Ankara (Turkey), 18 March 2025

2025 CEV Cup, on Wednesday in Turkey the semifinal away match

The second-leg semifinal match of the 2025 CEV Cup, the second most prestigious continental club competition, will be played on Wednesday, March 19, in Turkey. Trentino Itas will take the court in Ankara, where at 5 PM Italian time, they will face the home team Ziraat Bank. A week ago, in the first-leg match held at the ilT quotidiano Arena in Trento, Trentino Itas achieved a narrow 3-2 victory. The match will be broadcast live on DAZN (subscription required) and Radio Dolomiti.
HERE'S TRENTINO ITAS The reigning European Champions are gearing up for the most important away match of their season in this competition, holding the narrow advantage of a tie-break win in the first leg. Following their 1-3 loss on Sunday in Cisterna di Latina during Game 2 of the Scudetto Play-Off quarterfinals, the yellow-blues headed straight to Turkey to prepare for the pivotal match against the winner of the national regular season.
“The first-leg result has effectively turned this second match into a do-or-die showdown, a true final,” said coach Fabio Soli in his pre-match comments. “We will need to bring great focus, determination, and aggressiveness in all fundamentals from the very first exchange, as that’s the only way to challenge a team like Ziraat, which already showcased its quality in the five sets last Wednesday. We've arrived in Ankara knowing that we’ll need to perform at our absolute best to maximize our chances.”
Trentino Itas will finalize preparations for the match with training sessions this evening and Wednesday morning at the TVF Ziraat Bankkart Volleyball Hall. This will mark the 236th international match in Trentino Volley’s history, the 148th played away, and the 46th in the CEV Cup, where they have secured victory 39 times so far.
NINTH TRIP TO TURKEY IN THE HISTORY OF TRENTINO VOLLEY Trentino Volley is currently on its ninth ever trip to Turkey, returning to the Anatolian peninsula just over ten months after their last glorious visit. The most recent previous trip to this country dates back to May 5, 2024, in Antalya, where the yellow-blues secured the Champions League title with a 3-0 victory over Jastrzebski. The last match against a Turkish team, however, took place on January 26, 2022, with a three-set victory in Istanbul against Fenerbahce during the Champions League group stage. In the CEV Cup, the most significant event in this nation was on March 26, 2019, also in Istanbul, when the yellow-blues claimed the trophy by winning a tie-breaker against Galatasaray in the second-leg final. The very first match on Turkish soil was over 20 years ago, on December 15, 2004, when Itas Diatec Trentino played the return leg of the CEV Cup round of 16 in Ankara, losing 1-3 and being eliminated from the competition. The Trentino team will remain in Ankara until Thursday morning, returning to Trento in the early afternoon of the same day.
THE OPPONENTS Ziraat Bank Ankara is preparing to play the second-leg semifinal of a European competition in front of their home crowd for the second consecutive year. Their goal is to redeem last season's Champions League elimination at the hands of Poland’s Jastrzebski. In that instance, the red and whites lost in a tie-break after having been defeated in straight sets in the first leg. This time, however, the two sets they won in Trento last Wednesday fuel fans' hopes for securing qualification to the second international final in the club's history, which was founded in 1981. In 2021, they reached the final act of the Challenge Cup but were defeated twice in tie-breakers by Allianz Milano, whose roster included players like Sbertoli, Kozamernik, and Pesaresi. Their trophy cabinet features several national titles: three league championships (won consecutively between 2021 and 2023), a Turkish Cup (2010), four Super Cups (2010, 2021, 2022, and 2023), and a Balkan Cup (2018). This is their eighth participation in the CEV Cup. So far in this edition, they have claimed eight victories, eliminating top-tier teams such as Galatasaray and Las Palmas, with only one loss—the first-leg match in Trento. In the domestic league, they wrapped up the regular season last weekend with a 3-0 home win over Tursad, securing first place with a 14-point lead over second-place Galatasaray. Ziraat Bank Ankara roster: 1. Matt Anderson (OH), 2. Wouter Ter Maat (OPP), 3. Hilmi Sahin (S), 4. Ünal Ergün (S), 5. Toncek Stern (OPP), 6. Vahit Emre Savas (MB), 7. Bedirhan Bülbül (MB), 8. Bugra Bayrak (OH), 9. Haci Sahin (MB), 11. Murat Yenipazar (S), 13. Paolo Zonca (OH), 14. Faik Samed Günes (MB), 17. Trevor Clevenot (OH), 18. Zeka Cagatay Kir (L), 19. Berkay Bayraktar (L), 20. Aykut Gedik (OH). Coach: Mustafa Kavaz.
TRENTINO ITAS QUALIFIES FOR THE FINAL IF… To advance past the sixth round of the bracket, the yellow-blues need to win Wednesday afternoon's match with any scoreline. Thanks to their 3-2 victory in the first leg, they can also win again in a tie-break, avoiding the possibility of a golden set, which will only occur if the Turkish team wins in five sets. If Ziraat Bank Ankara manages to win in at most four sets (3-0 or 3-1), they will directly eliminate Trentino Itas. The regulations are identical to those used in the Champions League Playoffs phase. The winner of this round will face the victor of the Tours vs. Rzeszow match in the final. The second leg of their contest takes place Wednesday evening in France, following the Polish team’s 3-2 home win in the first leg. The finals will be held on April 2 and April 9, once again featuring a two-leg format.
THE BACKGROUND Wednesday will be the second match in history between the two Clubs; the only official precedent is related to the first leg from Trentino Itas to the tie break (26-28, 27-29, 25-21, 25-23 and 15-8) in Trento on the 12th of last March. In its history, Trentino Volley has played two more matches against a team from Ankara (the Halkbank) right in the CEV Cup, losing both times: 2005 edition of the tournament, double 1-3 in the round of 16 (on December 7th, 2004 at home, then eight days later in Turkey). That was the only occasion where Trento did not manage to play in the CEV Cup Final at the time it took part in the competition. Against Turkey, the yellow-blue Club played a total of sixteen games, with thirteen wins (seven of these away) and just three losses.
THE REFEREES Predrag Balzandzic, Serbian first referee from Belgrade, and Fuad Aghayev, second referee from Baku, will be in charge of the match. For both of them it is the first official time they cross paths with Trentino Volley.
RADIO AND INTERNET The match will receive live and full match reports by Radio Dolomiti, media partner of Trentino Volley; links with Turkey will be made available from 17.05 hours onwards. The frequencies to the regional network are available on www.radiodolomiti.com, where you can also listen to the radio news in live streaming.
A live report is scheduled on DAZN, a live streaming and on-demand platform available on a wide range of devices connected to the Internet. Requires registration; the service in this case will be reserved only to those who have an active subscription plan: "Start", "Standard" or "Plus".
To follow the point-by-point progress of the competition, you can consult the official website of the CEV at www.cev.eu/match-centres/2025-european-cups/cev-volleyball-cup-2025-men/ccm-84-ziraat-bank-ankara-v-trentino-itas, which will provide live scoring, or that of Trentino Volley www.trentinovolley.it, which will also offer the set-by-set report a few minutes after the conclusion of each individual set. Furthermore, the updates will always be active on the yellow-blue social networks, especially on www.trentinovolley.it/instagram and www.trentinovolley.it/twitter.

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office