By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
EuroLeague announced the 24 teams that will participate in the 2020-2021 Adidas Next Generation Tournament. The list of clubs features representatives from EuroLeague sides such as Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Zalgiris Kaunas.
Nanterre 92, the team of mega-prospect Victor Wembanyama will also play in the tournament.
Per EuroLeague:
Euroleague Basketball is pleased to announce the identities of the 24 teams that will compete this season in the 2020-21 Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament. This season will be the 19th edition of the annual event, which boasts clubs and academies representing 13 different countries. They will clash to be the last one standing when the continental junior club champion is crowned on May 30, 2021, in parallel with the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four in Cologne, Germany.
To reach the ANGT Finals in Cologne, teams will first compete in three-day Qualifiers held in Valencia, Spain; Munich, Germany; and Belgrade, Serbia. Each Qualifier will feature eight teams, of which the first placed team earns an automatic berth to the Finals. Five additional teams – including some of the best performers in the qualifiers – will receive wildcard invitations to challenge for the U18 continental crown. The 24 sides include the U18 squads from eight EuroLeague and nine EuroCup participants.
The first qualifier – in Valencia, Spain, from December 27 to 29, 2020 – will feature host Valencia Basket, 2016 ANGT champion FC Barcelona, Herbalife Gran Canaria and Unicaja Malaga, all from Spain, as well as LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne and Nanterre 92 from France, ratiopharm Ulm from Germany, and Umana Reyer Venice from Italy.
The second qualifier – in Munich, Germany, from January 22 to 24, 2021 – includes 2015 and 2019 ANGT champion Real Madrid and Casademont Zaragoza, both from Spain, as well as Basket Brno from the Czech Republic, 2010 and 2017 ANGT champion CFBB Paris from France, hosts FC Bayern Munich from Germany, Promitheas Patras from Greece, Stellazzurra Rome from Italy, and 2003 and 2007 ANGT champion Zalgiris Kaunas from Lithuania.
The capital of Serbia will host the third qualifier from February 21 to 23, 2021. Partizan NIS Belgrade, 2014 ANGT champion Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade and fellow Serbian side Mega SoccerBet Belgrade, Buducnost VOLI Podgorica from Montenegro, Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana from Slovenia, Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar from Russian Federation, Maccabi Tel Aviv from Israel and U-BT Cluj Napoca from Romania make up the slate for the Belgrade event.
The nearly two decades of the ANGT has seen a host of tomorrow’s biggest and brightest stars pass through. Among the players currently on EuroLeague rosters who previously dazzled in the ANGT are Marcus Eriksson and Niels Giffey (ALBA Berlin), Vasilije Micic (Anadolu Efes Istanbul), Luigi Datome (AX Armani Exchange Milan), Borisa Simanic and Branko Lazic (Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade), Nikita Kurbanov (CSKA Moscow), Nikola Mirotic, Sergi Martinez and Thomas Heurtel (FC Barcelona), Diego Flaccadori, Leon Radosevic, Nihad Dedovic and Sasha Grant (FC Bayern Munich), Alexey Shved (Khimki Moscow Region), Yovel Zoosman (Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv), Livio Jean-Charles (Olympiacos Piraeus), Nemanja Nedovic (Panathinaikos OPAP Athens), Alberto Abalde and Usman Garuba (Real Madrid) and Arturas Gudaitis (Zenit St Petersburg).