The 2015–16 CEV Champions League was the 57th edition of the highest level European volleyball club competition organised by the European Volleyball Confederation.
Participating teams
RankCountry Number of teamsTeams 13Zenit Kazan Belogorie Belgorod Dynamo Moscow 23Diatec Trentino DHL Modena Cucine Lube Civitanova 33Asseco Resovia Lotos Trefl Gdańsk PGE Skra Bełchatów 43Arkas İzmir Halkbank Ankara Ziraat Bankası Ankara 53Knack Roeselare Volley Asse-Lennik Noliko Maaseik 62Tours VB Paris Volley72VfB Friedrichshafen Berlin Recycling Volleys 81Tomis Constanța91PAOK Thessaloniki 101Dukla Liberec 111Hypo Tirol Innsbruck121ACH Volley Ljubljana 131Marek Union-Ivkoni Dupnitsa 141#Dragons Lugano 151Budvanska Rivijera Budva 161Vojvodina NS Seme Novi Sad
Format
League round 28 teams have been drawn to 7 pools of 4 teams each.
In each pool, the competition is organised on the basis of a double round-robin system. Each team will thus play 6 matches: twice against each opponent.
In the League Round, the placing of the teams is determined by the number of matches won.
In case of a tie in the number of matches won by two or more teams, they will be ranked on the basis of the following criteria: match points; set quotient (the number of total sets won divided by the number of total sets lost); points quotient (the number of total points scored divided by the number of total points lost); results of head-to-head matches between the teams in question.
Match points are awarded as follows: 3 points for a 3:0 or 3:1 victory; 2 points for a 3:2 victory; 1 point for a 2:3 defeat; 0 points for a 1:3 or 0:3 defeat.
12 teams will qualify for the Playoff 12: the winner of each pool, and 5 second-ranked teams with the best score.
After the end of the League Round, the organizer of the Final Four will be determined. That team will qualify directly for the Final Four. It will be replaced in Playoff 12 by the next best second-ranked team.
The remaining second-ranked team as well 3 third-ranked teams with the best score will move to the Challenge Round of the CEV Cup.
The remaining third-ranked and all fourth-ranked teams will be eliminated.
Playoffs The playoffs will consist of two rounds: Playoff 12 and Playoff 6. Each round is played in two legs.
If the teams are tied after two legs, a "Golden Set" is played. The winner is the team that first obtains 15 points, provided that the points difference between the two teams is at least 2 points (thus, the Golden Set is similar to a tiebreak set in a normal match).
At each leg, points are awarded to the teams in the same manner as in the Group Round (3 for 3:0 or 3:1, 2 for 3:2 etc.). So, if team A defeat team B in the first leg 3:0 and lose in the second leg 1:3, team A does not advance to the next round (as it would have been expected on the basis of analogy with football competitions), but the two teams are tied with 3 points each, and a Golden Set is played.
The three teams that win in Playoff 6 round advance to the Final Four along with the organizer of the Final Four.
Pools composition The drawing of lots was held in Vienna, Austria on 2 July 2015. The 28 participated teams of the competition were divided by 4 pots based on the latest European Cups Ranking List and their National Rankings. Exception, the teams which received wild cards had to be in the 4th pot. Pool APool BPool CPool D Belogorie Belgorod Dynamo Moscow Diatec Trentino Zenit Kazan Arkas İzmir Paris Volley Tours VB Halkbank Ankara Berlin Recycling Volleys VfB Friedrichshafen PAOK Thessaloniki Hypo Tirol Innsbruck Marek Union-Ivkoni Dupnitsa Ziraat Bankası Ankara Noliko Maaseik Budvanska Rivijera Budva Pool EPool FPool G Cucine Lube Civitanova DHL Modena Asseco Resovia Knack Roeselare Lotos Trefl Gdańsk Volley Asse-Lennik Dukla Liberec ACH Volley Ljubljana Tomis Constanța PGE Skra Bełchatów Vojvodina NS Seme Novi Sad #Dragons Lugano
League round All times are local.
Pool A
Pool B
Pool C
Pool D
Pool E
Pool F
Pool G
Second and third place ranking The first 7 teams are 2nd placed teams. The other teams are 3rd placed teams.
Playoffs
PoolWinnersSecond placeA Belogorie Belgorod Arkas İzmirB Ziraat Bankası AnkaraC Diatec Trentino Tours VBD Zenit Kazan Halkbank AnkaraE Cucine Lube Civitanova PGE Skra BełchatówF DHL Modena Lotos Trefl GdańskG Asseco Resovia (F4 Hosts) Volley Asse-Lennik
All times are local.
Playoff 12
First leg
Second leg
Playoff 6
First leg
Second leg
Final Four Organizer: Asseco Resovia Place: Kraków All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).
Semifinals
3rd place match
Final
Final standings Qualified for the 2016 FIVB Club World Championship
RankTeam Zenit Kazan Diatec Trentino Cucine Lube Civitanova4 Asseco Resovia
2015–16 CEV Champions League winnersZenit Kazan 4th title
Awards
Most valuable player Wilfredo León (Zenit Kazan) Best setter Simone Giannelli (Diatec Trentino) Best outside spikers Tine Urnaut (Diatec Trentino) Wilfredo León (Zenit Kazan) Best middle blockers Sebastián Solé (Diatec Trentino) Russell Holmes (Asseco Resovia) Best opposite spiker Maxim Mikhaylov (Zenit Kazan) Best libero Jenia Grebennikov (Cucine Lube Civitanova)
References
External links 2016 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League