By Evaggelos Papadimitriou, Stefan Djordjevic / info@eurohoops.net
Iberostar Tenerife has been in the Basketball Champions League from its very beginning and they’ve turned into a marquee name as one of, if not the most successful team in the competition.
The Spaniards won the first BCL campaign (2016-17) but also stayed a title-contender in the seasons that came after. They got eliminated in quarterfinals the second year and lost the Final last season.
However, the strength of Tenerife can best be seen in their overall record as well as their success on the road. The Spanish team holds a 46-13 total record so far in the competition while they’ve won 22 of their 28 road games (72.75%).
| Season | Away record | Total record | Position |
| 2016/17 | 6 wins, 2 losses, 1 draw | 14 wins, 4 losses, 1 draw | 1st |
| 2017/18 | 7 wins, 1 loss | 13 wins, 3 losses | Quarterfinals |
| 2018/19 | 7 wins, 2 losses | 15 wins, 5 defeats | 2nd |
| 2019/20 | 2 wins, 0 defeats | 4 wins, 0 defeats | / |
In fact, with beating ERA Nymburk this week, Tenerife has won 15 straight regular-season games on the road. The last time they lost was at the start of the 2017-18 campaign, against Ventspils in a close finish (73-72).
After that loss, the Spaniards have not only won all their away games in the regular season but have also won 16 of 18 regular-season games in total.
Vidorreta continues where he left off
They’ve started this season strong as well, winning all four games so far (two on the road) and are showing no signs of slowing down. Also, coach Txus Vidorreta became the winningest coach in BCL history with 34 wins.
He led the team to the title in 2017 and after a stint with Valencia Basket, came back to Tenerife last season getting to the Final. Vidorreta’s regular-season record in BCL so far is 27-5 while it’s 7-1-4 in the playoffs.
The 53-year-old coach passed Zvezdan Mitrovic on the list who had 33 wins with AS Monaco while Walter De Raffaele logged 32 wins with Umana Reyer Venezia.
Neither of those coaches is currently active in BCL but Vincent Collet, who is the next on the list, stands at 30 wins and is coaching SIG Strasbourg this year.
Vidorreta and Tenerife seem to suit each other very well and they’ll without a doubt fight for the very top this season as well but the league is full of challenges that can prove ‘deadly’ for the Spanish expedition.
Photo Credit: Basketball Champions League