Breakthrough in Dukla, Liberec. Volleyball players will be led by a foreign coach for the first time in history

Three of the four teams in this year’s volleyball extraleague semi-finals were led by a foreign coach, and now, in its more than 75-year history, Dukla from Liberec has reached out to a coach from outside the country.

“We hope that this will give us a new impulse and at the same time the professionalism that should enter the club with this name,” said the sports director of Dukla, Jakub Veselý.

Alessandro Lodi is a 45-year-old coach with experience not only in Italy, but also in the United States, Switzerland and Finland. “He’s been training for twenty years and I like him as a type for the team we’ve put together for next year,” Veselý added.

Vladan Merta will be his assistant and Lukáš Ticháček will play. English will become the “official” language in the cabin. “I believe that it will benefit the boys from this point of view as well. The boys wanted and want to be professionals, to train like professionals with the vision of going abroad. With this, we want to show them how to work abroad. I believe that it will have an effect not only for them, but also for the club in terms of results,” Veselý added.

For the first time in 22 years, Liberecká Dukla did not win a single medal. In the cup, the men did not reach the Final Four and in the extra league they were already eliminated in the quarter-finals with Příbramí. After two years, coach Martin Démar ended under Ještěd.

“The head coach here did a great job in two years, but this season ended in a disaster, especially when this team had an extra one,” noted Dukla director Pavel Šimoníček, who has never experienced a worse result in his 27 years at Dukla.

“For the first time in the history of Dukla, we decided on a foreign coach. On the one hand, experienced and high-quality coaches are currently engaged, on the other hand, we want to add new blood and new impulse to the team. Maybe it’s a risk, but we want to work with young Czech players, for whom a foreign coach will be something new,” concluded Dukla director Pavel Šimoníček.

The players Daniel Urueňa, Lukáš Démar, Nivaldo Diaz, German Johansen, Pavels Jemeljanovs, Silver Maar and Lubomír Staněk leave the team, while Martin Čábrt, Jan Svoboda and Jiří Toman come.