TREVISO. The Nutribullet goes to the assault of the “Qualification Round” of the Basketball Champions League 21/22, which from Monday 13 is giving away a place for access to the Regular Season of the 6th edition of the continental trophy. It will be the baptism of fire in Europe for the young company from Treviso which has fielded its entire organization to organize the event that from Monday will see the six teams competing at Palaverde compete against each other.
Group B of the qualifying tournament includes a draw with dry matches, only one team qualifies for the regular season groups after the final. Palaverde will start on Monday 13 September with the first two quarter-final matches: the Nutribullet TVB, freshman in European competitions, will play the first round at 20.30 with the English of the London Lions, in the other challenge of the “quarters” at 17.30 yes they will face the Dutch of ZZ Leiden with the Belgians of Belfius Mons-Hainaut. We will return to Palaverde on September 15th for the semifinals: the winner of Treviso-London will face the Danish champions Bakken Bears, on the other hand the winner between Belgians and Dutch will cross the Belarusians of Tsmoki Minsk. On the 17th the final that will decide the team that will participate in the Regular Season in group D with the Greeks of AEK Athens, the Latvians of Riga and the Hungarians Falco Szombathely, already qualified by right.
CALENDAR Qualification Round Tournament 2 (Group B) – Treviso, ITA – Palaverde Clubs: Bakken Bears (DEN), Belfius Mons-Hainaut (BEL), Nutribullet Treviso (ITA), London Lions (GBR), Tsmoki-Minsk (BLR) and ZZ Leiden (NED). QUARTER FINAL – MONDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 17.30: Belfius Mons-Hainaut vs ZZ Leiden 20.30: London Lions vs Nutribullet Treviso SEMIFINALS – WEDNESDAY 15 SEPTEMBER 17.30: Tsmoki-Minsk vs Winner of Belfius Mons-Hainaut / ZZ Leiden 20.30: Bakken Bears vs Winner of London Lions / Nutribullet Treviso FINAL – FRIDAY 17 SEPTEMBER at 20.30
MEDIA All the matches of the tournament will be broadcast LIVE FREE STREAMING (just fill in an access form) on the official website of the company www.trevisobasket.it. in Europe the matches will be broadcast on the streaming platform www.fanseat.com (for a fee) and for the Netherlands live on Ziggo Tv.
TICKETS OR SUBSCRIPTIONS The presale is active ON LINE, both with the possibility of purchasing the single day, and the season ticket valid for the three days of competition (5 matches). The sale will take place starting from 10.00, with the online modality through the Treviso Basket website https://trevisobasket.vivaticket.it/ (it will be possible to print the ticket directly from home), or purchase also in Vivaticket points of sale. On the days of the competition at the entrance it will be necessary to show the obligatory Green Pass, inside the Palaverde the rules of spacing, prohibition of gatherings and use of the mask will be followed. All the regulations are available on the ticket office page of the site. Prices for each day / season tickets: NUMBERED (light blue on the map): Full 17 euros, Reduced U25 13 euros, Reduced U14 9 euros – Subscription for the three days: 34 euros full, 26 euros U25, 18 euros U14 DISTINCTI (orange on the map ): Full 22 euros, Reduced U25 18 euros – Subscription: 44 euros full, 36 euros U25. CENTRAL (blue on the map): Full price 35 euros – Subscription 70 euros. PARTERRE (yellow on the map): Full 50 euros – Subscription 100 euros. SUPERCENTRALI (red on the map) Full 50 euros – Subscription 100 euros.
THE ADVERSARY
LONDON LIONS: Originally “Hemel Hempstead Lakers” from 1977, they moved to London, becoming the “Lions”, starting in 2012 and in the 2019/20 season they changed the company colors from traditional purple and gold to black, silver and white. Since playing in London they have won 1 English league, in 2018/19, and last season they made it to the final for the British Basketball League title. They took part in the Champions League QRs – arriving for the first time in the club’s history on a European level – in the 2020/21 season, but exiting in the first round against the Lithuanians of BC Neptūnas. In addition to being the owner of the franchise, Vincent Macaulay has been the head coach of London since 2018, having been head coach on numerous other occasions before the team moved to the British capital and was awarded BBL Coach of Season recognition in 2007/08. .
BAKING BEARS: Danish team based in Aarhus, the Bakken Bears were founded in 1953 and currently hold the most titles (19) in the Basketligaen, the top league in Denmark. As for the European experience, they are certainly one of the most experienced teams among those present at the QR. The club, in fact, has played several times the Eurochallenge, the BCL preliminaries (qualifying in the 2016/17 and 2020/21 group stages) and the FIBA Europe Cup (reaching the semifinals in 2017/18 and 2019/20 – season in which the Final 4 were canceled due to Covid-19). The team has a core of Danish players who know each other very well (having often faced competitions with the national team together) and, after years under the guidance of the historic coach Steffen Wich, in the summer the role was entrusted to Anders Sommer, his deputy.
TSMOKI MINSK: Tsmoki Minsk was founded in 2006 (initially, in fact, it was called “BC Minsk-2006”) and immediately became the most successful team in the Belarusian league, winning the title of the Belarusian Premier League for 11 consecutive years starting in 2008. . Minsk was one of the teams that took part from the first edition (in 2008) to the VTB United League, together with several Russian, Estonian, Polish and Kazakh clubs. In 2009 the team made its debut at the European level by competing in the FIBA Eurochallenge. Since then, he has faced an international competition every season, winning the BCL qualification in September 2020, the first in history for a Belarusian team. After playing there from 2008 to 2012, Rostislav Vergun took on the role of assistant coach of Minsk in 2014, eventually becoming head coach of both the club and the Belarusian national team in 2019.
ZZ LEAD: Founded in 1958, the Leiden team is one of the most historic franchises in the Dutch league. He has won the Dutch Basketball League title 4 times (the last one just last season) and won 3 Dutch Cups, but from this year he will take part in the BNXT League – a championship that unites the 22 best Dutch and Belgian teams, including the Belfius Mons-Hainaut. As for the European Cups, after his experiences in Saporta Cup and Korac Cup in the late 70s-early 80s, since 2010 he has participated 3 times in the Eurochallenge and as many times in the FIBA Europe Cup. Geert Hammink, after his career as a player who also saw him move to Italy (in Cantù in 1993/94) and several seasons in the NBA between Orlando and Golden State, he took over as head coach of the team in 2020, after only one year as coach at the Dutch Windmills.
BELFIUS MONS-HAINAUT: The Belgian team based in Mons (in the region of Wallonia) was founded in 1959 and has competed in the Pro Basketball League (Belgium’s top league) since 1990. From this season, like ZZ Leiden, they will participate in the BNXT League, the league born from the merger of the Dutch and Belgian championships. Finalist in the title race in the last two years, Belfius has never won a Belgian championship but he won the Belgian Cup in 2006 and 2011. The club has considerable European experience, having faced the Eurochallenge 3 times, 4 times the Eurocup and as many times the FIBA Europe Cup from 2008 to today. Since 2019 the head coach is Vedran Bosnić, former player and head coach of the national team of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the summer, they signed Emmanuel Nzekwesi, player of the Dutch national team among the best athletes of ZZ Leiden last season.
STATEMENTS HENRY SIMS Henry Sims, center of Nutribullet TVB: «We played four important games in the Super Cup group and this was very important to prepare ourselves better for the Qualifying Round of Champions which is a very important goal for us. Having won four games in a row gave us a lot of confidence to face this tournament, they weren’t friendly, but an official tournament that allowed us to take a hard test for next week. It is important to have fought for something together because it has already put us in rhythm for the tournament that awaits us where we will have to be ready to play great games, starting from Monday against London at Palaverde. We have prepared well this summer, we feel good between us and the chemistry created by coach Max and the technical staff in recent weeks is already well underway. We will work in these days to further grow in view of Monday’s match ».