The eight best volleyball clubs on the planet face one another this week at the Club World Championship in Poland. The three times champion Sada Cruzeiro, winner in the 2013, 2015 and 2016 editions, will represent Brazil in the competition and fight once more for a place on the podium. The first game of the Cruzeirenses, who play in the city of Rzeszow, will be against the local team Asseco Resovia at 5.30PM (Brasília time, GMT -2:00) broadcast by Sportv2 channel.

On Tuesday, the Brazilian team will not play and returns to the court on Wednesday against the Italian Trentino Volley at 2.30. On Thursday, the opponent will be the Iranian Khatam Ardakan at 5.30, in group B.

The first game of the cruzeirenses will be against Asseco Resovia – Photo: Andreia Santos

In the pool A there are Zenit Kazan from Russia, Polish Skra Belchatow, Italian Lube Civitanova and Russian Fakieł Nowy Urengoj. These clubs will play in Plock. The city of Czestochowa will host the semifinals on Saturday and the decision on Sunday.

“It will certainly be a very difficult championship, one of the strongest in recent years. We have studied the opponents a lot and the desire to win is always the same, to reach the first place on the podium and to do everything to represent their club very well in this tournament. We also expect a very complicated game in the debut against Ressovia as it will be a very important match to qualify for the semifinal. It’s a very strong team with great players and we have to play very well. For us it’s like a final”, said coach Marcelo Mendez.

In addition to the three titles conquered, in 2013, 2015 and 2016, Sada Cruzeiro was also runner-up in 2012 in Qatar and bronze medalist in Poland last year. This Club World Championship edition is the seventh for the blue team.