Dream finally comes true for Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie – PlusLiga champions!

A long-lasting dream finally came true for Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie! On Sunday afternoon, they triumphed as Polish men’s volleyball champions for the first time in history and added the 2026 PlusLiga gold to the two silvers from the previous two seasons and the 2022 bronze. In a deciding fifth match of the best-of-five final playoff against defending champions BOGDANKA LUK Lublin, Aluron delighted a home crowd of about 3,300 fans at Arena Sosnowiec with a four-set victory to close the series at 3-2 in wins and take their revenge from their opponents for the defeat in last year’s final.

• Watch PlusLiga replays on VBTV

Aluron, who earned an FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship bronze earlier in the season and are also among the participants in Europe’s CEV Champions League next weekend, won the PlusLiga regular season quite convincingly, on a 21-5 win-loss record and 61 points, or seven points clear of second-placed Projekt. In a best-of-three quarterfinal, the team from Zawiercie came back from a surprising 3-2 loss to ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle in the first match with four-set victories in the next two games. Aluron were merciless in their semifinal against Asseco Resovia Rzeszow, sweeping both matches in straight sets, before setting up a remake of last year’s championship series against BOGDANKA, who took out Projekt with two 3-1 wins in the other semifinal playoff.

Aluron drew first blood in the title series, shutting out their rivals in the first match at home. The squad from Lublin, however, reversed the course with a 3-1 home win and a straight-set sweep of the third game back in Sosnowiec. With their backs against the wall, Aluron won the fourth game by 3-1 on the road and prompted a crucial fifth encounter on home ground. Coming back from a set down, the Zawierce team celebrated a 3-1 (15-25, 25-21, 25-14, 25-21) victory and triumphed with the coveted crown. American outside hitter Aaron Russell was the winners’ leading scorer of the match with 16 points under his belt, earning the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the match award.

Opposite Bartlomiej Boladz added another 15 points, while middle blocker Jurij Gladyr, who delivered the season winner with a kill block, finished with 11 points, including five stuffs. BOGDANKA’s outside Wilfredo Leon emerged as the best scorer of the match with 18 points.

BOGDANKA settled for silver, their second PlusLiga medal, after last season’s gold. PGE Projekt Warsaw won another bronze, their third in a row and fourth over the last six seasons. They also have two silver medals from before that. The team from the Polish capital won the best-of-five third-place playoff against Resovia by 3-1 in wins.

PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow, Indykpol AZS Olsztyn, JSW Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj, ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle, Energa Trefl Gdansk, Slepsk Malow Suwalki, Ukraine’s Barkom Kazhany Lviv, Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski and InPost ChKS Chelm, in that order, lined up from fifth to 13th in the final PlusLiga standings, while bottom-placed Steam Hemarpol Politechnika Czestochowa, who finished 14^th, were relegated.

In the individual rankings, ZAKSA’s Italian international opposite Kamil Rychlicki was the best scorer of the PlusLiga season with 587 points. He was also the player with the highest number of successful attacks. BOGDANKA’s Bulgarian middle Aleks Grozdanov was by far the best blocker of the league. His teammate Wilfredo Leon led the best servers ranking. The champions’ playmaker Jan Firlej came out as the best setter, the team’s libero Jakub Popiwczak emerged as the best digger, while Projekt’s French outside Kevin Tillie topped the best receivers chart.

PlusLiga 2025-2026 results

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