VakıfBank Sports Club held its new season opening at VakıfBank Sports Palace. VakıfBank Sports Club President Abdi Serdar Üstünsalih, Board Members, General Manager Banu Can Schürmann, Head Coach Giovanni Guidetti, players and technical team attended the press conference. Üstünsalih, who made the opening speech, said, “I would like to state with great conviction that, as one of the most successful teams in world volleyball history, our goal is always to be the champion in every category. This year as well we are setting out with the motto of being the champion in every category.”
VakıfBank Sports Club held its season opening with a press conference at VakıfBank Sports Palace. VakıfBank Sports Club President Abdi Serdar Üstünsalih, Board Members, General Manager Banu Can Schürmann, Head Coach Giovanni Guidetti, players and technical team attended the press conference.
“As the VakıfBank Family, we continue to work with all our might”
President Abdi Serdar Üstünsalih, in his speech at the meeting, said, “I would like to state with great conviction that, as one of the most successful teams in world volleyball history, our goal is always to win the championship in every category. This year as well we set out with the motto of winning the championship in every category. Every corner of our hall is full of the championships we have won and the records we have broken. Of course, we are proud of each of our achievements. However, we know very well that there is no yesterday in sports. We are preparing for the new season with desire, will power and determination as if we will win everything for the first time. We wholeheartedly believe that we will experience many more victories with the energy, self-confidence and power we have. As I have always said, VakıfBank is the natural favorite of all the tournaments it participates in.
“We entrust the captaincy duty to Zehra Güneş”
We are starting the new season with a renewed and strengthened squad under the leadership of Giovanni, who is entering his 17th season in our team. We are sure that each of our players will carry the VakıfBank jersey and values properly. We entrust VakıfBank to our brilliant players who will contribute to this family not only with their talents but also with their characters. We entrust the captaincy duty to one of the daughters of our family, our dear Zehra Güneş, who joined us when she was a little child. I sincerely wish success to Zehra, who rose to captaincy by growing up through our infrastructure and taking over the flag like Gözde Kırdar and Melis Gürkaynak, whose jerseys we hang in our hall as our legends, in this important and proud duty.”
Wishing that the new season would be beneficial for all stakeholders of volleyball, Üstünsalih concluded his words by wishing success to the teams that will represent our country in the European cups and wishing all athletes a successful season free of injuries.
Schürmann:”We look forward to adding new trophies to our museum”
Banu Can Schürmann made the following assessments about the new season: “The new faces of our squad have quickly created a very good harmony with the synergy and solidarity between them. We have great faith that these players, who will make a difference with both their talents and experience, will bring brand new successes to VakıfBank. While we are proud of our past championships, we can’t wait to add new trophies to our museum. As our President stated, we are starting the season with a desire as if we have never won a trophy before. Our desire and determination to win are at the highest level,” she said.
Guidetti: “We will keep this team on top”
Giovanni Guidetti, who has been managing VakıfBank since 2008, said: “I will be living my 17th season at VakıfBank. We saw this season as a year of structuring. We explained this to our new players. We wanted to instill this awareness in our new players and our new team. We have a renewed team and we keep working continuously. VakıfBank has achieved very important successes. We will keep working to continue the historical successes. We will work to keep this team on the top. I would like to thank the management who entrusted this team to me. We have one of the best teams in the world. We want to play every tournament until the last match.”
Güneş: “I am honored to be the Captain of VakıfBank”
Zehra Güneş, who is appointed as the captain of VakıfBank, said: “Today, in my 13th year at VakıfBank, I am here with the excitement of my first day. Every season is very special for me, every season is very valuable. But today I am here as the Captain of VakıfBank: I am honored. I would like to thank our President Abdi Serdar Üstünsalih, our management and Guidetti for finding this task suitable for me. I would like to assure you that I will work with all my might for this honorable duty. Today, together with my teammates, we feel the excitement of starting the 2024-25 season with the excitement and motivation of the first day. Our goals and dreams are very big.”
VakıfBank will face Galatasaray Daikin at Burhan Felek Volleyball Hall on Saturday, October 5th at 13:00 in its first official match of the new season. The club strengthened its squad with 7 players during the summer transfer period. The Yellow-Blacks transferred opposite hitter Kiera Van Ryk, outside hitter Caterina Bosetti, opposite Kendall Kipp, setter Sıla Çalışkan, middle blocker Yuan Xinyue, middle blocker Deniz Uyanık and outside hitter Marina Markova.
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