CRISTINA CHIRICHELLA – NAPLES 10/2/1994 – 195 cm – CENTRAL – #18
News in the central department for Prosecco DOC Imoco Volley which announces the signing of Cristina Chirichella, 30 years old, born in Naples on 10 February 1994, 195 centimeters of talent and experience for the team trained by coach Santarelli. After many important challenges as an opponent wearing the Novara shirt, the team in which she played for 10 seasons, the central former captain of the Italian national team will now wear the yellow-blue of the Panthers to inaugurate the “mature” phase of her career in Conegliano. A confident champion who will increase the prestige of the new yellow-blue squad being set up for next season. She will play with shirt n:18.
Cristina Chirichella’s career began in the 2010-11 season when she joined the Club Italia team, with which she participated in the Serie B1 championship for two years.
In the 2012-13 season he got his first “pro” job with Robursport Pesaro in Serie A1, while in the following championship he wore the shirt of the newly promoted Ornavasso. In the 2014-15 season he began his journey at Igor Novara, in Serie A1, participating in all the prestigious victories of the Piedmontese club in the last two decades and often playing heated finals against Prosecco DOC Imoco. Among the winners are the 2016-17 Scudetto, the Champions League in the first edition of the Superfinal in Berlin in 2019 (against Conegliano), three Italian Cups, an Italian Super Cup, the 2023 WEVZA Cup and the 2024 Challenge Cup.
His haul with the blue shirt is also rich: at youth level he collected a silver at the U18 European Championships, a bronze at the U19 European Championships, before making his debut at a very young age in the senior national team in 2013. In 2017 he won the silver at the World Grand Prix, in 2018 the World silver in Tokyo. In 2019 she achieved bronze at the European championship and in 2021 she was European champion with the Italian team in Belgrade. In 2019 she achieved bronze at the European championship and in 2021 she was European champion with the Italian team in Belgrade.
STATEMENTS
“After ten years in Novara I felt the time had come to move on, I felt the need at this stage of my career to change the scene in search of new stimuli and I think the choice of Conegliano is the best. It may be strange because I have practically always played with the same shirt I grew up with and I have experienced many seasons, many challenges, often against Imoco, but now the call from a club of Conegliano’s prestige seemed just right to me. The right opportunity to seize to find new stimuli.
From the outside it has always been clear to me that the strength of the Conegliano club has always been that of inserting new pieces into a solid framework, giving continuity to the work while changing. The company was good at being far-sighted because it built its own history and its own identity, creating an environment where the new ones that gradually arrived have always fit together wonderfully as demonstrated by the great results obtained in recent years.
I have always liked Conegliano’s fast game, it will be nice to play with a champion in play like Asia Wolosz, I also meet up with many of my national team teammates and I will return to play with Monica De Gennaro again, we were together when I took my first steps in A1 in Pesaro many years ago.
Now I am 30 years old, I feel like a mature player and I will be ready to give my best even in training, putting my experience at the service of my young and strong colleagues in the department. Nowadays in top teams like Prosecco DOC Imoco we no longer talk about starters and reserves, but about 14 players who are all competitive because there are many events to play and a pace that must be high every day, even in training; the company, as always, is working well in this sense to have a complete and interchangeable staff for every need of the technical staff and to keep the daily level of work in the gym high.
It will be wonderful to play at the Palaverde as a “Pantera”, I can’t wait because it was already a great emotion and a pleasure when I was there as an opponent! It’s always nice and rewarding when you play in full buildings in front of so many enthusiastic people, now feeling all that energy on my side at Palaverde will be even more stimulating.
Summer without National Team? I’m not very used to sitting on my hands, this month I’m working hard with my studies to finish another chapter of my life, that is, obtaining a master’s degree in Sports Sciences, then a bit of rest and I’ll see you in August when I will be in Conegliano with my dog Chichi ready for the new yellow-blue adventure!”
