The Final Four hosts for the men’s and women’s Champions League have been determined as Zenit Kazan for the men and CSM Volei Alba Blaj for the women. These two teams will automatically advance to the semifinals of their respective competitions.
Zenit Kazan has been a dominant team in the men’s Champions League over the past decade, having recorded five titles (2008, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017) including the past three. Only one other team has won three in a row in Italy’s Diatec Trentino who won the competition from 2009-11.
On top of Zenit being a top team in the European circuit, Kazan, Russia is known as the “sports capital of Russia” having hosted a number of huge international events in multiple sports. This is the fourth time that Russia will host the Final Four of the elite European competition – Belgorod (2004), Moscow (2007) and Omsk (2013). Zenit Kazan will try for their record sixth Champions League and fourth in a row. The hall that Zenit plays in, Basket-Hall, can hold up to 7,500 fans.
On the women’s side, CSM Volei will host the Final Four, making it the first time that the Champions League will go to Romania for the final round of the competition. CSM Volei made a name for themselves in the fourth round by sweeping five matches in a row to take the first-place position in Pool A. They lost to Volero Zurich in the final leg of the fourth round for their only loss. The event will take place in Bucharest at Sala Polivalenta which can hold up to 5,200 fans.
Leave a Reply