About five Cuban players will take part in the Volleyball Club World Cup, scheduled to be held from December 7th to 11th in Betim, Brazil, where Sada Cruceiro, led by Miguel Ángel López, will try to defend his title.
6 clubs will be divided into two groups of three. The top two in each key advance to the semi-finals and the battle for the medals continues until the final day. Reigning champion Sada Cruceiro leads Group A, followed by Volei Renata of Brazil and Sir Safety Susa Perugia of Italy.
For many specialists, Perugia is the club that is proving to be the favorites for the tournament, mainly because of their excellent form and strong squad. They are unbeaten this season and men like Wilfredo León, Kamil Semeniuk and Simone Gianelli can dominate a tournament.
The team also includes Cuban volleyball players Jesús Herrera and Julio César Cárdenas, who have great chances of lifting the trophy and contributing to the win.
On the other hand, Sada Cruceiro will have the local factor as his main weapon, since on other occasions the public has proved to be a decisive factor in this field. Miguel Ángel López and Wallace de Souza are in charge of a club that hasn’t had much war in the Brazilian Super League, but they’re particularly interested in the Volleyball Club World Cup, so they’ll leave it all in front of their fans.
Group B features Itas Trentino from Italy, Itambé Minas from Brazil and Paykan Club from Iran. The Trentino, with its world champions Danielle Lavia and Alessandro Michieletto, return to this edition of the World Cup after failing in the semifinals against Lube Civitanova in 2021.
Despite having a very dubious start in Italy, they are favorites to lead the group and meet runners-up in Group A, where their best chances of reaching the final lie.
However, anything can happen in such a short tournament and that’s exactly what Itambé Minas has in mind, featuring Cuban Elian Mazzora. Despite Brazilian club being Sada’s main rivals in La Liga, they’ve always gotten the worst of it lately.
The young talent is bouncing back and showing better face but not so much for the club who have gone from better to less this season.
That’s how the favorites come in their respective leagues, but the truth is that this is a completely different tournament of short duration and with a lot at stake, where the best teams of each continent compete to win the World Cup Volleyball Clubs.
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