Perugia, Verona, Trentino and Civitanova fight for the title this weekend in Trieste
Published 03:39, 27 Feb 2026
Verona and Civitanova will meet in the second semifinal on Saturday (Photo: SuperLega)
Four teams set to compete in the 2025-2026 SuperLega Credem Banca playoffs have a big goal to fight for just a few days before the start of the postseason, as the Del Monte Supercoppa Italiana Final Four takes place this weekend in Trieste.
Sir Susa Scai Perugia, Rana Verona, Itas Trentino and Cucine Lube Civitanova will play between Saturday and Sunday not only for the title, but also for a confidence boost ahead of the most important moment of the season.
The first semifinal at the Pala Trieste will reunite Perugia and Trentino on Saturday, at 15:30 local time (14;30 UTC), in a rematch of last year's final. Verona and Civitanova play later, at 18:00 (17:00 UTC), for the second spot in the gold medal match, which is scheduled for Sunday, at 15:00 (14:00 UTC).
The first semifinal will be a rematch of last year's Supercoppa final, which had Perugia topping Trentino to win their third-straight and sixth-overall title in the tournament.
The reigning world and European champions get to Trieste in excellent form after ending the Italian League regular season in first place, holding a five-match winning streak.
With stars like setter Simone Giannelli, Japanese outside hitter Yuki Ishikawa and Polish outside hitter Kamil Semeniuk and a successful track record in the tournament, Perugia are seen by many as the favorites to lift the trophy in Trieste.
"Playing in the Supercoppa is always nice, because it means you did something well in the previous season," said middle blocker Sebastian Solé. "It's another opportunity to win a trophy, and I hope we can enjoy it and show our best volleyball."
Present in the last seven editions of the Supercoppa, Trentino want to add to their silverware collection, which features the 2012, 2014 and 2022 editions of the tournament.
The reigning Italian champions finished third in the Italian League regular season, but had some struggles in the last ten days, dropping two of the three matches they played in the period.
Having a solid foundation led by world champion outside hitter Alessandro Michieletto and Olympic champion opposite Théo Faure, Trentino hope to take their game to the next level in the final stretch of the season after the return of star outside hitter Daniele Lavia, who recently became available after missing most of the season due to a hand injury.
"The Supercoppa is a tournament we really care about, and we know it's going to be hard to get to the final," outside hitter Alessandro Bristot remarked. "But we saw in the Coppa Italia that anything can happen, so we have to believe and fight to turn the odds, which are all in Perugia's favor right now."
Saturday's semifinal encounter will be the 60th meeting between the Italian giants in domestic tournaments. Perugia currently have the edge with 33 wins, while Trentino triumphed on 26 occasions.
From the four semifinalists, Verona are the only ones to have never won the Supercoppa before. This season, in fact, marks their first-ever appearance in the tournament.
Despite having dropped their last two matches, Verona will be no short on confidence after finishing the Italian League regular season in second place, and, most importantly, having won the Coppa Italia just three weeks ago.
With American star setter Micah Christenson, Brazilian opposite Darlan de Souza and Malian outside hitter Noumory Keita all in great form, Verona know they can challenge anyone, and they want to do it again and earn another trophy in Trieste.
"We're ready," head coach Fabio Soli said. "We know that it's going to be a battle because Civitanova didn't give us anything in the two times we played them this season. We know what we'll need to do and that we'll have to play our best volleyball to face them."
Civitanova return to the Supercoppa after missing it out last season and will be looking for their fifth title and the first since 2015.
The team finished the Italian League regular season in sixth place, but managed to win their last two matches ahead of the trip to Trieste.
Civitanova will rely on their star outside hitter duo, formed by Bulgarian Aleksandar Nikolov and Italian Mattia Bottolo, to challenge Verona and get themselves in a position to fight for the title again.
"I think that even though Verona are probably the favorites after winning the Coppa Italia and finishing second in the regular season, the pressure is on us for that match," middle blocker Giovanni Maria Gargiulo reflected. "That's because we beat them the two times we played this season, and we want to do it again. So we need to control our emotions and play our best game, as we did in the past two matches."
The two victories in the Italian League this season just added to Civitanova's heavily favorable record against Verona, which shows 47 wins and only ten losses.
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