By Nikos Varlas, Lefteris Moutis/ varlas@eurohoops.net , moutis@eurohoops.net
Valencia lost the chance to play in the Spanish league finals and theoretically the right to participate in next season’s Euroleague. Well, there is also the road of the wildcards. As you have read there are two open spots in next season’s competition for grabs and Valencia has more than a good chance to take one of them as the Eurocup finalist.
That means that Khimky Moscow, both the Eurocup winner and Russian league’s finalist, will play in next season’s Euroleague with a B license and the C license of Eurocup will be awarded as a wildcard to Eurocup’s finalist.
There is also the wildcard for the open spot of former A license team Lottomatica Roma. Many want it, Galatasaray is trying to get it, but the front runner is Spartak Saint Petersburg, a wealthy team building a new gym in a city with no other Euroleague team.
As for the qualification round, there might be some surprises from teams that have earn the right to compete in next season’s Eurocup, such as Greek club Panionios, or maybe others.