VOLLEYBALL – A Bahraini club will be competing in the very first edition of the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Men’s Champions League.
This was confirmed yesterday by the Bahrain Volleyball Association (BVA).
The prestigious annual tournament, formerly known as the Asian Club Championships, has been rebranded for this season onwards. It is being held in partnership with Volleyball World, the commercial arm of the Federation Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB).
Twelve teams from across the continent will be taking part in this highly anticipated event, which will be hosted by Japan from May 11 to 18.
The kingdom will be represented by the champions of the 2024-25 Isa Bin Rashid Bahrain Volleyball League, which is currently holding its Top Six round featuring leaders Al Ahli, two-time defending champions Dar Kulaib, Muharraq, Al Najma, Nabih Saleh, and Al Nasser.
One of these six will earn the honour of flying the kingdom’s flag in the event, which offers a cool $50,000 in prize money. Two berths will also be up for grabs for the 2025 FIVB Club World Championship, which is set to be held in December of this year.
The drawing of lots for this season’s AVC Men’s Champions League will be held today at the AVC headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand.
AVC president Ramon Suzara, who is also an FIVB vice-president and the Philippine National Volleyball Federation president, will preside over the draw.
Aside from Bahrain, top club teams from all over Asia will be in the fray. They will be representing the nations of Australia, China, Chinese Taipei, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, the Philippines, Qatar, Thailand, and Vietnam.
As hosts, Japan will have two outfits in the tournament. They are the Suntory Sunbirds Osaka, who were the 2023-24 V.League Division One men’s champions, and Osaka Bluteon, who were the same league’s runners-up.
Other sides that have already also secured their places are the Queensland Pirates, who are the 2024-25 Australian Men’s Volleyball League champions; the Shanghai Bright, the 2024-25 Chinese Men’s Volleyball Super League champions; FK Aktobe of Kazakhstan, Cignal from the Philippines, Al Rayyan of Qatar, Sport Centre 3 from Vietnam, and the Nakhon Ratchasima QminC, who were the 2023-24 Men’s Volleyball Thailand League champions.
The field will be split in today’s draw into four pools of three teams apiece. The group matches will be held from May 11 to 13. The top two from each division will then move on to the quarter-finals, which will be played on May 15 and 16. The semi-finals will follow the day after, and then the gold medal match will take place on the tournament’s concluding day on May 18.
The Top Six of the 2024-25 Isa bin Rashid Bahrain Volleyball League is headed into its second phase, starting today.
One game is on schedule, to be played between Nabih Saleh and Nasser at 9pm. Tomorrow, Muharraq take on Najma at 8.30pm, followed by Ahli looking to maintain their perfect run against Dar Kulaib at 10pm.
This phase of the Top Six is scheduled to conclude on April 4, at which point the cast of the Golden Square semi-finals will be determined.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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