By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Darussafaka Tekfen Chief Executive Officer Cem Ugur Yelkalan told the Anadolu News Agency that his team has been invited to the Basketball Champions League, noting the pros of a potential move to FIBA’s premier club competition. He also discussed the deciding 7DAYS EuroCup Top 16 game versus Segafredo Virtus Bologna that was held in Belgrade without fans and its impact on the pending decision.
“FIBA officially invited Darussafaka Tekfen to the Basketball Champions League,” he mentioned, “Good teams play in the Basketball Champions League. The offer and terms of FIBA are excellent. It’s long-term and more basketball-oriented. The parameters are stronger to sustain Basketball. We will decide next week. We want to declare this decision at the beginning of June.”
“FIBA has allocated more budget than the EuroLeague in EuroCup,” he added, “Basketball is not like football in terms of economy. It has a meager income. It is a little more to spend. This is not easy for clubs. This move of FIBA makes sense. It gives more money to clubs.”
In response to the coronavirus pandemic before the decision to suspend the 2019-20 season, Euroleague Basketball moved the Round 6 contest against Virtus to Belgrade. The winning side would clinch a playoff spot with the Turkish club failing to land the “W” in Serbia.
“It was clear that the Italian team could not come to Istanbul,” recalled Yelkalan, “At that time, there was a serious health problem in Italy, and we, as the country, stopped all our travels with Italy. We have reported to the EuroCup that we do not want to be in danger. We applied to the EuroCup and asked for the match to be played in Berlin the following week. Unfortunately, the EuroCup said that the match would be played in Belgrade 22 hours before the tip off.”
“At least three players of the Segafredo Virtus Bologna team are Serbs, and they grew up in that hall,” he mentioned explaining his displeasure, “Djordjevic, the former head coach of the Serbian National Team, is also at the head of Virtus Bologna. It was like going home for them. During the match, the owner of the arena was with me and said to me, ‘Virtus Bologna came to another country, but it’s like our team. They all speak Serbian”.
“The EuroCup did not accept any of our requests, it did not even negotiate,” he underlined, “We had to rent a private plane. And because we were the host, we paid all the expenses. We think that this process was not managed well. We were disappointed. All of this will certainly affect our decision. Our fans reacted. In this process, we think they mistreated us.”