Vienna, Austria, June 29, 2020. Austrian Volleyball superstar Alexander Berger leaves Italy after five seasons. After playing for Kioene PADOVA (2015/16), Sir Safety PERUGIA (2016 to 2019, where he secured a national league and two national cup titles as well as a silver medal from the elite CEV Champions League) and Gas Sales PIACENZA (2019/2020), the Austrian star will move to Turkey. The 31-year-old from Upper Austria will wear the shirt of Halkbank ANKARA in the future.
“The corona crisis did not leave Italy’s Volleyball community unscathed. The clubs have to make savings. Therefore, the Italian chapter of my career closes for me – at least for one season. I know Halkbank ANKARA, have played against them in the Champions League several times and am looking forward to this new challenge. They were after me for about four years and now we have reached a deal. I think we have an ambitious team and I am convinced that we will play for the top places of the charts,” explains Berger.
The Turkish capital’s club has been a regular participant in the Champions League in recent years and claimed a historic silver medal in 2014 when they hosted the Final Four of the competition. Halkbank has already won the Turkish national league nine times and the Turkish cup seven times – most recently in 2018. In the past season, which ended abruptly due to the coronavirus crisis, they finished the regular season in sixth place.
Last year Berger played for Team Austria at EuroVolley 2019 Men, where the Red-White-Reds made their first appearance in the competition after making it through the qualifiers held in the summer of 2018 and early January 2019.
