By Alex Molina/ info@eurohoops.net
The team president of Unicaja, Jesus Lopez Nieto confirmed the Malaga outfit for the 2024-25 edition of the Basketball Champions League.
“I do not care if they invite me to the EuroCup. We have to be in a sustainable competition. Playing in a competition run by others… we are not going there,” he explained in a recent interview with Radio MARCA.
“Last year, Telekom Baskets Bonn won the BCL with more difficulty than Paris, almost the same team, won the EuroCup,” he compared the previous winner of the Champions League to the latest champion of the BKT EuroCup, Euroleague Basketball’s second-tier competition.
After lifting the BCL trophy in Belgrade to conclude the 2023-24 installment of FIBA Europe’s top-tier club continental competition, the team coached by Ibon Navarro resumed action in Spain’s Liga Endesa, hunting for the top seed on the bracket of the 2024 ACB Playoffs. With two outings remaining in the double-legged round-robin schedule, the team located in Malaga is one game behind leading Real Madrid. At 26-6, it will rank at least second.
“Our budget is set at five million euros less than the club’s golden era,” Lopez Nieto referred to previous success, including being crowned ACB champion in 2006.
“The budget for Unicaja was then set at 19 million. Now we are at 14. Real Madrid is close to 40 and then was at 22,” he described financial separation with the powerhouse based in the capital of Spain.
Photo Credit: Unicaja de Málaga