Panathinaikos plays its first official game of the year at the Metz stadium, hosting Dutch team Tsvole (11/10, 5:00 p.m. PAO TV). The Shamrocks start the season in the Round of 64 of the Challenge Cup and are aiming for a win that will give them a qualifying lead ahead of the second leg in the Netherlands (18/10).

Last season Zwolle finished 3rd in the Dutch league. The first referee will be French Mathilde Tilly, the second will be Turkish Koray Yilmazgil.

“Cloverleaf” athlete Maret Grotus, who will face a team from her home country, said: “It is the first official game and it is European, so we are happy to start the season like this.” Zwolle is a team more talented Athletes from the Netherlands. They are good at attacking. It is important for us to play to our strengths, offense, blocking and defense. I can’t wait to compete for our fans again.”

Strong crash test for AEK

The curtain rises for AEK in this year’s Challenge Cup. The Union hosts Volundari (11/10, 18.30) for the round of 64 of the competition with the aim of achieving a positive result that will give them the lead before the replay in Romania.

Voluntari finished 6th in the Romanian league last year and coach Milan Ljubicic has built a strong squad with ambition.

AEK After winning the cup last year, they are returning to European competition after the 2015/16 season and have also built a full squad with the aim of playing a leading role in Greece and Europe.

“We are playing against a really, very difficult opponent. We were unable to play some friendly matches as planned. Our preparation didn’t go perfectly. But of course, as always, we will give it our all. I really like participating in Europe.

I took part in European games in many positions at different clubs. We like the idea of ​​doing something historic for AEK. We will try to create and write a new story. They have spent a lot of money to build a team that can win the European Cup. We were unlucky with the draw. But we will fight. And we will use all our strength to gain an advantage before we travel to Romania.” said AEK coach Yunus Ocal.

A challenging game for PAOK

For Game 1 of the “64” phase of the CEV Women’s Challenge Cup, PAOK hosts Olympiada Neapolis on Wednesday, October 11, at 6:00 p.m. at the PAOK Sports Arena.

A new season full of championships and high challenges begins for PAOK women’s volleyball, which makes European “revelations” in its world.

Darko Zakoc’s side have worked hard in pre-season and are ready to give their best at the PAOK Sports Arena to take the first step towards qualification for the next phase of European competition.

Opposite him is Olympiada Neapolis, which won the “triple” in Cyprus last season. In her duties this year, she started the season perfectly and won the Supercup with a 3-0 win over AEL.

Regarding the game against Olympiada Neapolis, PAOK coach Darko Zakots explained on the club’s official website, acpaok.gr: “Maybe we needed a little more time to be fully ready because we had some minor issues with viruses and injuries in the past. This made it very difficult to reach 100% in the first official game. I hope that we stick together, and everyone will do their best, if we can do that, we will achieve a positive result.”

A difficult mission for Thetis

Thetida Voula’s team is in Bursa, Turkey, where both games against Niloufer (October 11th and 12th at 6:00 p.m.) for the 64th Challenge Cup will be played.

The Greek team, which will compete without failures, “flew” to Polis in the morning and from there traveled by road to Bursa on the bus of the Turkish team, which took 6th place in the championship last year.

“The Turkish teams have changed the level in Europe, but we will go into both games to give our best,” commented Thetida coach Giorgos Rousis, adding: “We see these games as an opportunity to play against a very strong team play, and as preparation for the upcoming start of the Greek League”.

Nilufer has on his bench Belgian Vital Heinen (coach of the German national team), who changed almost everything in his second year in Bursa by creating a completely new team in which French diagonal player Lucille Zickel and Swiss winger Laura Kutschler also stand out the Ukrainian winger Milenko and the Bulgarian winger Yordanova are in the squad.

The program of the Greek teams

• 17.00 Panathinaikos – Tsvole
• 6 p.m. PAOK – Olympiada Neapolis
• 6:00 p.m. Thetida – banks of the Nile
• 6.30 p.m. AEK – Volundari