2020–21 CEV Women's Champions League explained

2020–2021 CEV Women's Champions League
League:	CEV Women's Champions League
Sport:	Volleyball
Duration:	Qualifying round: 22 September – 14 October 2020 Main tournament:
No Of Teams:	29 (13 qual. + 16 main tourn.)
Finals Champ:	Imoco Volley Conegliano
Finals Runner-Up:	Vakifbank Istanbul
Finals Mvp:	Paola Egonu
Seasonslistnames:	CEV Women's Champions League
Prevseason Link:	2019–20 CEV Women's Champions League
Prevseason Year:	2019–20
Nextseason Link:	2021–22 CEV Women's Champions League
Nextseason Year:	2021–22

The 2020–21 CEV Champions League was the highest level of European club volleyball in the 2020–21 season and the 61st edition.

Qualification

See main article: article. A total of 20 teams participate in the main competition, with 17 teams being allocated direct vacancies on the basis of ranking list for European Cup Competitions and 3 teams qualify from the qualification rounds.^[1] ^[2]

Format

League roundA round-robin format (two single round-robin tournaments held in ‘bio-secure bubbles’ at two different venues in each pool) where the 20 participating teams are drawn into 5 pools of 4 teams each. The five pool winners and the best three second placed teams among all pools qualify for the .^[3] ^[2]

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:^[4]

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 8 qualified teams are each draw into the quarter-finals with the round winners advancing to the next rounds (semifinals and final). Matches in the quarter-finals and semifinals consists 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 further in the tournament. In case 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).^[4]

Grand finaleA single match between the winners of the semifinals in a neutral venue decides the tournament champion.^[3]

Pool composition

Drawing of lots for the league round was held on 21 August 2020 in Luxembourg City.^[5] The 20 teams are divided in 4 pots of 5 teams each, with one team per pot being draw into each of the 5 pools (A, B, C, D, E).^[1] ^[6]

width=25%	Pot 1	width=25%	Pot 2	width=25%	Pot 3	width=25%	Pot 4
Vakıfbank Istanbul (Turkey 1) Imoco Volley Conegliano (Italy 1) Dinamo-Ak Bars (Russia 1) Eczacıbaşı VitrA Istanbul (Turkey 2) Unet E-Work Busto Arsizio (Italy 2)	Chemik Police (Poland 1) ASPTT Mulhouse (France 1) Lokomotiv Kaliningrad (Russia 2) Developres SkyRes Rzeszów (Poland 2) Nantes VB (France 2)	SSC Palmberg Schwerin (Germany 1) Maritza Plovdiv (Bulgaria 1) VK UP Olomouc (Czech 1) LP Salo (Finland 1) Fenerbahçe SK Istanbul (Turkey 3)	Igor Gorgonzola Novara (Italy 3) Uralochka-NTMK Ekaterinburg (Russia 3) Winner from Qualification Winner from Qualification Winner from Qualification

Draw

width=20%	Pool A	width=20%	Pool B	width=20%	Pool C	width=20%	Pool D	width=20%	Pool E
Unet E-Work Busto Arsizio	Imoco Volley Conegliano	Vakifbank Istanbul	Eczacıbaşı VitrA Istanbul	Dinamo-Ak Bars
Developres SkyRes Rzeszów	Nantes VB	ASPTT Mulhouse	Lokomotiv Kaliningrad	Grupa Azoty Chemik Police
SSC Palmberg Schwerin	Fenerbahçe Opet Istanbul	Maritza Plovdiv	LP Salo	VK UP Olomouc
Winner from Qualification	Uralochka-NTMK Ekaterinburg	Winner from Qualification	Winner from Qualification	Igor Gorgonzola Novara

After drawing of lots, LP Salo^[7] and Uralochka-NTMK Ekaterinburg^[8] announced their withdrawal from the competition. The drawing of lots changes as follows:

width=20%	Pool A	width=20%	Pool B	width=20%	Pool C	width=20%	Pool D	width=20%	Pool E
Unet E-Work Busto Arsizio	Imoco Volley Conegliano	Vakifbank Istanbul	Eczacıbaşı VitrA Istanbul	Dinamo-Ak Bars
Developres SkyRes Rzeszów	Nantes VB	ASPTT Mulhouse	Lokomotiv Kaliningrad	Grupa Azoty Chemik Police
SSC Palmberg Schwerin	Fenerbahçe Opet Istanbul	Maritza Plovdiv	Allianz MTV Stuttgart	VK UP Olomouc
Savino Del Bene Scandicci	Calcit Volley Kamnik	ŁKS Commercecon Łódź	Dinamo Moscow	Igor Gorgonzola Novara