Del Monte Supercoppa 2024

Supercoppa Italiana gets new season underway this weekend

Florence will welcome last season’s best four teams for this season’s first trophy in Italy

Published 06:29, 20 Sept 2024

The best four teams of the 2023-2024 season in Italian men’s club volleyball – Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza, Itas Trentino Trento, Sir Susa Vim Perugia and Vero Volley Monza – are set to battle for the first major domestic trophy of the 2024-2025 season this weekend. On Saturday, September 21, the two Del Monte Supercoppa semifinals will be played, and on the following day, the super cup trophy will be handed to the winners of the big final.

Watch the Supercoppa on VBTV.

Four-thousand-seater Palazzo Wanny in Florence will stage the three matches of the two-day showdown with four stellar squads vying for the 29^th Supercoppa trophy. This is the second time the city of Florence hosts the Italian Supercoppa, after first welcoming the competition back in 2008.

Sir Susa Vim Perugia v Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza

Saturday’s first semifinal, starting at 15:30 local time (13:30 UTC), will feature defending Supercoppa laureates, reigning club world champions and reigning Coppa Italia holders Sir Susa Vim Perugia, who qualified for the event in their role as reigning Italian SuperLega champions, against the team that took the spot set for the national cup winners and freed up by Sir, Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza, who secured their participation as the highest placed team in the SuperLega regular season, not yet qualified. Historically, these two teams have met 12 times and Sir have won 10 of these matches. Gas Sales, however, won two of the most recent three, including their latest encounter in February.

View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Volleyball World Italia (@volleyballworlditaly)

Sir have won the Supercoppa five times, all within the last seven editions of the competition – in 2017, 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023. In the quest for their sixth Supercoppa crown, their head coach Angelo Lorenzetti (four-time super cup winner in his coaching career so far) will rely on plenty of top-level international players like Italian playmaker Simone Giannelli, last year’s Supercoppa MVP Wassim Ben Tara of Tunisia, Cuban opposite Jesus Herrera, outside hitters Yuki Ishikawa of Japan, Oleh Plotnytskyi of Ukraine and Kamil Semeniuk of Poland, middle blocker Roberto Russo and his Argentinean teammates Sebastian Sole and Agustin Loser, and Italian libero Massimo Colaci, a seven-time super cup winner, among others.

“I think the Supercoppa is a good start for all the teams that will participate, also because being there is not a given. It means that last season something good was done. Otherwise, we would not be present. The level is high, we will meet Piacenza, who are a very strong team that in recent years have always put together great rosters and have confirmed themselves again this year with good and experienced players. It will be a good start for us and a good learning moment to play against a team like that.” Simone Giannelli, setter and captain of Sir Susa Vim Perugia

View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Volleyball World Italia (@volleyballworlditaly)

Gas Sales will also boast a very solid squad in their attempt to start the season on a high note and claim their first-ever super cup crown. To achieve that, coach Andrea Anastasi can make use of a stellar line-up, including the likes of Olympic champion setter Antoine Brizard of France, Italian opposite Yuri Romano, outside hitters Uros Kovacevic of Serbia and Stephen Maar of Canada, middle blockers Robertlandy Simon of Cuba and Italy’s Gianluca Galassi and Fabio Ricci, and Italian libero Leonardo Scanferla, among others.

“For me, it is the second Supercoppa that I play in Italy and, honestly, I really hope it goes differently compared to my first experience. It is a beautiful event, officially opening the new season. It will be exciting to play for the first trophy of the season. We will immediately face Perugia, the favourite team in the season that is about to begin. They have already shown it in the pre-season. We all know the strength of our opponents, who have also changed very little compared to last year. We will only have to think about doing well what we know how to do, stay solid and more consistent in our performance, believe more and more in our means, which are not few.” Antoine Brizard, setter and captain of Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza

Itas Trentino Trento v Vero Volley Monza

2024 SuperLega silver medallists Vero Volley Monza will take on 2024 SuperLega regular season winners Itas Trentino Trento in the second semifinal, starting at 18:00 local time (16:00 UTC). It will be the third semifinal between these two clubs in 2024. They also met in January’s Coppa Italia semifinal (3-2 Vero Volley’s way) and in the best-of-five SuperLega semifinal series in March and April, when Trentino won the first two games, but Vero Volley made a sensational comeback to win the next three. In the overall head-to-head series, Trentino lead by 29 victories to Vero Volley’s seven wins.

View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Volleyball World Italia (@volleyballworlditaly)

The club from Trento won the Supercoppa three times, in 2011, 2013 and 2021. The five-time club world champions, who are also reigning European club champions, will also feature plenty of bright stars on head coach Fabio Soli’s squad, like Italian setter Riccardo Sbertoli, opposite Kamil Rychlicki of Luxembourg and Gabriel Garcia of the United States, Italian outsides Alessandro Michieletto and Daniele Lavia, and middles Jan Kozamernik of Slovenia and Flavio Gualberto of Brazil.

“It is the first official event of the new season and a trophy is immediately awarded. You participate thanks to what you managed to do in the previous season. As always, when a new championship starts you have to be very focused on your own game, even before watching or studying what your opponents are doing. You must not underestimate or fear anyone. You will enter the court in Florence aware of what you have done in the preparation phase and of the certainty that you cannot be perfect from all points of view yet. The key will be to stay constantly focused on the game, both when you are ahead in the score and when you are forced to chase.” Riccardo Sbertoli, setter and captain of Itas Trentino Trento

View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Volleyball World Italia (@volleyballworlditaly)

In an attempt, to build further upon their successful 2023-2024 season, when they reached three finals – the SuperLega, the Coppa Italia and Europe’s CEV Challenge Cup – Vero Volley have also upgraded their roster with star players like Italian legends Ivan Zaytsev and Osmany Juantorena or American middle Taylor Averill, who will aim at the club’s first Supercoppa trophy along with solid teammates like Brazilian setter Fernando Krelling and Canadian striker Arthur Szwarc within a well-rounded squad, coached by Massimo Ecchelli.

“We earned this Supercoppa experience thanks to the amazing championship played last year. So in some way we are still enjoying the end of the last season. In these weeks, ball after ball, we are finding our togetherness and our game as a team. Against Trento, it will be an interesting and very important challenge. We certainly expect a hard-fought match, where we will give our best as always, while also enjoying a special moment.” Thomas Beretta, middle blocker and captain of Vero Volley Monza