The Prosecco DOC A. Carraro Conegliano in collaboration and with the patronage of the Municipality of Pordenone organizes the 1st City of Pordenone Tournament at the PalaCrisafulli. The Panthers, finally in full force after the arrival of Gabi, Fahr and De Gennaro, will be engaged on Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 September in Friuli for one of the two preparation tournaments (the Courmayueur Tournament is scheduled for next weekend) before the start of the A1 scheduled for Monday 6 October in Busto Arsizio.
An intense weekend that will see coach Santarelli’s team meet Megabox Ond. Savio Vallefoglia, Cbf Balducci Hr Macerata and from Greece the Panathinaikos Athens .
An intense weekend that will see coach Santarelli’s team meet Megabox Ond. Savio Vallefoglia, Cbf Balducci Hr Macerata and from Greece the Panathinaikos Athens .
THE PARTICIPATING TEAMS
Four world champions on the field at PalaCrisafulli, the two Panthers Monica De Gennaro and Sarah Fahr are in fact joined by the two young gold medallists from Vallefoglia, the spikers Gaia Giovannini and Loveth Omoruyi (former yellow-blue).
The Megabox Ond. Savio Vallefoglia closed the 2024/25 season in 7th place in the A1 championship. Coached by coach Andrea Pistola, the sporting director of the Marche is the former yellow-blue Alessio Simone, assistant in the technical staff at Palaverde from 2017 to 2020.
For the Cbf Balducci Hr Macerata, on the other hand, the upcoming season will be that of the return to A1, the orange and black will return to the top flight after two years of absence. Head coach of Macerata Valerio Lionetti, assistant coach of Daniele Santarelli in Conegliano from 2017 to 2024, will challenge the Panthers for the first time as a former player.
Panathinaikos Athens, one of the institutions of the Greek league, won the national tournament three times in a row from 2022 to 2024, 26 in total in its history. Last season it closed its path in the play-off semi-finals and will participate in the Challenge Cup this season. Coach of the Athenian team is Alessandro Chiappini, coach of Hungary and coach of the Panthers in the final of the 2014-2015 season. Among the Greeks there is also the former yellow-blue Martina Samadan, a Croatian center who was Panther in the 2017/18 season.
PROGRAM
The semifinals are scheduled for Saturday 20 September: start at 6 pm with the challenge Vallefoglia and Panathinaikos, followed at 20:30 by the Panthers of Prosecco DOC A. Carraro will take the field to face the Cbf Balducci Macerata of the former Lionetti. Sunday the finals: 3rd-4th place at 15:30; at 6 pm the final will be staged, to close a weekend of great show in Pordenone.
TICKETS AVAILABLE
Coupons available in advance on vivaticket.com, availability in the first ring and first comfort ring sectors for full and reduced Under 18, while the discount for 2025/26 season ticket holders of Prosecco DOC A. Carraro is active. A ticket office will also be active outside the PalaCrisafulli from one hour before the start of the first match of the day.
COACH SANTARELLI: “With the arrival of the last three players returning from the World Cup, we are finally all complete and in these days we have trained with the whole team available. I must say that the girls are already pushing hard and we are working well in perspective to be ready for the start of the championship which is quite close. We will first have Pordenone and then Courmayeur to test condition and progress, we will try as much as possible to give space to all the players to put fuel in their legs and refine the game mechanisms of the new team. In Pordenone we expect to play two tough games to continue our journey, time is running out for the start of the season and every opportunity is important to grow the new group.”