Home to the reigning Olympic and world champions in women's volleyball, the Italian Lega Femminile Serie A1 Tigotà kicks off its 81st season on Monday, marking the start of an intense seven months of exciting battles for the crown of the top women's national league on the planet.

The 2025-2026 edition will have an intense Opening Day, with all 14 participating teams getting on the court at the same time as the seven matches of the first leg of the first round of the regular season are set to begin at 20:30 local time (18:30 GMT), bringing excitement to every corner of the country.

• Watch the Lega Femminile Serie A1 Tigotà live on VBTV

The Italian League's status as the top national team league on the planet was strongly consolidated by the tremendous success of the country's national team over the last two seasons, which saw the Italians win the Paris Olympics in 2024 and the FIVB Volleyball World Championship in 2025, as well as the editions of the Volleyball Nations League held in both years.

Most of the players who took the Italian national team to the top will be in action during the 2025-2026 Lega Femminile, as 11 of the 13 Olympic champions and 12 of the 14 world champions are split into seven different teams. Among the Olympic champions, defending champions Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano have three (libero Monica De Genarro and middle blockers Sarah Fahr and Marina Lubian), Numia Vero Volley Milano (opposite Paola Egonu and middle blocker Anna Danesi), Savino Del Bene Scandicci (opposite Ekaterina Antropova and outside hitter Caterina Bosetti) and Megabox Ondulati Savio Vallefoglia (outside hitters Gaia Giovannini and Loveth Omoruyi) have two and Igor Gorgonzola Novara (setter Carlotta Cambi) and Reale Mutua Fenera Chieri '76 (libero Illaria Spirito) have one.

The count for world champions has Milano with four (Egonu, Danesi, middle blocker Benedetta Sartori and libero Eleonora Fersino), Conegliano (Fahr and De Gennaro) and Vallefoglia (Giovannini and Omoruyi) with two and Scandicci (Antropova), Novara (Cambi), Chieri (outside hitter Stella Nervini) and Wash4Green Monviso Volley (middle blocker Yasmira Akrari) featuring one each.

The list of international stars in the Italian League also grew in the offseason, as, besides keeping the likes of Brazilian outside hitter Gabriela 'Gabi' Guimarães, American outside hitter Avery Skinner, Japanese outside hitter Mayu Ishikawa and Serbian setter Maja Ognjenović, Italian teams also added names such as Argentine middle blocker Bianca Farriol, Bulgarian opposite Mikaela Stoyanova, Slovenian outside hitter Fattoumata Sillah, American middle blocker Amber Igiede and Dutch opposite Elles Dambrink.

Defending champions Conegliano start on the road

Looking for their eighth-straight and ninth-overall Italian League title, defending champions Conegliano will start their campaign on the road, facing Eurotek Laica UYBA Busto Arsizio. The Panthers kept most of their core, including Gabi, Fahr, De Gennaro, Lubian, setter Joanna Wołosz and opposite Isabelle Haak, while Busto, who finished sixth last season, have the signings of Japanese setter Nanami Seki, who was with Conegliano, and Italian veterans Valentina Diouf and Alessia Gennari as the biggest news of their offseason.

Last year's runners-up Milano will count on the support of their fans in their opening match against Bergamo. The team lost Olympic and world champions Alessia Orro and Myriam Sylla and replaced them with Francesca Bosio and American Khalia Lanier. Their opponents Bergamo look to improve from their eighth-place finish from last season with the additions of VNL 2025 champion and setter Chidera Eze and high-scoring German opposite Emilia Weske.

Scandicci, which completed the podium in third place in 2024-2025, will be on the road against Monviso. The team continues to rely on Ognjenović and Antropova, but strengthened their outside hitter position with the arrivals of Bosetti and Americans Skinner and Sarah Franklin. Monviso, which used to represent Pinerolo, were ninth last year, and, besides keeping Akraki, added experienced setter Ilaria Battistoni, opposite Adhuoljok Malual and Belarusian outside hitter Hanna Davyskiba.

Last year's fourth-place finishers Novara had an exciting start to their season, winning the Courmayeur Cup, and will try to follow up on that in their opening road match against rookies Omag-Mt San Giovanni in Marignano. The outside hitter duo formed by Ishikawa and German Lina Aslmeier continues to be a force for Novara, but they acquired interesting pieces in Cambi and Igiede. In their first season in the Italian elite, Omag will count on the experience of veteran opposite Serena Ortolani to lead a team that got German setter Sarah Straube, Brazilian opposite Edinara Brancher and Russian middle blocker Elizaveta Kochurina from the international market.

The other promoted team, CBF Balducci HR Macerata return to the elite for the first time since 2022-2023 and will meet their fans in their opening match against Cuneo Granda Volley. Farriol, American middle blocker Emma Clothier and Finnish outside hitter Suvi Kokkonen were their main additions. Cuneo, which ranked 11th in 2024-2025, kept only three players and added many, most notably Spanish outside hitter Jessica Rivero Marín, Dutch outside hitter Nova Marring and libero Anna Bardaro.

Led by Olympic and world champions Giovannini and Omoruyi, Vallefgolia will be on the road against Bartoccini-Mc Restauri Perugia in their debut. The team made interesting moves after finishing fifth last season, bringing Stoyanova and Canadian national team middle blocker Nyadholi Thokbuom. Perugia, who were tenth, have setter Maria Irene Ricci, outside hitter Beatrice Gardini and Slovenian opposite Nika Marković as the pillars of the team.

The seventh and final match of the day will have last year's 12th-place finishers Il Bisonte Firenze at home against Chieri, who were fifth. After almost getting relegated, Firenze underwent massive changes and have Serbian opposite Vanja Bukilić, Dutch outside hitter Jolien Knollema and outside hitter Francesca Villani as key additions for 2025-2026. Besides keeping Nervini and Spirito, Chieri went on to sign Dambrink and Italian national team outside hitter Alice Degradi and appear as a strong candidate for the dark horse role this season.

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