IN THE GAME

Since playoffs all around Europe have either already been finished or are entering the hot zone, the field of participants for the 09/10 Euroleague season is taking further shape, however, there are potential obstacles that might keep technically qualified teams from participating and open up opportunities for others in the process.

While, as expected, both A-licence ballclubs in Turkey [Efes Pilsen and Fenerbahce] reached the TBL playoff finals, Montepaschi won their semifinal series in Italy, advancing to the finals, where they will meet Armani Jeans Milano, the club that ensured direct qualification for the next Euroleague season by beating surprise team Angelico Biella in their respective semifinal series. By doing so, Ukraine’s champion Azovmash Mariupol will get the chance to compete in the qualification round. There they might meet Benetton Treviso, winner of the third Italian spot, technically the fourth, if you add Lottomatica Roma, the third Italian A-licence team.

Maroussi upset Aris on their homecourt, finishing third in the A1 ranking, a fact which – inspite of admiration for Maroussi’s outstanding work in the past two seasons with mainly native players on their roster – nobody in Greece is happy with. Arena capacity will not be a problem, as Athens is rich with arenas that are able to fulfill the minimum requirements. However, firstly, there is uncertainty regarding the club’s future, after owner Aris Vovos will most probably pull out this offseason, secondly, the club has – we cannot put it any other way – no fans: They were second to last in average arena attendance in the EuroCup with 603 per game last season. Without being a prophet it is easy to assume that the potential inability to send a capable club as third placed team to next season’s Euroleague competition might prove costly for HEBA’s recent push for a third direct qualification spot.

Technically, if Maroussi is not able to fulfill the requirements or decides itself to not shoulder Euroleague participation next season, a spot will be opened up for not the next team in the domestic ranking, but the next team in the league ranking, which will be the second placed team from Serbia. I must admit that I have no official confirmation, but it looks as if that spot will be awarded to not the finalist, which is Crvena Zvezda, but to the 2nd team in the domestic Serbian ranking, which seems to be Hemofarm. However, any link to an official display of the current ranking would be appreciated, if it exists at all.

Another element that might re-shape the ranking in the lower third is the Belgian league, where finalist Dexia Mons-Hainaut does not meet the minimum arena requirements. Ballineurope recently mentioned that the club president would be willing to move to another arena, if Mons is indeed winning the Belgian championship. Opponent Spirou Charleroi is currently leading the finals series 1:0.

By the way, Euroleague now officially confirmed the nature of the proposal’s country ranking yesterday, which we had already been reporting in early April.

Now the main question remains whether or not the opposition around ACB and HEBA will be powerful enough to be able to prevent the proposal from being implemented. Remember that both leagues have only one vote each in the assembly, while every big club that is included possesses a single vote as well, and you can already book that none of the clubs that are planned to be included for three years will vote against the proposed system.

Here is an updated table of the current situation around the field of participants for the 09/10 season.

Directly qualified:

Qualification round:

*In case ASVEL wins the French championship, the 2nd placed team of the ProA regular season will take this spot

Read here and here in order to understand the system.