Alanya Belediyespor’s Goal: Europe

Serkan Oğuz, head coach of Alanya Belediyespor, which is preparing for its second season in the Volleyball Efeler League, said that they have strengthened their squad for their goal of reaching the playoffs and Europe. Last season, the team reached the playoffs but missed the chance to qualify for Europe. This season, the team is focused on the same goals. Oğuz stated that the team has improved and emphasized the need for more fan support.

In an interview with AA, Serkan Oğuz shared that they had a successful first season in the Efeler League.

Oğuz explained that they reached their goal of making it to the playoffs but missed out on European competition due to some bad luck, stating, “Our first goal in the league last year was to make the playoffs. We were really eager to compete in Europe, but whether it was inexperience or just bad luck, we lost our first playoff match 3-2. In the second match, our top scorer Saadat had a traffic accident, and without him, our plans fell apart. We lost that match 3-2 as well, missing out on Europe. However, our team fought hard on the court.”

Goal: Europe
Oğuz highlighted that they played well last season, even though they couldn’t qualify for Europe, achieving the goal they had set.

This season, the goal remains the same, Oğuz emphasized: “Our goal is to reach the playoffs and then qualify for Europe. To achieve this, we’ve strengthened the quality of our players. We re-signed six players, keeping our setter and opposite hitter. We also renewed our agreements with our captain, Emin Gök, and middle blocker, Uğur Kılınç. We made transfers from Romania, Bursa, Akkuş Belediyespor, Hatay, Develi, and Arkas to fill the gaps in our squad.”

Oğuz stated that they competed closely with six high-budget teams in the league last year and believes they can do the same this season.

“We’re Better Than Last Year”
Oğuz added that not making the playoffs this year should not be seen as a failure, saying, “This is sports. Every team plays for the championship, but only one team wins. The goal is to fix our weaknesses and keep moving forward. We worked towards this for the new season. We made reinforcements to our squad. I believe we’re better than last year. I have a squad with strong competition for starting positions, which gives me great confidence.”

Oğuz mentioned that they are continuing their preparations for the league with the Turkish Cup and friendly matches, while also calling on fans for more support.

“We felt the support of our fans more in every match last season, but it needs to increase even more this season. We want to unite with our fans emotionally. With this unity, we can put more pressure on opposing teams,” he said.

Oğuz also pointed out that one of their goals is to make volleyball more popular, stating, “We aim to sustain volleyball in the long run. To do this, we want to have at least 2-3 local players from Alanya on our roster.”