For the first time in the history of Austrian volleyball – an Italian club performing in the best league in Europe joins forces with an Austrian club. Verona Volley and TSV Hartberg Volleyball are breaking new ground with this cooperation which enables expertise to pass from the Italian SuperLega Credem Banca – the cream of the crop in international volleyball sports to Austria’s number 3 in the powerfusion Volley League Men. Furthermore, they are partnering with the Bulgarian VolleyAcademy Stoytchev-Kaziyski, a talent factory of the volleyball superpower Bulgaria.
The focus of this international cooperation will lie on the joint development of young talents throughout the different phases of their career. Merging and utilizing the know-how of coaches and supervisors from the three partners in the volleyball, athletics and statistics department will be at the center of the collaboration. Furthermore, an overarching business platform for sponsors and companies will be developed/created to ensure mutual economic success.
Coordinating the joint activities is GoRaZoSports Developer Gottfried Rath-Zobernig, former sports director of the Austrian Volleyball Federation:
“This cooperation marks a new era for Volleyball. It achieved to use similarities and strengths of all the partners to create new opportunities especially for young players. To be able to develop alongside a top club like Verona Volley will set TSV Hartberg Volleyball and the VolleyAcademy up for success and I am confident that this huge opportunity will be used to it’s full potential. Furthering Austrian Volleyball and creating new perspectives for it’s talents is still very dear to me and to bring 3 countries together in one precisely tailored cooperation will benefit the sport and the economic partners.“
TSV Hartberg Volleyball
The club with tradition located in Eastern Styria celebrated it’s greatest success in the club’s history last season placing third in the powerfusion Volley League Men. What’s more, with an average age of just 22 years and one of the largest proportions of homegrown players in the league it’s an ideal collaborator for Verona Volley and VolleyAcademy.
Manfried Schuller, President TSV Hartberg Volleyball:
„The cooperation offers the ideal opportunity to bring standards that have proven themselves at the national level into an international comparison. We strive to develop step by step and now have the opportunity to learn from the best. Our club also sees itself as a hub for social and economic networking beyond sport.”
Markus Gaugl, General Manager TSV Hartberg Volleyball:
“It is our club ́s philosophy to offer the top talents a platform where they can develop in the best way possible as players with professional structures and training conditions in the Bundesliga. With this cooperation, we are making ourselves even more attractive to young players and it allows us to manage their pathway to excellence up to the top level of European volleyball.”
Markus Hirczy, Head Coach TSV Hartberg Volleyball:
“I am very proud to be part of this project. Just as our players are constantly developing, we also want to develop structurally. This cooperation is ideal for quality assurance for our athletes. The development of our young top talent is at the center of our efforts and of this project. Personally, I am really looking forward to working together with the coaches from Verona Volley and the Volley Academy.”
Facts TSV Hartberg Volleyball Established: 1985
Over 200 active members
Best results: 6xparticipations in CEV Challenge Cup and CEV CUP, 2x Austrian Cup winner, Third place powerfusion Volley League Men 2022/23
Verona Volley
The Italian club from Verona was established in 2021 and last season reached
the quarter-finals of the Italian top league SuperLega Credem Banca and also at the Del Monte Coppa Italia. Head coach Radostin Stoytchev is widely known in Austria, as he celebrated the championship title and cup title as a setter in the HotVolleys team in 1996/97.
Stefano Fanini, President Verona Volley:
„First of all, I would like to thank TSV Hartberg Volleyball and the Volleyball Academy Stoytchev- Kaziyski for deciding to embark with us on this path, which I am sure will prove fruitful. It is partnerships such as these that provide additional value to a club like ours that aims to broaden its base more and more and to strengthen every day the structure that is being built continuously. Verona Volley is rooted in well-defined values, which we found fully in the other two parties involved in the project. The exchange of ideas between high-profile figures that is on the horizon will be energy for our club and our youth sector, which will surely benefit from this collaboration. “
Gian Andrea Marchesi, Sports Director Verona Volley:
„Today we add another important piece to our project of developing young athletes. When with Rado and colleagues from TSV Hartberg Volleyball the idea of working together was born, we immediately moved to start the collaboration, which also features the VolleyballAcademy Stoytchev-Kaziyski. The common goal is to identify young prospects and guarantee them a guided growth path through cooperation between the three clubs and the sharing of ideas between their respective technical staffs. A wide-ranging synergy, then, where the athlete’s education is at the center. For Verona Volley it is a great opportunity for development and enrichment, with our youth sector fully involved.”
Radostin Stoytchev, Head Coach Verona Volley:
“For me it is a dream come true and a special day. We have united three honest realities with the same purpose, which is to accompany young athletes up to a high level in volleyball. We have managed to realize a great project that starts now but that I believe will have a long life. It will serve us to grow at the corporate level but also to improve our know-how as coaches. We collaborate on a daily basis and the goals we want to achieve are clear. In a short time we aim to produce important athletes like Mozic and Keita. So, we have to work hard to achieve them through the joint work we set out to do.”
Facts VeronaVolley Established: 2021
Best result: Quarter-finals SuperLega Credem Banca 2022/23, Quarter-finals Del Monte Coppa Italia 2022/23
4.500 enthusiastic fans at their home matches at the Pala AGSM AIM
With Rok Mozic and Noumery Keita two players of Verona Volley reached the top ten of the SuperLega Credem Banca scorers list last season.
VolleyAcademy Stoytchev-Kaziyski
Established by Radostin Stoytchev and Matey Kaziyski, two of the most renowned names in the world of volleyball. The academy is based in Sofia and its main goal is to train young players age 8-18 both boys and girls. For the last two seasons it has a men’s team of homegrown players only, competing in Men’s Second Volleyball League in Bulgaria. Apart from volleyball, the organisation is keen on teaching the players how to be versatile and strong characters.
Martina Karagiozova, Deputy President:“
The project is an extension of our main goal to develop young players by giving them opportunities to play international volleyball. We consider it as a milestone in the VolleyAcademy’s growth path. The cooperation with Verona Volley and TSV Hartberg Volleyball will bring a one time opportunity for coaches to swap ideas and expertise, creating mutual training camps and tournaments. We believe this will give some unique opportunities for our players to pursue their volleyball carеers.“ “
Nikolay Zikolov, member of Managing Board :
“VASK is dedicated to develop young people not only in volleyball skills but as human beings and thus we are eager to start our three party cooperation with Verona Volley and TSV Hartberg Volleyball which will enrich our activities and give new horizons to our youngsters.”
Svetozar Ivanov, Coach Men’s team:
„We are excited of the opportunities this cooperation will provide to coaches to exchange knowledge and expertise. Working together with Verona Volley and TSV Hartberg Volleyball will bring additional benefits for the development of our players. “
Facts VolleyAcademy Stoytchev-Kaziyski
Location: Sofia
Established: 2015
Nearly 200 talents, boys and girls, train in 9 teams with 7 coaches
Each year volleyball summer camps at the Black Sea are organized, together with Verona Volley players, attracting athletes from all over Europe and USA to participate.
