2015–16 CEV Women's Challenge Cup

2015–16 CEV Women's Challenge Cup
League	CEV Women's Challenge Cup
Sport	Volleyball
Duration	10 November 2015 – 3 April 2016
Number of matches	90 (including 2 awarded)
Number of teams	46
Finals
Champions	CSM București
Runners-up	Trabzon İdmanocağı
Finals MVP	Jelena Blagojević
CEV Women's Challenge Cup seasons
← 2014–15 2016–17 →

The 2015–16 CEV Women's Challenge Cup was the 36th edition of the European Challenge Cup volleyball club tournament, the former "CEV Cup".

Format[]

The tournament was played on a knockout format, with a total of 46 teams participating. Initially 30 teams were allocated vacancies to enter the competition at the 'Qualification phase', with another 16 teams joining from the Women's CEV Cup entering the competition at the 'Main phase' stage (as per 'Round composition' below).^[1]

On 5 June 2015, a drawing of lots in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, determined the team's pairing for each match. Each team played a home and an away match with result points 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 advanced to the next round. In case the teams were tied after two legs, a Golden Set was 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).^[2][3]

Round composition

• 2nd Round: 30 teams
• 16th Final: 2nd Round winners (16 teams) + 16 teams from CEV Cup
• 8th Final onwards: winners

Participating teams[]

• A total of 46 teams participated, 30 were allocated direct places and 16 joined from the Women's CEV Cup entering at the 'Main phase'.^[1]

Rank	Country	No. teams			Teams (rankings in 2014–15 national championships)
		Vac	Cev	Total
1	Turkey	2	-	2	Bursa BBSK (5) Trabzon İdmanocağı (6)
2	Russia	1	-	1	Zarechie Odintsovo (4)
3	France	1	2	3	1 1
6	Germany	1	1	2	Rote Raben Vilsbiburg 1
8	Romania	1	1	2	C.S.M. București C.S.M. Târgovişte1
9	Switzerland	2	1	3	1
10	Czech Republic	-	2	2	1 1
11	Serbia	2	-	2
	Austria	3	-	3	SVS Post Schwechat
	Hungary	3	-	3	Vasas Obuda Budapest
	Greece	2	1	3	AEK Athens AON Pannaxiakos Naxos Olympiacos Piraeus1
	Belgium	1	2	3	Asterix Kieldrecht Dauphines Charleroi1 Hermes Oostende1
	Netherlands	1	2	3	1 Sliedrecht Sport 1
	Croatia	2	-	2	Mladost Zagreb
	Finland	1	1	2	1
	Israel	1	1	2	Haifa VC1
	Belarus	1	-	1
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	1	-	1
	Luxembourg	1	-	1
	Norway	1	-	1	Stod Volley Steinkjer
	Portugal	1	-	1
	Spain	1	-	1	Naturhouse Ciudad de Logroño
	Cyprus	-	1	1	Apollon Prestige Limassol1
	Estonia	-	1	1	1

1.^ Team qualified via CEV Cup entering the 16th Final.

Qualification phase[]

2nd Round[]

• 1st leg (Team #1 home) 10–12 November 2015
• 2nd leg (Team #2 home) 24–26 November 2015

Match#	Team #1	Results	Team #2
1	Bursa BBSK	– –	Bye
2	Mladost Zagreb	3 – 0 3 – 0
3		1 – 3 2 – 3
4	Sliedrecht Sport	1 – 3 2 – 3	Asterix Kieldrecht
5	CSM București	3 – 1 3 – 0
6	Vasas Obuda Budapest	3 – 1 3 – 0
7		3 – 2 3 – 0	AEK Athens
8		0 – 3 0 – 3	Rote Raben Vilsbiburg
9		3 – 2 0 – 3
10	Trabzon İdmanocağı	3 – 0 3 – 0	Pannaxiakos
11		3 – 0 3 – 0
12	Naturhouse Ciudad de Logroño	2 – 3 1 – 3
13		3 – 1 3 – 1
14		3 – 1 1 – 3 Golden Set: 15–11	SVS Post Schwechat
15*	Stod Volley Steinkjer	0 – 3 0 – 3
16	Bye	– –	Zarechie Odintsovo

*Note: Stod Volley Steinkjer withdrew from the competition. The CEV awarded Wovo Rovaniemi both matches by 3–0.^[4][5]

Main phase[]

In this stage of the competition, the sixteen qualified teams of the Qualification phase were joined by the sixteen losing teams from the 2015–16 Women's CEV Cup.

16th final[]

• 1st leg (Team #1 home) 8–10 December 2015
• 2nd leg (Team #2 home) 15–17 December 2015

Match#	Team #1	Results	Team #2
17	Bursa BBSK	3 – 0 3 – 0	Apollon Prestige Limassol
18		3 – 0 3 – 0	Mladost Zagreb
19		3 – 0 3 – 2
20	Haifa VC	0 – 3 0 – 3	Asterix Kieldrecht
21	CSM București	3 – 2 3 – 0
22	Olympiacos Piraeus	3 – 0 3 – 1	Vasas Obuda Budapest
23		2 – 3 3 – 1
24	Rote Raben Vilsbiburg	0 – 3 3 – 0 Golden Set: 15–12	Dauphines Charleroi
25	Hermes Oostende	0 – 3 0 – 3
26	Trabzon İdmanocağı	3 – 1 3 – 0	CSM Târgovişte
27		3 – 1 0 – 3 Golden Set: 8–15
28		3 – 0 1 – 3 Golden Set: 15–12
29		3 – 1 3 – 1
30		3 – 0 3 – 0
31		3 – 0 3 – 2
32	Zarechie Odintsovo	3 – 0 3 – 1

8th final[]

• 1st leg (Team #1 home) 19–21 January 2016
• 2nd leg (Team #2 home) 26–28 January 2016

Match#	Team #1	Results	Team #2
33	Bursa BBSK	3 – 1 3 – 1
34		2 – 3 0 – 3	Asterix Kieldrecht
35	Olympiacos Piraeus	3 – 0 1 – 3 Golden Set: 13–15	CSM București
36	Rote Raben Vilsbiburg	2 – 3 2 – 3
37		0 – 3 0 – 3	Trabzon İdmanocağı
38		2 – 3 1 – 3
39		3 – 2 1 – 3
40		0 – 3 0 – 3	Zarechie Odintsovo

4th final[]

Saint-Cloud Paris Stade français - Zaretchie Odintsovo

• 1st leg (Team #1 home) 9–11 February 2016
• 2nd leg (Team #2 home) 23–25 February 2016

Match#	Team #1	Results	Team #2
41	Asterix Kieldrecht	0 – 3 1 – 3	Bursa BBSK
42		0 – 3 0 – 3	CSM București
43		0 – 3 0 – 3	Trabzon İdmanocağı
44	Zarechie Odintsovo	3 – 2 3 – 0

Final phase[]

Semi-finals[]

• 1st leg (Team #1 home) 9 March 2016
• 2nd leg (Team #2 home) 13 March 2016

Match#	Team #1	Results	Team #2
45	Bursa BBSK	1 – 3 0 – 3	CSM București
46	Zarechie Odintsovo	2 – 3 0 – 3	Trabzon İdmanocağı

Finals[]

• 1st leg (Team #1 home) 30 March 2016
• 2nd leg (Team #2 home) 3 April 2016

Match#	Team #1	Results	Team #2
47	CSM București	3 – 1 3 – 1	Trabzon İdmanocağı

2015–16 CEV Women's Challenge Cup Champions
CSM București 1st title

Awards[]

Award	Winner	Team
MVP	Jelena Blagojević	Trabzon İdmanocağı

References[]

External links[]

• Challenge Cup 15-16