By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Euroleague Basketball is pleased to welcome four new referees who have been selected to officiate games in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague and 7DAYS EuroCup for the 2019-20 season. Sebastian Clivaz, Denis Hadzic, Artem Lavrukhin and Vasiliki Tsaroucha all have previous experience at the highest levels in their countries of origin and will be valuable additions to the slate of Euroleague Basketball referees.
Clivaz has been an international referee since 2011 and is considered to be among the premier referees in his native Switzerland. He has been a part of the Swiss League playoffs every season since 2007 and has worked eight of the past 10 Swiss Cup finals.
Hadzic, who played for Croatian club Pula 1981 in his youth, became a referee in 2000. He began calling games in the top Croatian League in 2008 and started refereeing in the Adriatic League in 2017.
Tsaroucha had a 22-year playing career, which also saw her represent the Greek national team in the Mediterranean Games. After she embarked on her officiating career, she received her international credentials in 2013. Tsaroucha has worked in the top men’s league in Greece since 2014. She has officiated at the last three EuroLeague Women’s Final Fours and also worked at the EuroBasket Women in 2017 and 2019.
Lavrukhin is, at age 26, one of the youngest referees to work in Euroleague Basketball competitions. He has experience in the Russian Federation SuperLeague First Division and worked the Russian Federation Cup final four in 2018. He has also officiated games in the VTB United Youth League and the Russian Federation women’s Premier League.
These four will form part of the 71 referees in the Euroleague Basketball list who will officiate EuroLeague and EuroCup games in the 2019-20 season.