Modena Volley is a professional

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

team based in

Modena Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025. A town, and seat of an archbis ...

, Italy. It has played in the highest level of the

Italian Volleyball League The Lega Pallavolo Serie A is structured in several levels of importance; the highest of them is ''SuperLega'' (formerly ''Serie A1''). Since the early 1980s, many among the best volleyball players in the world play in Superlega and the overall ...

without interruption since 1968. It is the most successful Italian club, having won both the national league and the national cup twelve times each. The club is one of the most prominent and prestigious in Europe too, having won thirteen European trophies including four

CEV Champions League The CEV Champions League is the top official competition for men's volleyball clubs from the whole of Europe. The competition is organised every year by the European Volleyball Confederation. Formula (2018–19 to present) Qualification A tota ...

Achievements

(x4)

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

(x4)

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

(x1)

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

CEV Cup The CEV Cup is the second tier official competition for men's Volleyball clubs of Europe. The competition takes place every year. Until 2000, it was the CEV Cup Winners' Cup. In 2000 it was renamed to CEV Top Teams Cup and in 2007 to CEV Cup. T ...

(x4) 1980, 1986, 1995,

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

(x1)

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

CEV Challenge Cup The CEV Challenge Cup is the third tier official competition for men's volleyball clubs from the whole of Europe. The competition started in the 1980–81 season under the name CEV Cup. In 2007 it was renamed to CEV Challenge Cup. History * # ...

(x5) 1983, 1984, 1985, 2004,

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

(x2) 2000, 2001 * CEV SuperCup *: Gold medal with cup

(x1) 1995 *: Silver medal with cup

(x2) 1990, 1997 * Italian Championship *: Gold medal with cup

(x12) 1970, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1995, 1997, 2002,

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

* Italian Cup *: Simple gold cup

(x12) 1979, 1980, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2015, 2016 * Italian SuperCup *: Simple gold cup

(x4) 1997, 2015, 2016, 2018

History

The club was founded in 1966 by Benito and Giuseppe Panini, owners of Edizioni Panini publishing house, and was named Gruppo Sportivo Panini (or simply ''G.S. Panini''). The club, trained by

Franco Anderlini Franco Anderlini (17 August 1921 – 18 January 1984) was an Italian volleyball coach. He is one of the most successful ones having won eight Italian league titles. Career In 1947 Anderlini founded the ''Unione Sportiva Ferrari'' volleyball t ...

, started from ''Serie C'' (the third level of the Italian League) and achieved the ''Serie A'' in 1968, taking only two seasons. Since then it has never been relegated to lower divisions. It took only another season to achieve the first Italian League, in 1969/70: the victory was led by the Czechoslovak superstar

Josef Musil Josef Musil (3 July 1932 – 26 August 2017) was a Czech volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court und ...

. With Anderlini as head coach Modena won three championships, but in 1975/76 he resigned and was replaced by Polish

Edward Skorek Edward Skorek (born 13 June 1943) is a Polish former volleyball player and coach. As a member of the Poland national team, he won gold medals at the 1976 Summer Olympics and the 1974 World Championship. Skorek was inducted into the Internation ...

who acted as

player-coach A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

, leading Panini to another national title. By the end of the 1970s Modena clinched four Italian leagues, two Italian cups and its first European trophy, the 1979/80 CEV Cup Winners' Cup, with the Brazilian Bernard Rajzman and the Italian Francesco Dall'Olio as leaders of the team. In the 1980s Modena had even greater successes: managed by

Julio Velasco Julio Velasco (born 9 February 1952) is an Argentine former professional volleyball player and coach. He obtained Italian citizenship in 1992. Velasco was inducted into the International Volleyball Hall of Fame in 2005. He is the head coach of ...

the team gained four consecutive Italian leagues and many national and international cups. In 1989 Velasco was appointed head of the Italian national team, leaving Modena where he was replaced by Vladimir Jankovic. Even without Velasco, Modena became European champion winning the 1989/90 CEV Champions League. The team entered the 1990s with financial difficulties and its best players (Vullo, Bernardi, Bertoli, Cantagalli, Lucchetta) left Modena moving to better funded clubs. The Panini era was coming to an end and in 1993 the club changed ownership for the first time, being taken over by Giovanni Vandelli, a ceramic industrialist who renamed the club as Daytona Volley. Vandelli signed Daniele Bagnoli as head coach and brought back Bertoli, Cantagalli and Vullo. Modena soon regained its competitiveness and in five seasons it won twelve trophies, including two Italian Leagues and two CEV Champions Leagues. The 1996/97 season could be regarded as one of the most successful in the club's long history, having achieved the Italian League, the Italian Cup and the Champions League in the same year. The line-up of this legendary season was structured by the setter

Fabio Vullo Fabio Vullo (born 1 September 1964) is a retired Italy, Italian volleyball player. Vullo, standing at 1.98 m for 87 kg, was born in Massa, Tuscany, Massa, and played as setter (although at the beginning of his long career was employed ...

, the opposite hitter Juan Cuminetti, the middle-blockers Bas van de Goor and

Andrea Giani Andrea Giani (; born 22 April 1970) is an Italian professional volleyball coach and former player who serves as head coach for the France national team and the Polish PlusLiga team, ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle. Giani achieved numerous successes ...

, the outside hitters

Marco Bracci Marco Bracci (born 23 August 1966) is a former Italian volleyball player, ranked amongst the world's most valuable players of the late 1980s and 1990s. A 197 cm athlete, Bracci played as passer-hitter. Bracci made his debut for the Italia ...

and

Luca Cantagalli Luca Cantagalli (born 8 December 1965, in Cavriago) is an Italian volleyball former player who was twice World champion with his national team in 1990 and 1994. He was nicknamed "bazooka" by the fans, due to his powerful spikes. He competed at ...

: one of the best European teams ever. 1996 was also the year of Giuseppe Panini's death, co-founder and for many years the highly respected president of the club. The municipal administration of

entitled the local arena, home of the volleyball team, to his memory as ''Palazzo dello Sport Giuseppe Panini'', commonly referred to as ''PalaPanini'' by supporters. In 1997/98, trained by Francesco Dall'Olio, Modena won his third consecutive CEV Champions League. After an unsuccessful comeback of Daniele Bagnoli, Vandelli's club won its last Italian league in 2001/02 with Angelo Lorenzetti as coach. Vandelli's last trophy was the 2003/04 CEV Cup (now Challenge Cup), then in 2005 he sold the club to a consortium composed of Antonio Barone (a coal industry businessman and former volleyball player, who won two Italian leagues with the Panini team), Catia Pedrini (Barone's wife) and Giuliano Grani (a merchandising businessman). The name was changed to Pallavolo Modena and Barone became the new president. During 2008 Barone e Pedrini left the club leaving it in the hands of Grani and new partner Pietro Peia (a long-standing manager of the club). In 2012 even Grani took a step back, leaving Peia as the sole owner. Under the Barone-Grani-Peia ownership Modena won only one trophy with the 2007/08 CEV Challenge Cup, despite great investments to sign notable players like

Ángel Dennis Ángel Dennis (born 13 June 1977) is a Cuban-born Italian volleyball player. Dennis played with the Cuba men's national volleyball team, Cuban men's national volleyball team at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, where he finished in seventh pla ...

Murilo Endres Murilo Endres (born 3 May 1981) is a Brazilian volleyball player, member of Brazil men's national volleyball team and Brazilian club SESI São Paulo. He is a double silver medalist of the Olympic Games from 2008 Summer Olympics, Beijing 2008 and ...

and Matthew Anderson, and many successive famous coaches like Julio Velasco,

, Silvano Prandi, Daniele Bagnoli (at his third experience at Modena) and Angelo Lorenzetti. In May 2013 a new consortium composed of Gino Gibertini (dealer of oil products), Antonio Panini (son of Giuseppe Panini), Catia Pedrini, Dino Piacentini (building contractor) and Peter Zehentleitner (CEO of Trenkwalder Italia) acquired the club. Both Gibertini and Piacentini were Panini's players in the seventies. The club's name was changed to Modena Volley Punto Zero with Gibertini as president and Lorenzetti being confirmed as head coach. The coexistence between many partners proved to be difficult and after few months Gibertini, Panini and Zehentleitner left the consortium. Catia Pedrini was then appointed president of the club with Piacentini in the role of vice-president. For the 2014–15 season the club's name has been modified to Modena Volley with a new logo. On 11 January 2015, the team won its first title in 7 years (the last victory was the

in 2008), by defeating

Trentino Volley Trentino Volley is a professional Italian volleyball team based in Trento. It has played in the Italian Volleyball League since 2000. They have 5 titles in the FIVB Men's Club World Volleyball Championship, tied with Brazil's Sada Cruzeiro as th ...

Itas Diatec Trentino – Modena Volley 1–3 (19:25, 19:25, 25:23, 12:25)
ScoresPro.com in the final of Italian Volleyball Cup. For the 2015–2016 season Modena decides to strengthen the team by adding the Brazilian middle-blocker

Lucas Saatkamp Lucas Saatkamp (born 6 March 1986) is a Brazilian volleyball player and a two-time Olympian. As a member of the Brazilian national volleyball team, he won a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom, and a gold medal at ...

, and replacing

Uroš Kovačević Uroš Kovačević ( sr-cyrl, Урош Ковачевић; born 6 May 1993) is a Serbian professional volleyball player who plays as an outside hitter for Gas Sales Piacenza and the Serbia national team. Kovačević has won 2 European Champion ...

with his Serbian compatriot Miloš Nikić. Since October 2015, the club sets a major sponsorship deal with

DHL DHL (originally named after founders Dalsey, Hillblom and Lynn) is a multinational Import-Export Expert Company, founded in the United States and headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It provides courier, package delivery, and express mail service, ...

. During the season, the club enlarged his honours with the victories of Italian Supercup in October and the Italian Volleyball Cup in February, by defeating Trentino Volley in both matches. Above all, the main success of the season has been the Italian national title after 14 years, by defeating SIR Safety Perugia in the final by 3–0. For the 2016–2017 season, there are many changes: the main sponsor DHL and coach Angelo Lorenzetti leave the club, moreover the Brazilians "magic duo"

Bruno Rezende Bruno Mossa de Rezende (born 2 July 1986) is a Brazilian professional volleyball player who is currently a member of Brazil men's national volleyball team and Italian club Modena Volley. The son of the legendary Brazilian coach Bernardinho, B ...

and

return to their home country. Nevertheless, Modena reinforces the roster by hiring two of the best middle blockers in the world: Maxwell Holt and Kevin Le Roux. The expert Argentinian setter Santiago Orduna takes place of Bruninho and the Serbian spiker Nemanja Petric is promoted as team Captain. Since September 2016, the new main sponsor of the club is the Italian asset management company

Azimut Holding Azimut Holding is an independent, global group in the asset management, wealth management, investment banking and fintech space, serving private and corporate clients. Azimut Holding S.p.a.is listed on the Milan Stock Exchange (AZM.IM) since Jul ...

Former names

* Only at CEV Champions Cup * Only at Italian SuperCup * Since 28 February 2015

Team

''Team roster – season 2022/2023''

Notable players

The stars indicate Volleyball Hall of Fame inductees.

Presidents

Head coaches

* In November 1996 Daniele Bagnoli suffered serious injuries from a car accident and was replaced by Bertoli until his recovery. * In February 2000 Bruno Bagnoli was sacked and replaced by Bertoli. * In January 2004 Lorenzetti was dismissed and replaced by the assistant coach Menarini. * In December 2008 Giani was sacked and replaced by Zanini. * In January 2011 Prandi was dismissed and replaced by Daniele Bagnoli. * In February 2017 Piazza and the club agreed to terminate the contract. He was replaced by the assistant coach Tubertini.

Kit manufacturer

The table below shows the history of kit providers for the Modena team.

References

External links

Official website

Team profile
at ''Volleybox.net'' {{Italian Volleyball League Volleyball clubs in Italy Modena Volleyball clubs established in 1966 Sport in Emilia-Romagna