How the Argentine Volleyball League managed to beat Covid-19 and get back to having a competitive tournament

After the season there was an all-time low among the participating teams, the Argentine Volleyball League achieved in its last edition, the recent had UPCN of San Juan as champion, few numbers are signs of growth as the tournament begins to navigate its post-pandemic era.

The most important men’s volleyball club competition in the country came from the 2020/2021 cycle where it was able to combat the impact of COVID-19, but without consequences: it had to adapt its game format to the health protocols implemented in the that time and, because of the general economic uncertainty in the country and in particular because of the pandemic, need to settle for only seven participating teamsthe lowest number since the rebuilding of the tournament in 1996. With that reduction, moreover, they lost to Bolívar, perhaps the most well -known team on the field.

Such a context, however, brings an opportunity: from this point, you can only climb. And this season that ended on Saturday, April 16 with the ninth UPCN League title (certainly the most successful in tournament history), exactly that happened, with the return of teams like riverGigantes del Sur and Monteros de Tucumán along with the pleasant surprise of Policial de Formosa, who in their first season reached the semifinals, were Cup champions and even played South American in Brazil.

In total, LVA became 7 teams, an increase of 36% for a last number not awarded in four years (the last time there were 11 was in the 2017/2018 edition) and brought one more data: This is the first time since 2007 that no participant has dropped out due to non-sports reasons. UPCN, Ciudad, Obras, Eleven Unidos, Paracao, Defensores de Banfield and UVT, the seven who played in the tournament during the pandemic, were once again part of it.

Having more protagonists logically pushed the other numbers, resulting in a six -month long season (it was played from November 2021 to April 2022) with more than twice as many games than before it. The total ranged from 71 to 146 in the three competitions held: the Super Cup that Ciudad won at the beginning of the calendar, the ACLAV Cup that went to the Police at the end of 2021 and the League itself, with the aforementioned coronation of UPCN.

All this, in addition, included the award of third place in the men’s group Tokyo Olympicsvictory with a link to the League, one with a first and last name: Federico Pereirathe lone Olympian to compete in the national competition and add national gold to bronze as the key piece of UPCN’s nine-time champion.

So, after one of the most impressive results in the history of Argentine volleyball, representing an injection of diffusion and a great opportunity for the whole sport to establish itself on the national map, a new path will begin for the League, where It not only needs to support itself and build seasons from start to finish, but also continue to reinforce what it ended up reaping in the final pique in San Juan.