Suche
Mein Konto
Volley Goats start a new era in Halle: A move with a future!
The VC Bitterfeld-Wolfen will play as Volley Goats in the SWH.arena Halle from 2025 in order to establish top volleyball.
Volley Goats start a new era in Halle: A move with a future!
On August 13, 2025, it was announced that the volleyball club VC Bitterfeld-Wolfen would henceforth appear as cerebricks VOLLEY GOATS Mitteldeutschland. This goes hand in hand with a move to Halle (Saale), where the team will play its home games in the SWH.arena in the future. In the words of managing director Lukas Thielemann, it's about establishing top volleyball in the 1st men's volleyball league and at the same time increasing the region's appeal. The old name and the venue in the Bernsteinhalle Friedersdorf are history, which was also due to the inadequate conditions on site.
The Bernsteinhalle could no longer meet the infrastructural requirements of a Bundesliga location. In the worst case, this could have led to a license being revoked. In the new SWH.arena, however, the team finds significantly better conditions and has space for more fans; While in Friedersdorf there was only room for 200 to 250 spectators thanks to mobile stands, the new hall offers modern capacities for a larger number of spectators. Thielemann sees using this move as an opportunity as crucial for the professionalization of the club.
New name, new chapter
The name “Volley Goats” was chosen to symbolize the start of a new era. In sports jargon, “Goat” stands for “the greatest of all time,” which clearly underlines the club’s ambitions. Thielemann emphasizes that they do not want to lose the connection to the Friedersdorf and Bitterfeld-Wolfen region. Shuttle offers and joint events are planned to continue to involve fans.
The city of Halle is pleased with the new addition, because the SWH.arena is now developing into a sporting center with three Bundesliga teams: In addition to the Volley Goats, the Syntainics MBC in basketball and the SV Union Halle-Neustadt in handball. “It’s a new chapter for us,” says Thielemann, “that opens up many possibilities and has great potential.”
Start of the season and new teams
The start of the new season of the Volleyball Bundesliga is just around the corner: it starts on October 20, 2025. The first home game for the Volley Goats will take place on October 22nd against the Helios Grizzlys Giesen. What's also exciting is that 15 men's teams are taking part in the league for the first time, including teams like SV Warnemünde and Barock Volleys Ludwigsburg.
The professionalization of volleyball in Germany is still in its early stages, but the development in Halle could serve as a good example for other clubs. The Volleyball Bundesliga has the potential to become even more important thanks to modern venues and larger spectator numbers. As was the case in the past with the VBL women, which on average attract more spectators than the women's football league, the men's league could also benefit from the new dynamic.
The new starting conditions and the improved infrastructure in Halle promise a lot for the future of the Volley Goats and volleyball in the region.