By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
Strasbourg is working towards building a strong case to be a contender for next season’s EuroLeague, according to French network RMC Sport.
The French club, that is currently playing in FIBA’s Basketball Champions’ League, shares the same ambition with ASVEL, which also actively aims to participate in the top-tier European basketball competition. But unlike Tony Parker’s club, that has openly expressed its EuroLeague aspirations numerous times, Strasbourg is cultivating its bid “in the shadows”, per the above report.
EuroLeague CEO Jordi Bertomeu has said that ASVEL is a “major candidate” for entering the competition if they “meet all the necessary requirements.” But Strasbourg seems eager to usurp their status as a favorite among French clubs for that sweet EuroLeague spot.
The management of Strasbourg hopes to have a new arena with a EuroLeague-approved capacity of more than 10.000 seats ready before the team from Villeurbanne and is considering pumping up its budget to a sum around 10 million euros in order to make its case more appealing than ASVEL’s.
EuroLeague will hold the necessary meetings regarding a potential expansion and the number of clubs that will participate in the championship during 2018-2019, around March or April.
There are currently 16 teams participating in EuroLeague. Eleven (Anadolu Efes, Barcelona, Baskonia, CSKA Moscow, Fenerbahce, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Olimpia Milano, Olympiacos, Panathinaikos, Real Madrid and Zalgiris Kaunas) clubs have signed ten-year closed contracts, one spot is reserved for each season’s EuroCup (the second-tier continental league) winner (Unicaja Malaga) while teams from the Spanish (Valencia), German (Brose Bamberg), ABA (Crvena Zvezda) and VTB League (Khimki Moscow) can join via success in their domestic championships.