In focus: Sir Sicoma Monini Perugia

While it is only a few days left for the first whistle in Pool E of the #CLVolleyM, the biggest pre-favorite of the group and one of the strongest squads of the tournament, Sir Sicoma Monini Perugia will definitely want more than a semifinal this year.

With a club full of legendary successes in their history, they have won the Italian Serie A1, Italian Super Cup, and Italian Cup many times. However, one and the most important thing is missing for them: A CEV Champions League Volley title. They came close to winning it in the 2016-2017 season but took the silver after they failed to defeat Zenit Kazan. In the last four editions of #CLVolleyM, they managed to advance to the semifinals each time, but they couldn't make it through after it.

The winner of the Italian Cup last year, Perugia also took second place in the national league. On the other hand, the most exciting journey for them was the previous edition of the biggest continental tournament: They first qualified for the quarterfinals without losing any sets and advanced to the semifinals automatically.

At the semifinals, they played an impressive two five-set thrillers opposed to Itas Trentino, and after an epic golden set, they said goodbye to the #CLVolleyM.

After a successful last season, they continue where they left off now as well: Perugia lastly went on the court for the first cup of this season, the Italian Super Cup, and after victories against Itas Trentino and Cucine Lube Civitanova in five sets, they took the trophy back home.

"A roster full of stars" will definitely define Perugia: The reigning MVP of the CEV EuroVolley, Italian superstar Simone Giannelli was here for his second year as the setter, while MVP of the last year's #CLVolleyM, Polish talent Kamil Semeniuk joined the team recently. His compatriot, outside hitter Wilfredo Leon, and Argentinian experienced middle blocker Sebastian Sole will continue working hard for better success.

Apart from these stars, Dutch opposite Kamil Rychlicki, Ukrainian outside hitter Oleh Plotnytskyi and Italian libero Massimo Colaci will stay on the team.

But of course, the most significant change in the roster was on the technical staff: Perugia said farewell to their Serbian expert head coach Nikola Grbic and contracted with Italian Andrea Anastasi, who managed the Polish elite club, Projekt Warszawa last season.

Perugia will hold their first match on Pool E on the 9th of November against ACH Volley Ljubljana at home, Pala Barton. The group will be challenging and open to any surprise, but the goal is simple for Perugia: To win every match from beginning to end of the #CLVolleyM and complete what they left unfinished last season.

Let's see if the dreams come true for Perugia, and can they become the new #CLVolleyM champions for the first time in their history?

Watch the Champions League live on EuroVolleyTV.