On Friday, October 1, the finalist of last season’s “Pafbet” Latvian-Estonian Basketball League (LIBL) season 2021/2022 opening match in Riga “VEF Rigawill meet with Tallinn ‘s Kalev / Cramo.
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In the official opening game on Friday, at 19.40, the finalists of last year’s tournament – “VEF Rīga” and Tallinn trained by Robert Štelmahers and Akseelis Vairogs – will take place in the “Rimi” Olympic Center.Kalev“/” Cramo “with Ojārs Siliņš and Marcis Vītols.
The Riga team played the last test game on Monday, winning “Liepāja” with 100: 81. It is also worth noting the victory in the tournament in Vilnius, where the Belgian club Ostendes “Filou” was defeated with 71:68, with 86:80 – Panevėžys “Lietkabelis”, represented by Kaspars Bērziņš, and in the final with 88:87 – Lithuanian club Vilnius “Morning“.
Meanwhile, Tallinners have already gained quite a lot of experience in official games. In addition to the test matches in which Rytas, Sweden’s Norrkoping and Lietkabelis lost in the Vilnius tournament, the team won three Champions League victories, beating Lisbon’s Sporting 86:69 and 104: 89 – Montenegro’s Baras club. Mornar “and with 86:81 – Lithuanian unit Utena” Juventus “. After that, “Kalev” / Cramo also managed to start the United League tournament, giving way to St. Petersburg “Zenit” with 60:75.
Last season, the teams met only in the final, in which the Tallinn team was 86:75 superior.
Both teams celebrated their national championship victory last season after a fight.
After this match, both “vefiņš” and “Kalev” / “Cramo” will play the first game of the season in the FIBA Champions League tournament. “VEF Rīga” will visit Treviso “NutriBullet” in Italy on Tuesday, but a day later “Kalevieši” will play with opponents of the Riga club last season at the Strasbourg SIG.
The game will start 40 minutes earlier in Ventspils, where Latvian vice-champion “Ventspils” will host Rakvere “Tarvas”. The game will be broadcast live on the television channel “Sportacentrs.com TV”.
Both teams have prepared for the season much more modestly than the finalists. However, Ventspils managed to stand out by beating the “VEF Rīga” unit with 84:79 a week ago in Rīga.
The Rakvere club, on the other hand, is no longer run by a Latvian specialist Juris Umbraškowho will lead this season “Liepaja“command.
In the previous season, both units did not meet, but in the only mutual match at the end of 2019 in Rakvere, the home team won with 87:78.
On Saturday, October 2, the other four Latvian teams will take part in the fight: “University of Latvia” will host “University of Tartu” / “Maks & Moorits”, “Liepāja” will play with “Tarvas”, “Ogre” – ar Raplas “AVIS Utility”, betValmiera Glass“/ ViA will meet with Tallinn” TalTech “. On Sunday, October 3, Hābnese” Viimsi “and Tallinn” Kalev “will take part in the fight.
The duels of Latvia’s leading teams “VEF Rīga” and “Ventspils” will take place on December 18 in Riga and on February 20 in Ventspils.
In the main tournament, the teams will play a two-round tournament until March 20. The top eight will compete in the quarter-finals, with the winners determined by the sum of two games. LIBL champions are expected to be determined in the final four tournament. The season will end with the elimination games of the Latvian and Estonian championships.
14 teams – six Latvian units – “VEF Rīga”, “Ogre”, “Ventspils”, “Valmiera Glass” / “Vidzeme University College”, “University of Latvia” and “Liepāja” participate in the LIBL championship in the season 2021/22, as also eight Estonian teams – Tallinn “Kalev” / “Cramo”, Rapla “Avis Utilitas”, “Parnu Sadam”, “University of Tartu”, Rakvere “Tarvas”, Tallinn “Kalev” / TLU, “TalTech” and Hābnese “Viimsi” .
In addition to Siliņš and Vītols, Māris Ziediņš and Eduards Hāzners (both – Tallinn “Kalev” / TLU), Ričards Daniels Vanags and Arnolds Helmanis (both – Rapla “Avis Utilitas”), Ronalds Zaķis (Hābneses “Viimsi”), Andris Misters (“Parnu Sadam”), Edmunds Elksnis (“University of Tartu” / “Maks & Moorits”) and Toms Ķēdis (Rakvere “Tarvas”).
13 teams participated in the 2020/2021 season. Due to the restrictions imposed due to the pandemic, the main tournament was played in two groups, with the teams of each country competing only with each other. In April, the three best Latvian and Estonian teams participated in the final six tournament in Riga, where “Kalev” / “Cramo” won. “VEF Rīga” took the second place, “Ogre” in the third place.
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