By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Basketball Champions League analyzed all 32 rosters in the 2019-20 campaign and revealed some interesting numbers and facts, including the age, height, position and nationalities across the teams.
Per Basketball Champions League:
The 453
A total of 453 players, representing 42 different nationalities, were registered in the fourth season, although this number will likely vary a little in the coming weeks as teams make some late additions or cuts.
The Seasoned Veterans And The Young Guns
The average age of all players at the start of this BCL is 26 years and 1 month. Turkish side Teksut Bandirma have the youngest roster, with an average age of 22 years and 8 months.
Montenegro’s Mornar Bar meanwhile have a roster replete of veterans, with its average age at 30 years and 8 months. Interestingly, this is a whole 16 months older than the PAOK roster of 2018-19, which was the oldest last season.
The youngest players are:
– Dominykas and Dovydas Butka (twins, Lietkabelis): 16 years and 3 months old
– Luca Sanna (Dinamo Sassari): 16 years and 10 months old
– Abel Sovegjarto (Falco Szombathely): 16 years and 11 months old
– Furkan Haltali (Teksut Bandirma): 16 years and 11 months old
The oldest players are:
– Eulis Baez (BAXI Manresa): 37 years and 8 months old
– Petr Benda (ERA Nymburk): 37 years and 8 months old
– Janis Blums (VEF Riga): 37 years and 7 months old
– Tomas Delininkaitis (Neptunas Klaipeda): 37 years and 5 months old
How Much Does Size Matter?
The average height in this season’s BCL is 197.9 cm, which is almost identical to the average height of the 32 teams that took part in the 2018-19 season (198 cm).
Happy Casa Brindisi are the tallest team, with their roster coming in at 200.9 cm on average. Polski Cukier Torun on the other hand are the smallest team, as the average height of their roster is 195.1 cm. That might seem quite small by comparison, but last season the average height of Opava’s roster was only 194.4 cm.
The five tallest players are:
Moustapha Fall (Turk Telekom): 218 cm
Georgios Tsalmpouris (AEK): 216 cm
Giorgi Shermadini (Iberostar Tenerife): 216 cm
Mirza Begic (Mornar Bar): 216 cm
Alec Brown (Nizhny Novgorod) 216 cm
The five smallest players are:
– Ludovic Beyhurst (SIG Strasbourg): 172 cm
– David Holston (JDA Dijon): 173 cm
– Dovydas Butka (Lietkabelis): 175 cm
– T.J. Campbell (Turk Telekom): 175 cm
– Niels Van den Eynde (Telenet Giants Antwerp): 177 cm
It’s A Guard’s World
– There are 198 guards, which represent 43% of all registered players, with an average height of 190.3 cm
– There are 178 forwards, representing 39.8% of registered players, with an average height of 201.9 cm
– There are 77 centers, representing 17.2% of registered players, with an average height of 207.9 cm
They Came From All Over
Players from 42 different nations compete in this season’s BCL and Europeans are the majority, as 316 players (70%) come from the old continent. There are 123 players (27.6%) from the Americas, 10 players (2.2%) from Africa, while the Asia/Oceania FIBA zone has one representative.
Top 10 nationalities in the 2019-20 BCL Season:
– USA 106 players (23.6%)
– Turkey 34 players (7.6%)
– Germany 31 players (6.9%)
– Lithuania 28 players (6.2%)
– Greece 28 players (6.2%)
– Spain 25 players (5.6%)
– France 23 players (5.1%)
– Poland 19 players (4.2%)
– Belgium 19 players (4.2%)
– Italy 18 players (4%)
There Is No Place Like Home
Teams with the highest percentage of players holding the nationality of the country’s club:
– Neptunas Klaipeda (Lithuania): 11 players, 85% of the roster
– Lietkabelis (Lithuania): 12 players, 75% of the roster
– Polski Cukier Torun (Poland): 12 players, 75% of the roster
– Nizhny Novgorod (Russia): 11 players, 73% of the roster
– ERA Nymburk (Czech Republic): 9 players, 69% of the roster
– Falco Szombathely (Hungary): 9 players, 69% of the roster
Teams with the lowest percentage of players holding the nationality of the country’s club:
– BAXI Manresa (Spain): 5 players, 38% of the roster
– Casademont Zaragoza (Spain): 5 players, 38% of the roster
– San Pablo Burgos (Spain): 6 players, 40% of the roster
– Iberostar Tenerife (Spain): 7 players, 47% of the roster
– Anwil Wloclawek (Poland): 6 players, 50% of the roster
Photo Credit: Basketball Champions League