The reigning continental champion U18 Real Madrid as well as two-time winner U18 Zalgiris Kaunas top the field for the first-ever Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament in Ljubljana, which will also include one debutant in the Slovenian capital.
Reigning champ Real, two-time winner Zalgiris top first-ever ANGT Ljubljana field
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The eight-team field for the ANGT Ljubljana, which is the replacement for the event originally scheduled to take place in Munich, Germany, features the 2015, 2019 and 2021 winner Real, 2003 and 2007 champion Zalgiris, host side U18 Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana, U18 ALBA Berlin, U18 Basket Brno, U18 GAK Basketball Academy Gdynia, U18 Next Generation Team Ljubljana and first-time participant U18 Orange1 Basket Bassano.
The breakdown of the groups are Cedevita, U18 GAK Basketball Academy Gdynia, NGL and Zalgiris in Group A while ALBA, Brno, Bassano and Real make up Group B. The teams will play all others in their group in round-robin style. The top finisher in each group will face off in the first-place game on Sunday. The winner of that game will book a ticket to the ANGT Finals during the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four from May 19 to 21 in Belgrade, where they will join U18 ASVEL Villeurbanne, U18 Stellazzurra Rome and U18 PFYM INSEP Paris, which secured first place at the ANGT Belgrade, ANGT Patras and ANGT Varese, respectively.
In Group A, Cedevita is playing its third ANGT under the name Cedevita Olimpija. The team finished sixth with one victory at the ANGT Belgrade in 2020-21. U18 GAK Basketball Academy Gdynia will be competing in the competition for the sixth time and returns after not playing last season. In 2019-20, the Polish club took seventh place in Belgrade. NGL is the fourth team of players selected by Adidas from clubs not playing in the competition. Zalgiris meanwhile took third place at ANGT Istanbul in 2020-21 after losing only to Real and received a wild card for the ANGT Finals, where it lost all three games. In addition to the two ANGT titles, the Lithuanian powerhouse also reached the ANGT Championship Game in 2005, 2006 and 2011.
In Group B, ALBA returns to the competition after not playing in 2020-21 for the first times since 2013-14. The German side, which will be participating for a 12th season, placed seventh at ANGT Munich in 2019-20. Brno is a second-time participant as the Czech side grabbed seventh place at the ANGT Istanbul in its debut in 2020-21. The Italian academy BASSANO is the only debutant in the eight-team field. Real meanwhile has finished first in its ANGT qualifying tournament in the last eight seasons, dating back to losing to U18 Joventut Badalona in the 2013 ANGT L’Hospitalet first-place game. Real owns a 21-game winning streak in the ANGT competition dating back to a loss to eventual champion U18 Rytas Vilnius in group play at the 2018 ANGT Finals. Real went undefeated in winning the continental crowns in 2019 and 2021 and won all four games at the ANGT Munich in 2019-20. Real’s winning streak in ANGT qualifying games stands at 13 dating back to a loss to U18 ratiopharm Ulm in ANGT Munich in 2017-18, which had snapped the Spanish club’s 21-game winning streak in qualifying games.