Zenit Kazan are in the final of the FIVB Volleyball Men's Club World Championship for the third time
Krakow, Poland, December 17, 2017 – Russia’s Zenit Kazan have their third consecutive opportunity to claim gold in the FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship, while Italy's Cucine Lube Civitanova have reached the final on their debut.
Head-to-head
• This is the first time these teams meet in the tournament.
• Zenit have played Italian teams four times before at the club world championships, all against Trentino. They lost the first four meetings, before winning their last, in the semifinals last year (3-0).
• Lube Civitanova play against Russian opposition for the first time in the tournament.
Zenit Kazan
• Zenit Kazan are in the final of the men's club world championship for the third time, after 2015 and 2016. Both times they lost the final against Sada Cruzeiro Volei, who they bet 3-0 in the semifinals on Saturday.
• They can become the second Russian side to win the tournament, after Belogorie Belgorod in 2014.
• Zenit are one of three teams to have lost the final twice. Skra Belchatow lost in 2009 and 2010 and Banespa Sao Paulo in 1990 and 1991. None of these teams have won the tournament.
• Zenit are on a club record four successive club world championship victories. They previously had runs of three successive victories from 2009-2011 and in 2015.
• They have won all four matches by 3-0. This century, only Sada Cruzeiro Vôlei won four matches all by 3-0 in a single edition of the tournament. In 2013, they only lost sets against Lokomotiv Novosibirsk in the group stages and won all other four matches 3-0.
Cucine Lube Civitanova
• Lube Civitanova have won all their four matches and have reached the final on their debut.
• The previous team to reach the final on their debut was Belogorie Belgorod, who won the tournament in 2014.
• Italian sides have won the men's club world championship a record eight times, all in the first eight editions (1989-2012). No Italian teams has reached the final since then previously.
• Trentino are the last Italian team to have won all their five matches in a single year (2012).