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2015–16 CEV Women's Challenge Cup
2015–16 CEV Women's Challenge Cup
League	CEV Women's Challenge Cup
Sport	Volleyball
Duration	10 November 2015 – 3 April 2016
Number of matches	90 (including 2 awarded)
Number of teams	46
Finals
Champions	CSM București
Runners-up	Trabzon İdmanocağı
Finals MVP	Jelena Blagojević
CEV Women's Challenge Cup seasons
	← 2014–15 2016–17 →

The 2015–16 CEV Women's Challenge Cup was the 36th edition of the European Challenge Cup volleyball club tournament, the former "CEV Cup".

Format

The tournament was played on a knockout format, with a total of 46 teams participating. Initially 30 teams were allocated vacancies to enter the competition at the 'Qualification phase', with another 16 teams joining from the Women's CEV Cup entering the competition at the 'Main phase' stage (as per 'Round composition' below).^[1]

On 5 June 2015, a drawing of lots in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, determined the team's pairing for each match. Each team played a home and an away match with result points awarded for each leg (3 points for 3–0 or 3–1 wins, 2 points for 3–2 win, 1 point for 2–3 loss). After two legs, the team with the most result points advanced to the next round. In case the teams were tied after two legs, a Golden Set was played immediately at the completion of the second leg. The Golden Set winner is the team that first obtains 15 points, provided that the points difference between the two teams is at least 2 points (thus, the Golden Set is similar to a tiebreak set in a normal match).^[2]^[3]

Round composition

2nd Round: 30 teams
16th Final: 2nd Round winners (16 teams) + 16 teams from CEV Cup
8th Final onwards: winners

Participating teams

A total of 46 teams participated, 30 were allocated direct places and 16 joined from the Women's CEV Cup entering at the 'Main phase'.^[1]

Rank	Country	No. teams			Teams (rankings in 2014–15 national championships)
Rank	Country	Vac	Cev	Total	Teams (rankings in 2014–15 national championships)
1	Turkey	2	-	2	Bursa BBSK (5) Trabzon İdmanocağı (6)
2	Russia	1	-	1	Zarechie Odintsovo (4)
3	France	1	2	3	Béziers VB Nantes VB¹ SF Paris Saint Cloud¹
6	Germany	1	1	2	Rote Raben Vilsbiburg VC Wiesbaden¹
8	Romania	1	1	2	C.S.M. București C.S.M. Târgovişte¹
9	Switzerland	2	1	3	Sm Aesch Pfeffingen VFM Franches-Montagnes Viteos Neuchâtel Université¹
10	Czech Republic	-	2	2	Královo Pole Brno¹ VK UP Olomouc¹
11	Serbia	2	-	2	Jedinstvo Stara Pazova KV Skenderaj
	Austria	3	-	3	SVS Post Schwechat Ti-panoramabau Innsbruck UVC Holding Graz
	Hungary	3	-	3	Fatum Nyíregyháza Teva Gödöllõ Vasas Obuda Budapest
	Greece	2	1	3	AEK Athens AON Pannaxiakos Naxos Olympiacos Piraeus¹
	Belgium	1	2	3	Asterix Kieldrecht Dauphines Charleroi¹ Hermes Oostende¹
	Netherlands	1	2	3	Eurosped TVT Almelo¹ Sliedrecht Sport VC Sneek¹
	Croatia	2	-	2	Mladost Zagreb OK Poreč
	Finland	1	1	2	HPK Hämeenlinna¹ Wovo Rovaniemi
	Israel	1	1	2	Haifa VC¹ Hapoel Kfar Saba
	Belarus	1	-	1	Minchanka Minsk
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	1	-	1	ŽOK Bimal-Jedinstvo Brčko
	Luxembourg	1	-	1	RSR Walfer
	Norway	1	-	1	Stod Volley Steinkjer
	Portugal	1	-	1	AVC Famalicão
	Spain	1	-	1	Naturhouse Ciudad de Logroño
	Cyprus	-	1	1	Apollon Prestige Limassol¹
	Estonia	-	1	1	Kohila VC¹

1.^ Team qualified via CEV Cup entering the 16th Final.

Qualification phase

2nd round

1st leg (Team #1 home) 10–12 November 2015
2nd leg (Team #2 home) 24–26 November 2015

Match#	Team #1	Results	Team #2
1	Bursa BBSK	– –	Bye
2	Mladost Zagreb	3 – 0 3 – 0	Teva Gödöllõ
3	RSR Walfer	1 – 3 2 – 3	Ti Meraner Volley Innsbruck
4	Sliedrecht Sport	1 – 3 2 – 3	Asterix Kieldrecht
5	CSM București	3 – 1 3 – 0	ŽOK Bimal-Jedinstvo Brčko
6	Vasas Obuda Budapest	3 – 1 3 – 0	UVC Holding Graz
7	Minchanka Minsk	3 – 2 3 – 0	AEK Athens
8	AVC Famalicão	0 – 3 0 – 3	Rote Raben Vilsbiburg
9	Béziers Volley	3 – 2 0 – 3	Vfm Franches Montagnes
10	Trabzon İdmanocağı	3 – 0 3 – 0	Pannaxiakos
11	Hapoel Kfar Saba	3 – 0 3 – 0	KV Skenderaj
12	Naturhouse Ciudad de Logroño	2 – 3 1 – 3	Sm Aesch Pfeffingen
13	ŽOK Jedinstvo Stara Pazova	3 – 1 3 – 1	Fatum Nyíregyháza
14	OK Poreč	3 – 1 1 – 3 Golden Set: 15–11	SVS Post Schwechat
15*	Stod Volley Steinkjer	0 – 3 0 – 3	Wovo Rovaniemi
16	Bye	– –	Zarechie Odintsovo

*Note: Stod Volley Steinkjer withdrew from the competition. The CEV awarded Wovo Rovaniemi both matches by 3–0.^[4]^[5]

Main phase

In this stage of the competition, the sixteen qualified teams of the Qualification phase were joined by the sixteen losing teams from the 2015–16 Women's CEV Cup.

Qualified via the Qualification phase	Qualified via Women's CEV Cup
Bursa BBSK Mladost Zagreb Ti Meraner Volley Innsbruck Asterix Kieldrecht CSM București Vasas Obuda Budapest Minchanka Minsk Rote Raben Vilsbiburg Vfm Franches Montagnes Trabzon İdmanocağı Hapoel Kfar Saba Sm Aesch Pfeffingen ŽOK Jedinstvo Stara Pazova OK Poreč Wovo Rovaniemi Zarechie Odintsovo	Viteos Neuchâtel Université VC Sneek VK Královo Pole Brno HPK Hämeenlinna VC Wiesbaden Kohila VC Haifa VC CSM Târgovişte SF Paris Saint Cloud Nantes VB Dauphines Charleroi VK UP Olomouc Apollon Prestige Limassol Eurosped Tvt Almelo Olympiacos Piraeus Hermes Oostende

16th final

1st leg (Team #1 home) 8–10 December 2015
2nd leg (Team #2 home) 15–17 December 2015

Match#	Team #1	Results	Team #2
17	Bursa BBSK	3 – 0 3 – 0	Apollon Prestige Limassol
18	Nantes VB	3 – 0 3 – 0	Mladost Zagreb
19	Viteos Neuchâtel Université	3 – 0 3 – 2	Ti Meraner Volley Innsbruck
20	Haifa VC	0 – 3 0 – 3	Asterix Kieldrecht
21	CSM București	3 – 2 3 – 0	VK Královo Pole Brno
22	Olympiacos Piraeus	3 – 0 3 – 1	Vasas Obuda Budapest
23	VC Wiesbaden	2 – 3 3 – 1	Minchanka Minsk
24	Rote Raben Vilsbiburg	0 – 3 3 – 0 Golden Set: 15–12	Dauphines Charleroi
25	Hermes Oostende	0 – 3 0 – 3	Vfm Franches Montagnes
26	Trabzon İdmanocağı	3 – 1 3 – 0	CSM Târgovişte
27	Kohila VC	3 – 1 0 – 3 Golden Set: 8–15	Hapoel Kfar Saba
28	Sm Aesch Pfeffingen	3 – 0 1 – 3 Golden Set: 15–12	HPK Hämeenlinna
29	SF Paris Saint Cloud	3 – 1 3 – 1	ŽOK Jedinstvo Stara Pazova
30	VK UP Olomouc	3 – 0 3 – 0	OK Poreč
31	Eurosped Tvt Almelo	3 – 0 3 – 2	Wovo Rovaniemi
32	Zarechie Odintsovo	3 – 0 3 – 1	VC Sneek

8th final

1st leg (Team #1 home) 19–21 January 2016
2nd leg (Team #2 home) 26–28 January 2016

Match#	Team #1	Results	Team #2
33	Bursa BBSK	3 – 1 3 – 1	Nantes VB
34	Viteos Neuchâtel Université	2 – 3 0 – 3	Asterix Kieldrecht
35	Olympiacos Piraeus	3 – 0 1 – 3 Golden Set: 13–15	CSM București
36	Rote Raben Vilsbiburg	2 – 3 2 – 3	VC Wiesbaden
37	Vfm Franches Montagnes	0 – 3 0 – 3	Trabzon İdmanocağı
38	Hapoel Kfar Saba	2 – 3 1 – 3	Sm Aesch Pfeffingen
39	VK UP Olomouc	3 – 2 1 – 3	SF Paris Saint Cloud
40	Eurosped Tvt Almelo	0 – 3 0 – 3	Zarechie Odintsovo

4th final

1st leg (Team #1 home) 9–11 February 2016
2nd leg (Team #2 home) 23–25 February 2016

Match#	Team #1	Results	Team #2
41	Asterix Kieldrecht	0 – 3 1 – 3	Bursa BBSK
42	VC Wiesbaden	0 – 3 0 – 3	CSM București
43	Sm Aesch Pfeffingen	0 – 3 0 – 3	Trabzon İdmanocağı
44	Zarechie Odintsovo	3 – 2 3 – 0	SF Paris Saint Cloud