# Tuomas Sammelvuo

Tuomas Petteri Sammelvuo (born 16 February 1976) is a Finnish professional volleyball coach and former player. He serves as head coach for the Polish PlusLiga team, Asseco Resovia.
Sammelvuo is still the only Finnish male volleyball player to have won the Champions League (2005). Having played 296 games in the national team, he has the second largest number of games in the Finnish volleyball history.

## Personal life

He speaks six languages: Finnish, French, English, Italian, Polish and Russian.
From his first marriage to Petra, he has two children: a son and a daughter. In 2024, his second wife, Alina gave birth to a daughter, Lilianne.

## Career
### Early career

Sammelvuo started his volleyball career in Pudasjärvi, northern Finland. When he turned 16, he moved to Tampere. Sammelvuo played in Finland youth national team, which reached fourth place at the 1995 Junior World Championship.

### Finland

Sammelvuo started his professional career at the age of sixteen, in Raision Loimu. After that, he moved to KuPS, and won two league titles and one silver medal.

### Professional career

From KuPS, Sammelvuo moved to the French team, Strasbourg VB. Sammelvuo spent there one year, and then moved to Stade Poitevin Poitiers. In 2000, he signed a contract in Italy, and started playing in Cuneo. Sammelvuo played for them for two seasons before moving to Piacenza. In Piacenza, he won the Italian Cup. In 2003, he returned to France and joined Tours VB.
In his first season in France, Sammelvuo won the French Champion title and made it to the Champions League semifinals, losing there to Lokomotiv Belgorod, the future competition winner. He ended the next season in Tours as the Champions League winner, being the first ever player from Finland to win the trophy.
After two seasons spent in Tours, Sammelvuo moved to Japan and started playing for Toyoda Gosei Trefuerza. He was the first ever Finnish volleyball player in Japan.
In 2006, Sammelvuo joined the Russian team, Dynamo Kaliningrad.
The 2008–09 season, Sammelvuo spent playing in Italy for Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia. For the 2009–10, he signed a contract with the Polish PlusLiga team, ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle. In 2011, he joined the Russian team, Lokomotiv Novosibirsk. He came back to Lokomotiv for the 2012–13 season, after one season spent in Italy.

### National team

He was appointed captain of the Finland national team in 1997. At the 2007 European Championship held in Russia, Finland came in fourth place and made Finland ball games history. Overall, Sammelvuo played 296 games in the national team.

## Honours
### As a player

* CEV Champions League
** 2004–05 – with Tours VB
* CEV Challenge Cup
** 2001–02 – with Noicom Cuneo
* Domestic
** 1994–95 Finnish Cup, with KuPS Kuopio
** 1994–95 Finnish Championship, with KuPS Kuopio
** 1995–96 Finnish Cup, with KuPS Kuopio
** 1995–96 Finnish Championship, with KuPS Kuopio
** 1998–99 French Championship, with Stade Poitevin Poitiers
** 2001–02 Italian Cup, with Noicom Brebanca Cuneo
** 2003–04 French Championship, with Tours VB
** 2004–05 French Cup, with Tours VB
** 2010–11 Russian Cup, with Lokomotiv Novosibirsk

### As a coach

* CEV Champions League
** 2022–23 – with ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle
* CEV Cup
** 2020–21 – with Zenit Saint Petersburg
* Domestic
** 2018–19 Russian Championship, with Kuzbass Kemerovo
** 2022–23 Polish Cup, with ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle
** 2023–24 Polish SuperCup, with ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle

### Individual awards

* 2014: Coach of the year in Finland
* 2021: Coach of the year in Finland
* 2023: Coach of the year in Finland