BUSTO ARSIZIO – With the promotion of Talmassons board to the detriment of Futura Volley Youth Busto Arsizio the list of teams that will take part in the event has been completed Serie A1 2024/25. Among the magnificent 14 there will obviously also be Uyba Volley Busto Arsizio that for the eighteenth time he will be on the starting grid of the most difficult championship in the world, with one objective: to try to improve.
The 2024/25 A1 Series
Imoco Volleyball ConeglianoSavino Del Bene Volleyball ScandicciTrue Volleyball Milan/Monza, Igor Volleyball NovaraReale Mutua Fenera Chieri ’76, Megabox Volleyball Vallefoglia, Rome Women’s Volley Club, Unionvolley Pinerolo Villafranca, Wedge Granda Volleyball, Volleyball BergamoThe Bison Volleyball FlorenceUYBA Volleyball Busto ArsizioBartoccini Fortinfissi PerugiaVolleyball, Women’s Volleyball Talmasons.
Geography: Piedmont queen
4 teams from Piedmont, 3 from Lombardy and 2 from Tuscany: out of the 14 teams at the starting line, well 9 will represent only 3 regions. The geography of the next A1 series, always devoid of teams from Southern Italy (last time Caserta in 2020, first Castellana Grotte in 2011), will see Rome as the “southern” end and as the most populous city: 3 million inhabitants against just 3892 of Tamassons, in Friuli.
Top spender: the big four
The big teams in the championship, on paper at least, will be the same as the season that is coming to an end. It changes a lot Conegliano who will lose the former butterfly Gennari, Queen De Kruijf, Robinson Cook, Squarcini and Plummer, but will focus on Zhu Ting, Gabi, Manfredini and Chirichella to keep the bar very high. Scandicci will still rely on Antropova (discovered by a certain Carmelo Borruto) and on the new coach Antiga, as well as on libero Brenda Castillo. Milanwhich still has the Champions League final at stake (the outcome of which could radically change a season with many initial expectations), will still make use of Egonu, while awaiting the arrival of Danesi. Novara finally he will focus heavily on Sqyìuarcini and Ishikawa.
Where’s the surprise?
More teams will aim to win a place in Europe and perhaps annoy the big four. The most accredited seems to still be Chieri: thanks to a championship semi-final, the team will however see a profound restructuring: farewell to Grobelna, Malinov and Weitzel, Van Aalen and Gicquel will arrive in Piedmont. At the moment they seem to be more distant – according to this year’s playoffs Pinerolo (where the former butterfly Bracchi called to confirm herself will land), the ambitious one Rome (in Zannoni, out Bechis) and Vallefoglia, at the center of a profound restructuring (in Bici and Weitzel, out Mingardi and Dijkema)
The struggle for salvation
The championship, like never before, promises to be balanced, especially from mid-table down. Making a leap forward or backward will be a moment. After a few too many entries Florence (Butigan and Bervini in, Ishikawa and Parisi out) will be regularly at the start, but the ambitions cannot be the same as in the recent past. The only certainty of Bergamo seems at the moment to be Carlo Parisi: otherwise little is known about a team that was saved at the last minute and will see a reconstruction with a budget still to be defined. The “fishing out” Wedge he has already spent 350 thousand euros to get an undeserved salvation on the pitch (goodbye Casalmaggiore) and will have on the bench Lorenzo Pintus and in the direction Elegant, old acquaintances from viale Gabardi. What will the newly promoted ones do? Perugia the German central defender Cekulaev announced that he will team up with the Arconatese Cogliandro, while Talmasons he still has to understand if he will be able to confirm the jewels Eckl, Costantini and Eze, or if he will monetise and focus on category players.
And the Uyba?
The promise of society and of take a step forward from eleventh place of the season just ended, with a salvation achieved and deserved on the field despite the well-known problems in progress between the Velasco affair and the flop of the foreign teams. He will depart from Gianni Capraraon paper and not just a guarantee, and from five players from the old guard: Boldini, Frosini, Lualdi, Sartori and Piva. They will arrive (indeed, some have already arrived…) Obossa, Scola, Pelloni, Morandi, Olaya and Van Avermaet, then two other foreign spikers and a central defender strongly desired by Caprara. Much of the value of the red and white rose, which seems well constructed and assembled by said Borrutowill pass fromObossa explosion and fromintegration into Italian volleyball of the Colombian Olaya, about which much good is said. With these premises, climbing a few positions, perhaps winking at the playoffs, does not appear to be a forbidden dream.
The Uyba 2024/25
Setters: Jennifer Boldini (1999, 187 cm, confirmed); Francesca Scola (2001, 183 cm, from Cuneo).
Opposite to: Josephine Obossa (1999, 183 cm, from Casalmaggiore), Giorgia Frosini (2002, 189 cm, confirmed).
Central: Giuditta Lualdi (1995, 186 cm, confirmed), Benedetta Sartori (2001, 187 cm, confirmed), Silke Van Avermaet (BEL 1999, cm 192, from Mulhouse FRA).
Spikers: Rebecca Piva (2001, 186 cm, confirmed), Ana Karina Olaya (COL 2002, 187 cm, from Opole POL).
Free: Federica Pelloni (2006, 172 cm, from Offanengo); Martina Morandi (2002, 175 cm, from Lecco).
Trainer: Gianni Caprara (from the Volunteers – ROM).
Negotiations
Incoming: three foreign players (two in the back, one in the centre)
