Aurélie Sacchelli, Media365, published on Tuesday December 16, 2025 at 10:41 p.m.
Respective winners of Subotica and Nymburk, Le Mans and Chalon will compete in the Champions League play-in in January to try to qualify for the Top 16.
The three French clubs present in the Champions League this season will play the play-in! Cholet was certain of this since last week, and Le Mans and Chalon joined the Mauges club this Tuesday. MSB challenged Spartak Subotica, and won with a score of 76-61. The Manceaux had to win or hope for a defeat for Benfica in Gran Canaria to stay in the European competition. Both scenarios came true. The first quarter saw Le Mans and Spartak take the lead in turn, but without widening the gap, and the Sarthois led 17-16 at the end of the first ten minutes. In the second, the MSB raced in front from start to finish, counting up to nine points in advance, and finally five by the time they returned to the locker room (31-26). The Manceaux widened the gap after the restart (39-29) and finished the quarter strongly to lead 63-49 at the half-hour mark. The MSB continued its momentum until the end of the match, with a lead of up to 17 points, and won without trembling, in the wake of Trevor Hudgins at 15 points. Le Mans therefore finishes 3rd in group H and will challenge the Trucs de Mersin or the Greeks of Karditsa in a play-in (best of three matches, with only the 2nd match at home).
The Le Mans markers: Penda (1), Grasshff (6), Williams (8), Bogues JR (8), Berhanememeskel (13), Doumbia (6), Hudgins (15), Dufeal (4), Dileo (11), Thomas (4)
Chalon, for its part, finished second in group B, with the same record as Alba Berlin, but the German club has a better specific points difference and will therefore not need to go through the play-in to see the Top 16. Elan hosted the Czechs from Nymburk and won with a score of 97-84. The Chalonnais started the meeting in the best possible way, leading 9-0 then 22-5! The Czechs, completely stunned, had already almost lost the match in the first quarter, which ended with a score of 36-18! Nymburk tightened its defense in the second quarter, but still struggled to find the target, so Chalon was able to take a lead of up to 28 points before halftime, ultimately reaching with a score of 60-34. The Czechs finally woke up after returning from the locker room and scored an 11-0 (60-45), but the Elan did not panic and resumed their march forward, notably achieving a 6-0 which allowed them to end the third quarter with a score of 78-65. The match was over and Nymburk never came back below twelve points in the last quarter. Jeremiah Hill and Zac Cuthbertson greatly contributed to Chalonnais’ success, with 20 and 19 points respectively. Chalon will know his opponent in play-in on Wednesday, and it will be Promitheas, Legia Warsaw or Heidelberg, with matches 1 and 3 (if necessary) at home.
The Chalonnais markers: Naji (2), Nadolny (13), Anochili-Killen (2), Tucker (7), Choupas (4), Hill (20), Gaudoux (6), Leray (11), Tonnellier (4), Mutts (9), Cuthbertson (19)
