You will have to rejoice in every victory – in Riga again the Champions League basketball

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the changes also affected the FIBA ​​Champions League. The usual format of the regular season with eight teams in one group was redistributed after the lottery, dividing 32 teams into eight quartets. Latvian champions “VEF Rīga” will play in group E together with “Strasbourg” from France, “Peristeri” from Greece and “Rytas” from Lithuania. Instead of the initially guaranteed 14 games, there are only six left, but it will be possible to extend the season if the group manages to win first or second place.

Latvian champions do not keep their budget under control and it is planned to amount to about one million euros this season. There is a solid amount in home basketball, but in the FIBA ​​Champions League it is very little. Today’s opponents in Strasbourg can count on six million euros, two of which are spent on players’ salaries. Around three million will be spent in Vilnius, more than in Riga there is also the Athens “Peristeri” box office. So on paper “VEF Rīga” there are groups of the latter, but we do not need to write off our prospects at all.

“Compared to the previous season, we managed to complete the line-up earlier, the legionaries came earlier, we started training earlier. Before the Champions League, there is a feeling that we are ready for the season and this is also proved by the excellent start in the Latvian-Estonian league. We are also satisfied with the composition of the line-up, the team has almost all the players we wanted and could afford. Yes, we are lagging behind in terms of budgets, but if everything was only billed in cash, the games would not happen at all. We very much hope that this season in Europe will be more successful and that these are reasonable expectations. Returning to the budgets, “we will have to be happy for everyone wins” before the start of the FIBA ​​Champions League in a conversation with Jauns.lv, says the president of “VEF Rīga” Gatis Jahovičs.

One of the main goals of the tournament organizers has announced the completion of all games, if necessary, postponing the matches to the free weeks. The games are scheduled every few weeks, if necessary there will be time to quarantine and there will be time to prepare for the games. Champions League games in Riga will not become commonplace – after today’s fight against Strasbourg, the next time is scheduled only on December 23 against Vilnius “Rytas”. It is interesting that in recent years, a stable participant of the ULEB European Cup, Vilnius “Rytas”, has been lured to this tournament by FIBA ​​financial rewards – 250 thousand euros have been paid for the transition.

“VEF Rīga” is not yet in the category of teams to which the European division of FIBA ​​would be ready to grant additional privileges. Latvia has still been awarded one place in the main event and one place in the qualifying games, which remained unfilled this autumn. Each team will receive 50,000 euros for participation in the main tournament, which in the case of Rigans may cover travel expenses.

Jahovich reveals that travel expenses have significantly increased this autumn: “Even two or more times! For example, last year it took about five thousand to go to Athens, now tickets cost about 12 thousand, but a charter flight would cost about 30. Travel has become more expensive and in this respect reducing the number of regular season games will significantly reduce costs. However, we are not happy about such a decision, we wanted more games, more good teams in Riga. From a athletic point of view, it seems that getting out of a group of four teams should be easier than being in four out of eight teams. ”

“VEF Rīga” is unlikely to claim the lifting of the FIBA ​​Champions League winners’ cup, but every team player will have every game as a stage from which you can get to the deeper waters of basketball. “This is the story of our team – to develop the players’ career and enter the basketball market in a completely different status,” head coach Jānis Gailītis told about the team’s concept before the season. One such example is Marek Meyer, whose salary in the Perm team in Russia is four times higher than in Riga.

Both legionnaires and Latvians will have the opportunity to progress and prove themselves on a new (different) level. The role of the local team leader should be played by Aigars Skele, much is expected from the debutant Krister Zorika.

The first opponents of “VEF Rīga” will be the “Strasbourg” team, the last decade of which has been led by the coach of the French national team Vincent Cole. True, the last few years have not been very successful, and now the roads of Strasbourg and Cole have parted. This autumn, it is a new team with a new head coach, only 33-year-old Finnish specialist Lasi Touvi. The beginning of the season has been unsuccessful – in the French championship, three victories have been won in seven games, three losses have been experienced in the last four games. Including Saturday on his pitch against Le Portel (83:94). In the team statistics, Americans Bonnie Colson (19 points per game on average) and Brandon Jefferson (17.4) stand out. He was the first to play eight games in the NBA Milwaukee Bucks in early 2019, and on March 31, he scored 15 points against the Atlanta Hawks and won 16 rebounds. Tonight, high-class players will be shown in “Arena Riga” square and on TV6 screens.

The current rules of the gathering stipulate that 300 spectators will be able to attend the game, using face masks and observing a distance of two meters. FIBA guidelines stipulate that only persons with a negative Covid-19 test during the last 72 hours will be able to be in the vicinity of the square, there will be no spectators around the square and tickets will not be allowed to be sold in the front rows of the stands. However, the most important thing is that basketball will be able to take place and even in this strange time it will be possible to see the start of the best Latvian team in a prestigious European club tournament in person or in person.