-1 to 2025/26 Final! Curious fact about a big classic of Italian volleyball – Perugia vs Civitanova!

Game 1 of 2025/26 Superlega CredemBanca Final between Sir Susa Scai Perugia and Cucine Lube Civitanova is tomorrow, with Perugia who closed regular season at first place with 58 points, 20 wins and only 2 losses, while the rivals only at sixth place with 40 points, 13 wins and 9 losses.
In quarterfinals, Perugia sweep Vero Volley Monza in three games, and the same did in semifinal against Gas Sales BluEnergy Piacenza, while Civitanova, on the other hand, after eliminating defending Champions Itas Trentino in three games too, defeated Rana Verona in four games.

In 2025/26 season, there were only three duels between the two: in regular season, Perugia won at tie break in front of their home fans in Round 2, while, in second leg (Round 17) they also won in four sets at Eurosuole Forum. Perugia also take the qualification for Final Four of Del Monte® Coppa Italia by beating the rivals (and defending champions) 3-1, in quarterfinals.
Actually the two rivals faced each others in 75 official games, in which Perugia won 39 times, and Civitanova 36 while, about the playoffs, they faced 31 times, with 18 victories of Civitanova and 13 of Perugia.
More precisely, they faced each others 7 times: 2013/14, 2015/16, 2017/18, 2018/19, 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2024/25.
In 2015/16 and in last season, 2024/25, it was in semifinals, while on all other occasions, in Final.

The first one was in 2013/14, with Civitanova (at the time Lube Macerata) able to close the contest in four games to take the title on the field of Perugia with an amazing 3-1 victory, with middle-blocker Marko Podrascanin MVP of the game (10 points, including the winning block that closed fourth set 35-33!).
Then, 4 years later, in 2017/18, Perugia took the revenge: closing decisive Game 5 in just three sets, led by Aleksandar Atanasijevic with 25 points, and, in 2018/19, just one year later, Civitanova won after a comeback Game 5 too, once again on the field of the rivals, with Osmany Juantorena awarded MVP, after scoring 16 points.
In 2019/20, with title not awarded due Covid-19, the two played the final also in 2020/21 and 2021/22, both won by Civitanova and both in Game 4 in front of their home fans, with Juantorena once again protagonist and MVP of final with 21 points while, in 2022, Robertlandy Simon proved to be decisive earning MVP honors with 16 points through 67% in attack, 2 aces and 2 blocks.

This season, 2025/26, Perugia recorded 1.535 kills against 1.470 of the rivals, while Civitanova make better from the serve’s line, with 239 aces (third place in the stats), against Perugia’s 168.
In blocking, Perugia boast 262 winning blocks, 245 for the rivals.

Individually, Civitanova’s Aleksandar Nikolov sits to the top with 635 points, followed by Ferre Reggers (Allianz Milano) with 602 and Noumory Keita (Rana Verona) with 554.
At fourth place Perugia’s Wassim Ben Tara with 488 points, at 14th Civitanova’s Mattia Bottolo with 356 and Perugia’s Oleh Plotnytskyi with 355. Behind them, Civitanova’s Eric Loeppky with 349 and Perugia’s Kamil Semeniuk with 322!

FINAL PROGRAM

Game 1 | Thursday April 30, 2026
• 8.30pm (Local Time) | Sir Susa Scai Perugia – Cucine Lube Civitanova

Game 2 | Sunday May 3, 2026
• 6.00pm (Local Time) | Cucine Lube Civitanova – Sir Susa Scai Perugia

Game 3 | Wednesday May 6, 2026
• 8.30pm (Local Time) | Sir Susa Scai Perugia – Cucine Lube Civitanova

Game 4 | Saturday May 9, 2026 (if necessary)
• 8.30pm (Local Time) | Cucine Lube Civitanova – Sir Susa Scai Perugia

Game 5 | Tuesday May 12, 2026 (if necessary)
• 8.30pm (Local Time) | Sir Susa Scai Perugia – Cucine Lube Civitanova

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