FIBA ČL windows | Photo: FIBA
“VEF Rīga” team in the draw of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Champions League subgroup tournament could have been hit by a better opponent from the first basket, “VEF Rīga” president Gatis Jahovičs admitted in a conversation with LETA agency.
The Latvian champion “VEF Rīga” will meet the Turkish club “Dariššafaka” from Istanbul and the Spanish team “Lenovo” from Tenerife in subgroup C, it was clarified in the draw held on Wednesday. “The opponent could have been more successful from the first basket. The Tenerife club has been able to assemble a very good squad in recent years, and traveling there is difficult, long and expensive. Regarding the rest, it is very difficult to draw any conclusions at the moment, because the teams are currently in the assembly process,” said Jahovičs.
The fourth member of the group will be determined in the second group of the qualification tournament, in which eight teams will fight for one ticket in three rounds. This qualification branch includes clubs from France, Belgium, Serbia, Italy, Romania, the Netherlands and Germany, including “Gottingen” represented by Kārlis Šiliņš. “In our opinion, the favorites are the French, the two Italian teams and the Serbians [“Cholet”, “Brindisi”, “Varese” un Belgradas FMP]. The first conclusion is that one of these could most likely be in the opponents,” Jahovics admitted.
One of the leaders of VEF Rīga, Kyle Olmens, will represent the opponent of the subgroup “Dariššafaka” in the 2020/2021 season. “A player known and respected by the Latvian audience, it will be interesting to see him again in Arena Riga,” Jahovičs commented on the meeting with Olmen.
In preparation for the new season, “VEF Rīga” is working on the composition of the team. “As every year, we start with Latvian players and we have made an offer to some of them, now we are waiting for answers. We also watch Legionnaires. We have several scenarios to build the team depending on the players’ responses,” noted Jahovic.
The regular championship will start on October 17 and, as in the previous season, in the first stage, 32 teams will be divided into eight subgroups of four each. The winners of the groups will secure a place in the second stage, while another eight teams will be determined in the “play-in” round, in which the units that took the second and third positions in the group will participate.
