In focus: Tours VB
Last season, Tours VB collected a hat-trick of silver medals: the CEV Cup, the Ligue A and the Cup of France. Will they be able to move up a notch this year?
During the last 3 years the highest achievement for Tours VB on all fronts was the title of finalist, and from the group in the Champions League from 2018 to 2021 they never failed to leave.
The team spent last season under the guidance of a new coach from Brazil, Marcelo Fronckowiak. He led his players to the CEV Cup final where they couldn't beat Monza. Nevertheless, the team returned to the Champions League again and ended up in Group C. Their opponents will be Cucine Lube Civitanova (ITA), Knack Roeselare (BEL) and Sport Lisboa e Benfica (POR). The first match will take place on October 11 at 20:30 in Belgium.
In the new season, the French vice-champion extended the contract with his Brazilian striker Aboubacar Drame Neto, he is one of the top scoring players in his position in France. The club also retained another Brazilian in its composition - middle blocker Leandro Nascimento dos Santos, known as Aracaju. He will spend his third season at the club. Center blocker is still chasing his first title with TVB. This season, Leandro will make an effective pair with Ukrainian Dmitry Teremenko.
Bosnian setter Zeljko Coric will also spend his third season on the Tours. His passes reach the goal in 57 percent of the time, which is third in the championship of France.
Marcelo Fronckowiak also continues to work in the team in this season and it is interesting that he is not only worried about the composition of the players and the results, but also about the place and popularity of volleyball in France. He thinks a lot about the importance the infiltration of the Tours into French society as the sport starts to gain popularity with a team that is already an Olympic champion and won the Nations League this summer. Marcelo was a big fan of this team before he became the head coach of Tours VB. He also hopes that one day volleyball in France may become as popular as football or rugby.
Ligue A has already started, where the Tours is in the top 5 of the standings so far. Given the ambitions of the Brazilian coach, it will be interesting to watch the path of this team both in the Champions League and within their national championship, and will they be able to climb to the highest step of the podium this season?
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