By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
In Round 6 of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season, Fenerbahce Beko will play a home game against Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv in Zalgirio Arena.
A couple of weeks back, Euroleague Basketball officially relocated the fixture citing recommendations from the Turkish and Israeli governments.
Back to his hometown as head coach of Fener, Sarunas Jasikevicius opened up about preferred destinations, instead of the second largest city of Lithuania.
“Like last year, we initially wanted to play in Germany since we have a strong fanbase there, in Berlin and Munich. But that didn’t work out. I don’t know if there were any other options, but here we are in Kaunas,” he said after landing at the airport on Tuesday morning, “This wasn’t one of our first options, especially with Zalgiris playing two home games this week. We’re not expecting many fans. I know that very few tickets have been sold, which is not good.”
Down to 3-2 in the Regular Season, his side faces Maccabi tonight and will return home to host Partizan Mozzart Bet in Ulker Sports Arena and complete the second two-game week of the 2024-25 continental schedule on Friday. Scottie Wilbekin, Sertac Sanli, and Yigit Hamza Mestoglu are out with injuries.
Jasikevicius, 48, served as the head coach of Zalgiris between 2016 and 2020, following two years as an assistant and wrapping up a legendary playing career with the team based in Kaunas. After three years as the FC Barcelona play-caller, he took over Fener early in the 2023-24 season.