2016–17 CEV Women's Champions League explained

2016–17 CEV Women's Champions League
League:	CEV Women's Champions League
Sport:	Volleyball
Duration:	Qualifying round: 18 October – 19 November 2016 Main tournament:
No Of Matches:	86 (28 qual. + 58 main tourn.)
No Of Teams:	30 (18 qual. + 12 main tourn.)
Finals:	Finals
Finals Champ:	VakıfBank Istanbul (3rd title)
Finals Runner-Up:	Imoco Volley Conegliano
Finals Mvp:	Zhu Ting
Seasonslistnames:	CEV Women's Champions League
Prevseason Link:	2015–16 CEV Women's Champions League
Prevseason Year:	2015–16
Nextseason Link:	2017–18 CEV Women's Champions League
Nextseason Year:	2017–18

The CEV Champions League was the highest level of European club volleyball in the 2016–17 season and the 57th edition. The Turkish club VakıfBank Istanbul won its third title and qualified to the 2017 FIVB Club World Championship as European champion, besides being already invited by the FIVB, along with Eczacıbaşı VitrA and Voléro Zürich.^[1] The Italian club Imoco Volley Conegliano won the silver medal and Turkish Eczacıbaşı VitrA claimed the bronze medal. The Chinese Zhu Ting from VakıfBank Istanbul was awarded Most Valuable Player. Fourth placed club, Dinamo Moscow later received the last wild card to the Club World Championship by the FIVB.^[2]

Qualification

See main article: article and 2016–17 CEV Women's Champions League qualification.

A total of 16 team participate of the main competition, with 12 teams being allocated direct vacancies on the basis of ranking list for European Cup Competitions^[3] and 4 teams qualified from the qualification rounds.^[4]

Rank	Country	No. teams			Qualified teams
Rank	Country			Total	Qualified teams
1		2	1	3	Eczacıbaşı VitrA Istanbul
					Fenerbahçe SK Istanbul
					VakıfBank Istanbul
2		2	1	3	Dinamo Krasnodar
					Dinamo Moscow
					Uralochka-NTMK Ekaterinburg
3		1	1	2	Chemik Police
3		1	1	2	MKS Dąbrowa Górnicza
4		2	rowspan="2"	-	2	Azerrail Baku
4		2	Telekom Baku		2
5		1	-	1	Saint-Raphaël Var VB
6		1	1	2	Imoco Volley Conegliano
6		1	1	2	Liu Jo Nordmeccanica Modena
7		1	-	1	Dresdner SC
8		1	-	1	Voléro Zürich
9		1	-	1	CS Volei Alba Blaj

1.Team qualified via Champions League qualification round.

Format

League roundA round-robin format (each team plays every other team in its pool twice, once home and once away) where 16 teams were drawn to 4 pools of 4 teams each. Pool winners and two second place with the best results qualified for the . The organizer of the were determined during the League Round and qualified directly for the Final Four.^[5]

The standings is determined by the number of matches won.In case of a tie in the number of matches won by two or more teams, their ranking is based on the following criteria:

result points (points awarded for results: 3 points for 3–0 or 3–1 wins, 2 points for 3–2 win, 1 point for 2–3 loss);
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.

PlayoffsA knockout format where the 6 qualified teams are each draw into one of the 3 matches with each match consisting of two legs (home and away). Result points are awarded for each leg (3 points for 3–0 or 3–1 wins, 2 points for 3–2 win, 1 point for 2–3 loss). After two legs, the team with the most result points advances to the . In case the teams are tied after two legs, a is played immediately at the completion of the second leg. The Golden Set 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).

Final FourA single-elimination format where the three winners of the Playoffs are joined by the Final Four hosts and draw to play the semifinals (winners advance to the final and losers to the 3rd place match). In case two teams from the same country qualify for the semifinals, they will play each other.

Pools composition

Drawing of lots was held in Rome, Italy on 9 June 2016.

width=230	Pool A	width=230	Pool B	width=230	Pool C	width=230	Pool D
Chemik Police	Dinamo Moscow	Azerrail Baku	VakıfBank Istanbul
Imoco Volley Conegliano	Voléro Zürich	Saint-Raphaël Var VB	Dresdner SC
Telekom Baku	CS Volei Alba Blaj	Fenerbahçe SK Istanbul	Uralochka-NTMK Ekaterinburg
Liu Jo Nordmeccanica Modena	Dinamo Krasnodar	MKS Dąbrowa Górnicza	Eczacıbaşı VitrA Istanbul

Squads

See main article: article.

League round

All times are local.

Pool D

Playoffs

Drawing of lots was held in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg on 3 March 2017.^[6] ^[7]
All times are local.

Playoff 6

Second leg

Final four

Organizer: Imoco Volley Conegliano
Venue: PalaVerde, Treviso, Italy
All times are Central European Summer Time .
In case that two teams from the same country qualify for the semifinals, they will have to play each other.

Final

Final standing

width=40	Rank	Team
	VakıfBank Istanbul (C)
	Imoco Volley Conegliano
	Eczacıbaşı VitrA Istanbul
4	Dinamo Moscow
5	Voléro Zürich
	Fenerbahçe SK Istanbul
	Liu Jo Nordmeccanica Modena
8	Azerrail Baku
9	Chemik Police
	Dinamo Krasnodar
	MKS Dąbrowa Górnicza
	Uralochka-NTMK Ekaterinburg
13	Telekom Baku
	CS Volei Alba Blaj
	Saint-Raphaël Var VB
	Dresdner SC

width=10px bgcolor=#ccffcc	(C)	Qualified for the 2017 FIVB Club World Championship

Roster for Final Four
Örge, Kırdar Sonsırma, Özbay, Zhu, Akman Çalışkan, Gürkaynak, ykaç, Slöetjes, Aydemir Akyol, Yurtdagülen, Durul, Hill, Rašić, Çetin
Head coach
Guidetti