After Rabita Azerrail joins the CEV Champions league

Rabita and Azerrail will represent Azerbaijan in the Champions League

The European volleyball confederation, CEV, has determined the list of participants for the 2011-12 edition of the CEV Champions League.

Azerbaijan received two spots in the competition, that were awarded to the last Champions League finalist and 2010-11 Azerbaijani champion Rabita Baku and to the GM Challenge Cup winner and Azerbaijani championship runner-up Azerrail.

Despite the fact that the current country ranking does not allow direct participation of Azerbaijani clubs in the Champions League, Rabita Baku and Azerrail received "wild cards" from the CEV.

Complete list of teams for the 2011-12 Champions League:

Scavolini Pesaro, Villa Cortese, Volley Bergamo (all Italy), Fenerbahce-Acibadem, Vakifbank, Eczacibasi (all Turkey), Rabita Baku, Azerrail (both Azerbaijan), Atom Trefl, Bank BPS Fakro (both Poland), RC Cannes, ASPTT Mulhouse (both France), Dinamo Kazan, Dinamo Moscow (both Russia), SC Schweriner, SC Dresdner (both Germany), Modranska Prostejov (Czech Republic), 2004 Tomis Constanta (Romania), Crvena Zvezda (Serbia), Volero Zurich (Switzerland).

Ativi and Kulikova signed for Severstal

Olga Ativi Natalia Kulikova Outside hitters Olga Tocko Ativi and Natalia Kulikova signed one-year contracts with Severstal Cherepovec, new member of the Russian Superleague. In the previous season Olga Tocko Ativi was a member of Rabita Baku from Azerbaijan, with which she won Azerbaijani Championship and silver medal in CEV Champions league. In the season 2010/11 Natalia Kulikova was a member of Turkish team Besiktas from Istanbul.

Dobriana Rabadzhieva signed for Rabita Baku

Bulgarian outside hitter, and a member of SB Community agency - Dobriana Rabadzhieva, signed one year contract with Azerbaijani Champion Rabita Baku. In the previous season Dobriana was a member of Italian team Spes Conegliano. Despite successful season in Italy such a good offer from Rabita was hard to refuse, therefore she decided to move to Azerbaijan. "I want to thank my Agency, as well as Rabita for giving me the opportunity to become a member of such a great team, with star players like Mammadova, Osmokrovic, Glass and Golubovic. I hope to justify their confidence." - said Rabadzhieva.

Jana Matiasovska - Aghayeva in Azerbaijani National team

Slovakian opposite-hitter Jana Matiasovka who came to Azerrail from Russian Uralochka Yekaterinburg after playing two years under legendary Karpol`s coaching system is a new member of Azerbaijani Women`s National team.

Jana Matiasovska (198 cm, 1987) will be avaliable for Faig Garayev`s team after 2 years participation in Azeri league, as FIVB rules make that necessary for a naturalized player.

She will wear uniform of Azeri National team under surname Aghayeva.

Jana Aghayeva played in USA, Russian Uralochka before coming in Azerbaijan. Last season she played for Azerrail Baku and won European Challenge Cup and Azerbaijani Super league Silver medal. In Russian Uralochka she became a bronze medalist and fourth place ranked team of the Russian league respectively in 2008/09 and 2009/10 years.

We want to greet Jana and show our happiness for her joining Azerbaijani Volleyball family. We wish her many many sweet victories in the squad of our first team.

Welcome Jana Aghayeva!

Azərbaycan voleybol ailəsinə xoş gəldin, Jana!

Azerrail keeps leaders

The last Challenge Cup winner and Silver medalist Azerrail Baku which will take a part in European CEV Cup kept its leader players for next season.

Thailandese great setter Tomkom Nootsara, Brazilian experienced universal player Elisangela Pereira de Souza-Paulino and American National team captain,middle-blocker Jennifer Joines-Tamas renewed their contract with the club.

First BOMB by Rabita Baku: Natasa Osmokrovic signed

Famous Croatian outside hitter Natasa Osmokrovic is a new member of Azerbaijani Champion Rabita Baku where she will join other players Natalya Mammadova, Silvija Popovic, Natasa Krsmanovic, Mira Golubovic, Iryna Zhukova and Kimberly Glass.

Intermediary in the contract signing was the agency SB Community. Natasa Osmokrovic was born on May 27th 1976 in Croatia. In her highly successful career she was a member of Mladost Zagreb, Hisamitsu Springs and Ito Yokado from Japan, Osasco and Vasco da Gama from Brasil, Italian clubs Volley Napoli, Reggio Calabria, Asystel Novara, Chieri and Terra Sarda Tortoli. Since 2009. she played for the Turkish team Fenerbahce Istanbul, this year's Turkish Champion and CEV Champions league bronze medal winner. Rabita expects great achievements for the next season , to win National Championship and Cup, but also in the CEV Champions league to go as far as the Final Four.

Organizers of Continental Qualification are determined

2012 Olympic Games - European Qualification

Luxembourg, May 11, 2011. After thoroughly going through the files worked out by the applicants, the CEV is pleased to confirm that the organization of the Continental Qualification Tournaments for the 2012 Olympics in London was assigned to Turkey (women) and Bulgaria (men). The competition will run through May 1-6 for the ladies while the men will test out their skills a week later, playing to achieve their Olympic dream from May 8-13. Both tournaments will be joined by a total of 8 teams subdivided into two groups of 4 for the preliminary phase, followed by crossed semifinals and the final games. The winners of these Continental Qualification Tournaments – whose venues are still to be confirmed - will automatically qualify for the 2012 London Olympics.
The Continental phase will be preceded by pre-qualification tournaments that are set to take place in November 2011, with three events for men and women apiece. The ladies will be playing their pre-qualification round through November 8-13 while the men are expected to battle for making it to the next phase a couple of weeks later (November 22-27).

5 Azeri clubs in European Cups 2011/12 season

Azerbaijan will be represented in European Cups season 2011/12 with 5 clubs that is the record for Azerbaijani Volleyball history.
Rabita Baku which is the last Champion of the Super league will take part in Champions League tournament where they finished second this season.
The silver medalists of the Superleague and Challenge Cup winner Azerrail will represent Azerbaijan in CEV Cup tournament with Igtisadchi Baku that finished the Azeri Super league the third ranked.
The fourth team of the internal league Lokomotiv Baku and the debutant of the last season VC BAKI will try to keep Challenge Cup in Azerbaijan.

Sanja Starovic signs: 4th season in Azerbaijan!

Serbian opposite player of Rabita Baku, 28 years old (195 cm) Sanja Starovic extended her contract with the club.
Sanja Starovic came to Azerbaijan 3 years ago and the next season will be the fourth in Azerbaijan for the Serbian player who became one of the most favourite players of Azerbaijani volleyball fans.
She won 3 consecutive Azerbaijani Champion titles and became MVP (the "Most Valuable player") of the Azeri Superleague (2008/09 and 2010/11). She also won CEV CUP bronze medal and was the "Best Spiker" of this tournament in 2009/10 season. And the last season Rabita Baku with Sanja Starovic played Champions League Final and became the second best team of Europe not without the best game of Starovic.
The next season will be the fourth for Starovic in Rabita Baku and her team will participate in the FIVB Club`s World Championship in Katar.
Before Rabita Baku Starovic played in Turkish Gaziantep Belediyyesi, Italian Minetti Vicenza Infoplus and Serbian Jedinstvo Uzice.
Her first visit to Azerbaijan was while playing for her first team Jedinstvo Uzice that played Final of the European "Top Teams Cup" tournament 2001/02 against Azerrail and finished the second.
Sanja Starovic played for Serbian National team till 2007. Her name was also included to the Zoran Terzic`s roster last year,but she did not participate n camps of National team.

Leaders stay in Rabita Baku

After very good season and winning the Azerbaijani Championship title and silver medal in the CEV Champions League, Board of Rabita Baku decided to extend the contracts with 6 players of sbcommunity. Outside hitters Natalya Mammadova and Kimberly Glass, setter Iryna Zhukova, libero Silvija Popovic, and middle blockers Mira Golubovic and Natasa Krsmanovic. In the new season Rabita will go with very high ambitions, and the captain of the team Natalya Mammadova said: "Obviously, we would like to win the Azerbaijani championship and the National cup. Also, our team will participate in the Champions League again and I personally have great expectations for this tournament. We have created a very good team and we expect to go as far as the Final Four".

Rabita`s great come back, Azerrail`s Silver and Igtisadchi`s bronze ended the Azerbaijani Super league

At last Azerbaijani Super league 2010/11 season came to the end by a very interesting derby match between Rabita and Azerrail which also clearified the name of the Silver medalists.
Before this match Igtisadchi defeated Lokomotiv and deprived Baltic girls of the medals and kept its chance to win the second place in a case Azerrail to lose straight match to Rabita.
Rabita started the match without its captain Mammadova that got injury two days before. Azerrail started the match by a brilliance performance of Polina Rahimova that won the needed one set for Azerrail Baku 25-15 that guaranteed them silver medals,so Azerrail began to play much better in the second set too and finished that also by victory leading 2-0 in sets.
But Rabita was not going to give up and wanted to finish the Super league on a major note. Amazing Sanja Starovic and Olga Ativi did great job and equalled the sets` score. Serbian libero Silvija Popovic played very important role for Rabita to equal the score and win the tie-break and showed her best skills deserving the name of MVP of this match.
After the match all the three teams were awarded with medals in awarding ceremony. It was Rabita Baku`s the fourth Championship in a row and fifth in the history. Natalya Mammadova also got the International Olympic "Fair Play" award for her gentle performance in the Super league.

The individual awards list of the Finals (in details -later)

MVP: Sanja Starovic (Rabita )

Best Scorer: Polina Rahimova (Azerrail)

Best Spiker: Natalya Mammadova (Rabita)

Best Blocker: Natasa Krsmanovic (Rabita)

Best Setter: Tomkom Nootsara (Azerrail)

Best Server: Polina Rahimova (Azerrail)

Best Receiver: Riikka Lehtonen (Igtisadchi)

Best Digger: Yuko Sano (Igtisadchi)

Best Libero: Nicole Davis (Lokomotiv)

7 May


14.00. “İqtisadçı” – “Lokomotiv”- 3:1 (20:25, 25:22, 26:24, 25:22)

Regular season matches results

“Lokomotiv” – “İqtisadçı” – 0:3 (23:25, 18:25, 23:25)
“İqtisadçı” - “Lokomotiv” – 3:0 (25:23, 25:17, 25:18)

Final round matches results

“İqtisadçı” – “Lokomotiv”- 3:1 (20:25, 25:15, 27:25, 25:23)
“Lokomotiv” - “İqtisadçı” - 3:2 (25:16, 23:25, 25:19; 16:25, 15:13)

Statistics: http://www.sbvolley.ru/files/docs/2011/2011-aze-final-09-02.pdf

MVP: Alice Blom

16.00. “Rabitə” – “Azərreyl” - 3:2 (15:25; 21:25; 25:23; 25:22, 15:9)

Regular season matches results

“Azərreyl” – “Rabitə” – 1:3 (25:22, 19:25, 22:25, 22:25)
“Rabitə” - “Azərreyl” – 3:0 (25:23, 25:20, 25:14)

Final round matches results

“Azərreyl” – “Rabitə” - 2:3 (17:25, 16:25, 25:22, 25:20; 14:16)
“Rabitə” - “Azərreyl” - 3:1 (23:25, 25:14, 25:12, 25:10)

Statistics: http://www.sbvolley.ru/files/docs/2011/2011-aze-final-09-01.pdf

MVP: Silvija Popovic

Rabitə	9	6	2	24-15	16
Azərreyl	9	4	4	20-18	13
İqtisadçı	9	3	5	19-19	13
Lokomotiv	9	3	5	13-24	12

Rabita BAKU - Early Champion! Fifth title in a row! Felicia Lokomotiv !

The second day of the Baku Final Four of the Azerbaijani Super league clearified only the name of the champion and put into disorder the ranking for the rest of the teams.
The first match between Lokomotiv and Azerrail was the 7th match of these teams against each other in this season. Two of these matches were the finals of the Challenge Cup where Azerrail defeated the rivals and became the champion. But the rest three matches were also finished with the success of Azerrail.
So,yesterday`s match was the last chance for Loko girls to take revenge and keep their chance not only for the medals but even for silver medals of the Super league. Lokomotiv bravely fought against their rivals and gained a very important victory and showed its ambitions to the medals. Azerbaijani National team member,middle blocker Kseniya Kovalenko- Poznyak was the best player of the match scoring 13 points ( 8 attacks 89% and 5 blocks) showing great performance especially at the most important moments.
This victory also deprived Azerrail of the title hope.
So, after this vicotry of Lokomotiv Rabita became an early Champion of the Azerbaijani Superleague season 2010/11. This is the fifth title of Rabita Baku in a row.
The second match lost its meaning for Rabita but not for Igtisadchi Baku, on the contrary it extended Igtisadchi`s motivation and chances for Silver medals. Rabita played with main squad trying to celebrate the championship title with a victory,but Igtisadchi`s girls did not let them do that. After quite interesting match Igtisadchi defeated Rabita in four sets. Japanese libero Yuko Sano showed something unbelievable on the court making the match very interesting with her amazing digs and was the best player of the macth for the second time in the Finals.

6 May

16.00. “Azərreyl” - “Lokomotiv” – 2:3 (18:25; 25:20, 20:25, 25:18; 13:15)

Final Round results

“Lokomotiv” – “Azərreyl” - 1:3 (25:18, 19:25, 21:25; 15:25)
“Azərreyl” - “Lokomotiv” – 3:0 (25:16; 25:22; 25:20)

Regular season results

“Azərreyl” – “Lokomotiv” – 3:0 (28:26, 25:13, 27:25)
“Lokomotiv” - “Azərreyl” - 0:3 (13:25, 12:25, 22:25)

MVP: Kseniya Kovalenko- Poznyak

Statistics:

18.30. “Rabitə” – “İqtisadçı” - 1:3 (25:19, 26:28, 17:25, 23:25)

Final Round results

“Rabitə” – “İqtisadçı” - 3:1 (25:19, 25:16, 22:25, 25:18)
“İqtisadçı” - “Rabitə” – 2:3 (25:27, 25:18, 25:20, 22:25, 16:18)

Regular season results

“İqtisadçı” – “Rabitə” - 0:3 (14:25, 27:29, 19:25)
“Rabitə” - “İqtisadçı” - 0:3 (24:26, 23:25, 22:25)

MVP: Yuko Sano

Rabitə	8	6	2	21-13	14
Azərreyl	8	4	4	18-15	12
İqtisadçı	8	3	5	16-18	11
Lokomotiv	8	3	5	12-21	11

Rabita wins, Azerrail follows

The first day of the last Final Four of Azeri Super league took place in Baku Sport Palace with the match Lokomotiv - Rabita.

Rabita needed to win this match to keep its superiority as losing the following matches can change all the ranking list. Lokomotiv started match showing its ambitions to win the match leading 7 points in the first set but Rabita with excellent Mammadova and Golubovic broke this serie and won the first two sets. But in the third set Lokomotiv fought till the end and pinched the set. Natalya Mammadova got an injury during the third set but played the set till the end scoring 20 points. Olga Ativi replaced her in the fourth set where Rabita outclassed Lokomotiv.

The central match of the tour between Azerrail and Igtisadchi Baku was also very important for both teams. As winning this match Azerrail could hope to think about title again,so Polina Rahimova & Co defeated Igtisadchi that still keeps chances to be the second of the Super league raking.

5 may

16.00. “Rabitə” – “Lokomotiv” - 3:1 (25:23; 25:14; 22:25; 25:15)

Statistics : http://sbvolley.ru/files/docs/2011/2011-aze-final-07-01.pdf

MVP: Natalya Mammadova

Regular season matches results

“Rabitə” - “Lokomotiv” - 2:3 (25:23, 25:21, 21:25, 18:25, 12:15)
“Lokomotiv” - “Rabitə” - 1:3 (14:25, 25:13, 17:25, 25:27)

Final Round matches results

“Rabitə” – “Lokomotiv” - 2:3 (25:22; 25:16; 21:25; 22:25; 17:19)

“Lokomotiv” - “Rabitə” - 0:3 (21:25, 16:25, 24:26)

18.30. “İqtisadçı” – “Azərreyl” - 1:3 (23:25, 25:22,17:25, 21:25)

Statistics : http://sbvolley.ru/files/docs/2011/2011-aze-final-07-02.pdf

MVP: Polina Rahimova

Regular season matches results

“İqtisadçı” - “Azərreyl” - 2:3 (25:27, 14:25, 25:22, 26:24, 12:15) “Azərreyl” - “İqtisadçı”- 2:3 (23:25, 25:17, 27:25, 18:25, 12:15)

Final Round matches results

“İqtisadçı” – “Azərreyl” - 1:3 (18:25; 25:22; 19:25; 22:25) “Azərreyl” - “İqtisadçı” - 1:3 (14:25, 25:20, 18:25; 21:25)

Rabitə	7	6	1	20-10	13
Azərreyl	7	4	3	16-12	11
İqtisadçı	7	2	5	13-17	9
Lokomotiv	7	2	5	9-19	9

Thanks to Artem Borisenko from Rabita for statistics

Minister Ali Abbasov receives Rabita Baku

The Minister of Information and Technology Ali Abbasov received the team Rabita Baku.

Ali Abbasov congratualted his team Rabita with great performance both in European and in the local arena. He called Rabita`s Champions League Silver medal as the greatest achievement of Azeri club volleyball and also spoke about the joy Rabita presented to all the Azeri volleyball lovers and falk.

The Minister also talked about the State President Ilham Aliyev`s attention and care to all Azerbaijani sport, including volleyball that the President of the country loves so much.

At the end of the visit Ali Abbasov wished luck and new victories to his team and showed his satisfaction with the team`s performance.

Italian Eleonora Lo Bianco and Antonella del Core come to Russian Fakel

Italian Setter Eleonora Lo Bianco and Attacker Antonella Del Core in May can sign contracts with Russian clubs. Two stars of the National Team Italy won in composition in two European Championships, World Cup champion, and with Foppapedretti from Bergamo, two Champions League (2009/10 and 2006/07) are in talks with two clubs of Super League.

At Del Core, according to the SE, claiming Dinamo Kazan and Fakel. In the New Urengoy want to create an Italian couple, signed best receiving League Champion-2009/10 and best setter League champion-2009/10 and 2006/07, Euro 2009 and 2005, Grand Prix -2006. Lo Bianco is a key player in one of the Italian team.

Del Core this season playing in Turkey, becoming the owner of the Cup of the country with Eczachibashi, and in Italy until her departure in Istanbul acted for the best clubs Series A – Foppapedretti, Scavolini and Perugia.

Fakel not included in this year’s playoffs, wants to get a place in European competition, replacing the Challenge Cup, Zarechie Odintsovo, won the right to sports principles. In the New Urengoy retained the leader Daria Pisarenko to renew the contract with the club. Fakel in the new season going to fight for the medals and the sponsor are willing to expand the budget. Team in the summer should move from Moscow, where she lived during the season, in Moscow, while making its training base CSKA.

Source: russiavolley.com and vertexvolley.com