Three former continental U18 champions top the field in the final NextGen EuroLeague qualifier
Who will reign supreme at NextGen EuroLeague Belgrade?
Article
4 Mins read
The final ticket for the Adidas NextGen EuroLeague Finals is up for grabs at the NextGen EuroLeague Belgrade tournament, which is headlined by three former continental champions. Hosts U18 Crvena Zvezda Belgrade, U18 Pole France INSEP Paris and U18 Joventut Badalona all have hoisted the big trophy in the past and will be looking to grab a ticket to Abu Dhabi for the season finale.
Those three clubs will be tested in Belgrade by debutant U18 Dolomiti Energia Trento, U18 EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, U18 Maccabi Tel Aviv, U18 Next Gen Team Belgrade and U18 Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade.
The games will be held from March 7 to 9 at Aleksandar Nikolic Hall in the Serbian capital with the first-place winner joining U18 Mega MIS Belgrade and U18 FC Barcelona at the NextGen Finals from May 22 to 25 in Abu Dhabi.
The eight teams in Belgrade have been broken down into two groups of four. Each team plays the others in its group in a round-robin fashion. The top teams in each group will then face off in Sunday’s first-place game, with the winner of that matchup securing a spot at the NextGen Finals.
The breakdown of the eight teams is as follows: Group A has hosts Zvezda, Joventut, Maccabi and Milan while Group B features INSEP, NGT Belgrade, Partizan and Trento.
Zvezda was atop the continent in 2014 as NextGen EuroLeague champs and reached the NextGen EuroLeague Championship Games in 2015 and 2016. The Serbian giant will play in the competition for the 18th straight year - and it has hosted a qualifier every year, too. Zvezda won the Belgrade qualifying tournament for eight straight seasons from 2011 to 2018 but has not taken first on its home court since then. The Serbians lost in the Belgrade first-place game in 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023 and then slumped to fifth place last season.
Joventut claimed its only NextGen EuroLeague crown in 2013 and also is playing in the competition for the 18th straight time since 2008. The Spanish side finished fourth in last season’s Paris qualifier, ending a seven-tournament streak of top-three finishes. Joventut won its qualifier in 2018 and 2023. Maccabi is another regular in this competition with its 18th appearance as well - including the last seven. The Israeli giant finished eighth last season in Belgrade after a fifth-placed showing in 2023 Zadar. Maccabi took second place in its qualifiers in 2019 Munich and 2022 Patras to earn wild cards to the NextGen Finals those seasons.
Milan will arrive in Belgrade as the freshly crowned champion of the Italian U20 Next Gen Cup. This is the seventh time the Italians are competing in the NextGen EuroLeague and fourth year in a row. Last season, the team lost in the Belgrade first place game to U18 FC Barcelona and was awarded a wild card to the NextGen Finals.
In Group B, INSEP is one of six teams to be crowned champions of this competition twice - in 2010 and 2017. The French powerhouse also finished runner-up in 2024. INSEP is participating for the 15th time in the last 16 editions - missing only 2020-21 due to Covid restrictions. Last season, the team lost in the NextGen Paris first place game to U18 NGT Paris and then nearly won a third crown but fell to U18 Real Madrid 85-84 in overtime in an epic NextGen EuroLeague Championship Game.
Partizan is competing for a 17th season and 16th in a row. The Belgrade club took third place in 2024 and won the Belgrade qualifier in 2020, but missed a chance to make its NextGen Finals debut as the event was canceled due to the Covid pandemic. Trento will be making its NextGen EuroLeague debut. And NGT Belgrade is hoping to become the third selection team to win a qualifying tournament following the teams at Paris 2024 and Munich 2025.