Club Italia will start their 2026-27 Serie A2 Fineco campaign away to Clai Imola Volley on 4 October, with a substantially reshaped squad facing its first competitive examination at the PalaRuggi in Imola.
The match is scheduled to begin at 17:00 and will be the first official fixture for the federal project’s new group. The Italian Volleyball Federation reported that 11 of the 14 players in Club Italia’s roster are beginning both their time with the project and their Serie A2 experience.
That scale of change makes the opening fixture more than a conventional first-round assignment. It will offer an early indication of how quickly a youthful, less experienced group can transfer its preparation work into a league match against an Imola side that has also made changes since last season.
A new group begins its competitive work
Juan Cichello will again lead Club Italia, supported by assistant coach Monica Cresta. Gabriele Antola has joined the staff as coach and scout, according to the federation.
Cichello said the squad had undergone major renewal and that many players were encountering both Club Italia and the division for the first time. He suggested that an adjustment period would be natural, given the changes the players had made in schooling, training routines and daily life since joining the programme.
The coach said he was pleased with the staff’s work in supporting the group through that transition. He described the squad as more similar in age than last season’s, but with less experience, and said its development over the campaign would be an important point of interest.
Rather than setting the opener within a wider results-based narrative, Cichello said Club Italia’s immediate priority was to play each match better than the previous one. He added that, if the team managed that progression, it could also pursue its sporting target of staying in Serie A2.
His emphasis was on Club Italia’s own side of the court: a group learning to recognise the different situations that arise during matches and find answers to them. That is a grounded way to view the contest in Imola. A first league outing cannot settle how the season will develop, but it can test the collective decision-making and composure that the coach identified as central to the team’s work.
Imola provide an experienced opening test
Clai Imola will begin the season at home after presenting their 2026-27 squad and technical staff at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari on 1 October. The club said Marco Gazzotti would lead its coaching staff for the new Serie A2 Fineco campaign.
The federation reported that Imola have also altered their squad, with Serena Ortolani among the additions. The opposite has a lengthy domestic and international career, according to the federation, including Serie A1 and Serie A2 league and cup honours, a Supercoppa Italiana and three Champions League titles.
For Club Italia’s newer players, Cichello said facing an opponent with a player of Ortolani’s experience would be a useful challenge. He described Imola as competitive and said the fixture could help his team grow, while stressing that his players should approach the occasion with enthusiasm and a desire to learn.
There is also a Club Italia link in the Imola squad. Outside hitter Lisa Esposito previously represented the federal project during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, the federation said. The two teams met in last season’s Pool Salvezza, although both sides now begin with changed groups.
Opening-weekend setting
Club Italia against Clai Imola forms part of Serie A2 Fineco’s first round. Other matches scheduled for the weekend include Ferraro SMI Roma Volley against Cosedil Akademia Messina and ErreCi Busto Arsizio Futura Volley against Bartoccini +Energia Perugia, while several more fixtures are listed for 4 October.
For Club Italia, though, the focus is narrow and immediate: a first opportunity to assess a renewed roster in competitive conditions. Cichello said the team would meet the challenge with the same appetite to learn that it brings to training. In a season where survival is the stated sporting aim, the opening performance will matter less as a final judgement than as the first measure of whether that learning process has begun to take hold.