1. In the fourth leg, Halkbank will visit Berlin on December 13. The last two pool games for Halkbank will be at home, on January 11 against Aluron and on January 25 against Hebar.
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