San Juan, Argentina, September 22, 2020 – Volleyball clubs in Argentina are taking the first steps towards returning to the courts in the country and seven-time national champions UPCN Voley are leading the way and have started training.

The club coached by veteran Fabian Armoa have started their preparations for the upcoming 2020-2021 season with 12 players working at the club’s facilities under a strict health safety protocol. Six other players who were outside the San Juan province during the off-season are back in town but need to go through a quarantine period before they are allowed to join their teammates.

The club are without some key players from last season, including Bulgarian opposite Nikolay Uchikov, Cuban outside hitter Miguel Angel Lopez and middle blocker and captain Martin Ramos. UPCN, however, have been able to bring back a club legend in Brazilian middle blocker Jose Junior, a four-time Argentinean champion who first featured for the team between 2009 and 2014.

“I couldn’t be any happier to be returning to UPCN,” the 32-year-old veteran said. “This club is my home, it’s where I had the biggest victories in my career. And the goal is to compete for every title this season, it can’t be any different with this club, we need to take that responsibility.”

UPCN are one of five teams which have already confirmed their presence in the upcoming Argentinean club season. The other four are Ciudad Voley, Obras de San Juan, UVT Voley and Club Atletico Paracao.

According to the Argentinean League office, nine other teams have showed interested in being part of the tournament next season and the list of confirmed participants will be defined after an October 2 deadline. Seven-time league winners Club Bolivar will not appear in the competition for the first time since 2002.