Tauron Liga Decision Week starts on Wednesday

Over the next seven days, everything will fall into place in the 2024-2025 Polish Women’s Tauron Liga as with the conclusion of the regular season, the eight teams that will compete in the playoffs, their seedings in the postseason and the club that will be relegated will all be determined.

With one postponed match and six encounters of the 11^th and final leg of the second round of the regular season set to happen between Wednesday and Tuesday, two teams fight for the last spot in the playoffs, while another two fight to avoid ending the season at the bottom of the standings and being relegated.

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Mielec and UNI Opole fight for the last playoff spot

Seven teams - KS DevelopRes Rzeszów, ŁKS Commercecon Łódź, PGE Grot Budowlani Łódź, BKS BOSTIK ZGO Bielsko-Biała, MOYA Radomka Radom, Metalkas Pałac Bydgoszcz and LOTTO Chemik Police – enter the last round of the regular season already guaranteed in the playoffs, with two more - ITA TOOLS STAL Mielec and UNI Opole – fighting for the last spot available.

Mielec are currently inside the qualification zone, appearing in eighth place with 23 points, and they need to earn two more against Energa MKS Kalisz, on Sunday, at 20:30 local time (19:30 GMT), to secure their presence in the playoffs regardless of other results.

The only team capable of catching them, ninth-placed UNI Opole, who have 21 points, have no other option than getting all three points against #VolleyWrocław on Sunday, at 14:45 (13:45 GMT), and hoping that Mielec don’t win their match against Kalisz a few hours later.

“All we can do now is fight until the end and push hard in the last match,” said UNI Opole’s French outside hitter Guewe Diouf. “I hope that we get the result we need and that the best is yet to come for us.”

DevelopRes and Commercecon vie for the first place

From the seven teams already qualified for the playoffs, only three have their seedings for the postseason confirmed – Budowlani, who have 49 points, will be third, Bielsko-Biała, who have 44, will be fourth, and Radomka, who have 30, will be fifth.

The battle for first place involving DevelopRes and Commercecon, who have the same 53 points, has been going on for the entire season and will continue for a few more days. Even though they currently appear in second place due to their fewer victories, Commercecon control their faith because they still have two matches to play.

The team from Łódź will be on the court on Wednesday, at 19:00 (18:00 GMT), to face Kalisz in a postponed match, and will play again on Tuesday, when they host crosstown rivals Budowlani at 20:30 (19:30 GMT). If they earn four points across the two matches, they will enter the playoffs as the top-seeded team.

Commercecon made an unexpected coaching change ahead of the last week of the regular season, parting ways with Italian Alessandro Chiappini and appointing former Polish player Zbigniew Bartman as their new head coach.

For DevelopRes to finish in first place, they need to collect at least the same number of points Commercecon do in their two matches on Tuesday, when they face Chemik at 19:00 (18:00 GMT), in the last match of the regular season.

“Every team in this league is a challenge and they are very brave,” DevelopRes’ outside hitter Aleksandra Dudek reflected. “We need to focus on ourselves and make sure we approach every match in the same way. We cannot lose focus now. Everyone is fighting for points, so we can’t have our minds in the playoffs just yet, we need to keep working.”

Currently in sixth place with 25 points, Pałac will confirm their position if they take all three points against Sokół & Hagric Mogilno on Monday, at 19:00 (18:00 GMT) – they can be caught by Chemik, who have 24 points, and Mielec, if they qualify. If UNI Opole get in, they will necessarily be the eighth-place team.

Tight race to avoid relegation

The battle to continue in the Tauron Liga in 2025-2026 features just two teams – Sokół, who have 16 points and are currently keeping their spot, and Kalisz, who have 15. In order to keep the race alive, Kalisz need to beat Mielec on Sunday and hope that their rivals lose to Pałac the next day.

Sokół depend on their efforts to stay in the elite and will do so if they defeat Pałac by any score on Monday.

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