Gruppo Sportivo Oratorio Pallavolo Femminile Villa Cortese was an Italian women's

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

club based in

Villa Cortese Villa Cortese ( Legnanese: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Milan in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northwest of Milan. The administrative municipalities borders Legnano, San Giorgio su Legnano, Busto Garolfo an ...

in the

Province of Milan The Province of Milan ( it, Provincia di Milano) was a province in the Lombardy region, Italy. Its capital was the city of Milan. The area of the former province is highly urbanized, with more than 2,000 inhabitants/km2, the third highest populat ...

. The team played in Serie A1, the highest women's league in Italy, from 2009 until 2013.

Previous names

Due to sponsorship, the club have competed under the following names: * Gruppo Sportivo Oratorio Pallavolo Femminile Villa Cortese (1978–2004) * MC-Carnaghi Villa Cortese (2004–2012) * Asystel MC Carnaghi Villa Cortese (2012–2013)

History

The club was founded in 1978 as an initiative to offer sports practice to girls and young women. As early as 1979, it started playing its youth teams in the lower regional leagues and through the years gained promotions to highest regional leagues. As the club reached closer to the national professional leagues, its youth amateur oriented focus changed and main sponsors started to join from 2004. The club changed its structure and name to , becoming professional. It reached the Serie A2 in 2008 and the Serie A1 in the following year. For three seasons, from its Serie A debut in the 2009–10 until 2011–12, the club reached five out of six possible finals in Italian volleyball competition (league, cup and supercup), missing only the Italian Cup final of 2011–12 and winning the other two cup editions. It also reached the Italian Cup final in 2012–13 and participated in the

CEV Champions League The CEV Champions League is the top official competition for men's volleyball clubs from the whole of Europe. The competition is organised every year by the European Volleyball Confederation. Formula (2018–19 to present) Qualification A tot ...

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

, 2011–12 and

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

. Ahead of the 2012–13 season, the club merged with Asystel Novara taking over Novara's volleyball activities and was renamed . In April 2013, after the end of the season, the club sold its Serie A1 licence to LJ Volley and announced it was restarting from Serie B1. In May 2013, the club decided to revive its origins and focus on youth teams forming a new club called and starting from Serie D.

Arena

The club played at the PalaBorsani, an indoor

arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...

located in

Castellanza Castellanza is a town and ''comune'' located in the province of Varese, along the boundary of the province of Milan, in the Lombardy region of northern Italy. Overview The toponym refers to the ''castellanze'' (plural form, singular ''castellanza' ...

. A smaller indoor arena in

Vanzaghello Vanzaghello (Milanese: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Milan in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northwest of Milan. Vanzaghello borders the following municipalities: Samarate, Lonate Pozzolo, Magnago, Castano Primo ...

was also used for training purposes and minor non-competitive matches. The arena in Vanzaghello was home to the team when it played in the Serie A2 National League.

Honours

National competitions

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

: 2 :2009–10, 2010–11

References

External links

Official website

CEV profile
{{Italian women volleyball league Italian women's volleyball clubs Volleyball clubs established in 1978 1978 establishments in Italy Defunct sports teams in Italy Sports clubs disestablished in 2013 2013 disestablishments in Italy Sport in Lombardy Serie A1 (women's volleyball) clubs