Volleyball Superlega: season presented, controversy over the calendar

The president of Lega Righi thunders: “There will never again be a championship of only 5 and a half months”

by our correspondent Gian Luca Pasini

The 79th season for the Italian championship was presented at the gates of Bologna. In a pre-Olympic year full of expectations and hopes, but also super compressed compared to last year. With Trento champion of Italy and with the newcomer Catania, who returns to the top division after 26 years of waiting. The next season is born in the heart of Emilia amid a thousand calendar problems and an impending international season. The most attractive volleyball in the world still lives here, but it is repeated that something must change to save the most beautiful “championship” in the world.

On October 22nd

The days roll off one after the other, with the Superlega season starting on 22 October (with Trento starting in Cisterna), just over 10 days from the last Olympic qualifying match in Rio de Janeiro (which ends in 8 October). Then a long ride up to the playoff final to award the championship. “No mas. There will never be such a short season again. Never again such a short championship – so thunders Massimo Righi, president of the League – on the day of the calendars. A season that lasts only 5 and a half months is really too few. It’s not the first time this has happened, but it must be the last. For 30 years we have been the economic locomotive of the movement and we can no longer support it. Here is also the federal president Giuseppe Manfredi who has always backed us up, but the problems lie higher than him. Worldwide”. “We know it’s a problem – adds Manfredi, the federal president -, but there are international needs. Having already removed the Olympic qualifiers gives us a bit of an advantage. And the Nations League could also be compressed, we are talking about it with the Fivb. The world federation to seek a solution, but on a global level there are few countries that have Italy’s needs”. Although there is a plan to have part or all of the VNL moved to January… In the meantime, there is an important certainty also from an economic point of view: Credem Banca, in fact, confirms that it will still be alongside Lega for the next two seasons volleyball as a sponsor of the men’s championships.

First Super Cup

The Italian Cup Final Four will be played at the end of January (venue still to be announced) while the first trophy of the season will be the Italian Super Cup which is scheduled for October 31st and November 1st, perhaps in Trento, the team that won the championship .

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