By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
As the Basketball Association of Slovenia officially announced, Slovenia will host Greece on August 2, in one of two preparation games of 2023 between those sides, with Luka Doncic facing Giannis Antetokounmpo for the first time on the international level.
The game will be played at Stozice arena in Ljubljana. Presumably, the NBA superstars will face each other in front of the sold-out gym in the Slovenian capital just two days before their rematch in OAKA Arena in Athens.
“As soon as it was clear that we qualified for the World Cup in Asia, we got many offers to play preparatory matches. The management of the national team with its staff carefully selects the opponents, and we are happy that two matches with the selected Greek team have already been confirmed. We agreed on all the details with the former Greek national team player Nikos Zisis, who is currently the head of the national team. We are waiting for the confirmation of the tournament in Spain with the home team and the American team. In addition, we want to play one or two more preparatory games on the home floor and offer top quality basketball to the loyal fans“, former NBA player, now Secretary General of the Basketball Association of Slovenia, Rašo Nesterovic said.
Za lažje načrtovanje poletnega dopusta ! 👇
🔜 NOV KOŠARKARSKI SPEKTAKEL V STOŽICAH
2/8/2023 – Slovenija : Grčija #mojtim 🏀🇸🇮💪@HellenicBF @FIBAWC @FIBA @TelemachSi @SloveniaInfo pic.twitter.com/fFwuc7eedi
— Košarkarska zveza SIovenije (@kzs_si) January 3, 2023
No doubt these games will attract a lot of attention and offer the Slovenian and Greek basketball fans a true spectacle, similar to a recent duel from the FIBA qualifiers in Belgrade between Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic when Serbia faced Greece in a packed Stark arena, as well as when Slovenia with Doncic met Jokic’s national team in preparation for the EuroBasket, in Stozice.
Greece and Slovenia have already qualified for the upcoming FIBA World Cup 2023, despite two games left in the qualifiers. It’s already confirmed that Slovenia will play the group stage in Japan as one of the hosts of the World Cup with the Philipines and Indonesia.