VOLLEYBALL TEAMS

ECZACIBASI VITRA

Eczacıbaşı Istanbul is a Turkish women’s volleyball club that plays their home matches at the Eczacıbaşı Spor Salonu hall in Istanbul, they have won 28 Turkish League Championships. In the season 2014-15 they won the CEV Champions League and that gave them the ticket to capture the 2015 FIVB World Club Championship in Zurich, a year later the club become the first club in the world to win the FIVB World Club Championship back-to-back by defending their crown in the Philippines during the 2016 FIVB World Club Championship in Manila.[1]The club has invested in women volleyball for approximately 40 years and has pioneered for Turkish women volleyball. The team plays in CEV Champions League, regularly.

The Eczacıbaşı Women’s Volleyball Team’s international achievements have set an example for Turkish volleyball and contributed to the success of the Turkish National Women’s Volleyball Team. With its systematic and modern approach to the sport and close to 40 years experience, Eczacıbaşı is one of the most highly respected volleyball clubs in Europe.

Eczacıbaşı women’s volleyball team won the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1999. The club also finished 2nd in the European Champion Clubs’ Cup of 1980 and the CEV Cup of 1993; 3rd in the European Champion Clubs’ Cup of 2000 and the Top Teams Cup of 2005; and 4th in the European Champion Clubs’ Cup of 1984 and the Champions’ League of 2001 and 2002; in the season 2014-15 won the CEV Champions League and the 2015 FIVB World Club Championship in Zurich; a year later the club become the first club in the world to win the FIVB World Club Championship back-to-back by defending their crown during the 2016 FIVB World Club Championship in Manila;[2] making it the all-time most successful Turkish club of any team sport in European competitions.[3] The team have won 28 times the Turkish League Championship.

FENERBAHCE (WOMAN)

Fenerbahçe Women’s Volleyball is the women’s volleyball department of Fenerbahçe S.K., a major sports club based in Istanbul, Turkey. They play their matches at the 7000-seated Burhan Felek Sport Hall. Fenerbahçe won the 2010 FIVB Club World Championship and also the CEV Champions League in 2012.The women’s volleyball branch was founded in 1928 by Sabiha Rıfat Gürayman who, as a young woman, played for the club’s men’s volleyball team, and was the first woman architect in Turkey. However, the branch was closed due to the lack of opponents. In 1954, a new era started with assistance from Çamlıca Girls’ High School (tr). Starting in 1958, the girls won eight Turkish Championships among many other titles. In 1977, the branch was closed again until 1989, this time due to insufficient funds. In 1993, the team was promoted from the Istanbul First League to the Turkish Second League. The following year, they played in the Turkish First League. However, they were relegated to the Turkish Second League in the 1995-96 season.[citation needed]

Fenerbahçe returned to the Turkish First League in the 2002-03 season, and were runners-up in the 2006-07 season. The senior team was renamed as Fenerbahçe Acıbadem due to a sponsorship agreement with the Acıbadem Healthcare Group from 2007 to 2011. The Yellow Angels were the runners-up after Eczacıbaşı SK in the 2007-08 season, too. They gained the ninth Turkish title in their history in the 2008-09 season, after defeating their archrival Eczacıbaşı SK in the finals (3-2, 0-3, 3-1, 3-1), which was their first ever title in the league’s current format that had started with the 1984-85 season.[citation needed]

Fenerbahçe Women’s Volleyball team shone in 2009-10 season as the Yellow Angels finished the first round of the 2009-10 Turkish League undefeated in 22 matches (setting a 66:2 set ratio record), and reached the Final Four of 2010 Women’s CEV Champions League undefeated. They then beat the host team RC Cannes in a thrilling five-setter, but then lost to Volley Bergamo in five sets in the final, even though they came back after falling two sets down: 22-25, 21-25, 25-22, 25-20, 9-15. Yekaterina Gamova was named the best scorer and Nataša Osmokrović was chosen the best server of the tournament.[citation needed]

VAKIFBANK

Vakıfbank İstanbul, winner of the 2013 FIVB Women’s Club World Championship and the 2012–13 CEV Women’s Champions League, is a Turkish volleyball club.

As of January 23, 2014, the team holds a 73-game winning streak record in domestic and international official competitions.[1]

Vakıfbank İstanbul won all 52 official games played during 2012-13 season [2] and all 51 official games played in year 2013.[3]

The team collected five championship trophies in 2013. (Perfect season#Volleyball)
The team was established following a merger between two separate teams: Vakıfbank and Güneş Sigorta.[citation needed] Vakıfbank was originally an Ankara-based team but moved to İstanbul after the merge. Their name changed to Vakıfbank Güneş Sigorta, Vakıfbank Güneş Sigorta Türk Telekom (VGSTT), Vakıfbank Türk Telekom and Vakıfbank respectively.[4]

Vakıfbank won two unbeaten[citation needed] CEV Champions League championships in 2011 and 2013, and is the only unbeaten champions of the Champions League history. They also placed second in 1998 and 1999 in this competition. They won 2013 Club World Championship, CEV Top Teams Cup in 2004 and CEV Challenge Cup in 2008 while finishing 2nd in the FIVB Volleyball Women’s Club World Championship in 2011 and 3rd in the European Confederation Cup of 2000.[5]

The team is coached by Italian Giovanni Guidetti. They won 47 games of 47 in 2012–2013 season[citation needed] in all competitions including Champions League (12 games), Turkish League (29 games) and Turkish Cup (6 games). After this season, they kept most of the team roster[citation needed] and coaching staff for 2013–2014 season with little changes: Jelena Nikolic, who took a break volleyball for one year, came back to the team[citation needed] and Italian international Carolina Costagrande transfers from Chinese club Guangdong Evergrande V.C. instead of Polish spiker Malgorzata Glinka and Japanese Saori Kimura.[citation needed] Glinka left the team after three great seasons and moved to her home country for familial reasons.[citation needed]