Ziraat Bankkart secured third place in the CEV Men's Champions League Dörtlü Final after a challenging match against Projekt Varşova. The Turkish team showed resilience and skill throughout the game.
The first 30 points of the match (15-15) saw no lead change. Projekt Varşova, led by Tillie's ace and a few crucial points, took the first set 25-20 after overcoming Ziraat Bankkart, who struggled in the manche.
The capital team took an early 3-0 lead in the second set with strong blocks but couldn't prevent Projekt Varşova from scoring four consecutive points. Nimir Abdelaziz's effective blocking helped Ziraat Bankkart regain the lead at 15-12 after Clevenot's attack. Ziraat Bankkart maintained their advantage to win the set 25-23, evening the match score at 1-1.
Projekt Varşova took an early 4-1 lead in the third set with Firlej's service and widened the gap to 7 points (9-2) and 8 points (12-4) with points from Gomulka, Tillie, and Kochanowski. Despite their errors, Ziraat Bankkart made a libero change to improve their manche performance, but the Polish team's strong play resulted in a 25-13 win, giving them a 2-1 lead in the match.
Ziraat Bankkart started the fourth set with a setter and middle player change and took a 10-7 lead with Nimir's spikes. Although they couldn't prevent the score from reaching 21-21, they won the set 25-23 and took the match to a final set.
Ziraat Bankkart started strong in the final set, taking early leads at 5-3 and 7-4. With Fornal's ace, they widened the gap to 4 points (8-12) and won the set 15-11, securing a 3-2 victory in the match.
Hollander setter Nimir Abdelaziz played a crucial role with 36 points in the victory.
Ziraat Bankkart, having previously reached the semi-finals in 2024, secured third place in the CEV Men's Champions League, becoming Turkey's third team to win a medal in the competition, following Eczacıbaşı (third place in 1980) and Halkbank (second place in 2014).
PGE Projekt Varşova, making their first appearance in the final four of the Champions League, finished in fourth place.
This is a huge achievement for Ziraat Bankkart, but can they go one step further next year? It's time to aim for that elusive silver or even gold!