Zalgiris U18 to play ANGT Qualifiers in Munich 0

Euroleague Basketball announced the identities of the 32 teams that will compete this season in the 2022-23 Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament. This season will be the 20th edition of the annual event, which boasts clubs and academies representing 12 different countries.

Under-18 teams are coming from 14 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague and five 7DAYS EuroCup clubs. They will clash to be the last one standing when the continental junior club champion is crowned in the spring in a finals phase to be held in parallel with the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four.

To reach the ANGT Finals, teams will first compete in three-day Qualifiers held in Munich, Germany; Patras, Greece; Zadar, Croatia; and Belgrade, Serbia. Each Qualifier will feature eight teams, with the winner earning an automatic berth to the Finals.

Each of the qualifying tournaments will feature Next Generation Teams organized by adidas from the top 18-and-under talents in Europe whose club teams are not already playing in one of the four qualifying tournaments. This season, those adidas Next Generation Teams will all be coached by former EuroLeague star Petteri Koponen, who will also lead the Next Generation Team that participates in the ANGT Finals.

The first qualifier – in Munich, Germany, from January 20 to 22, 2023 – will feature the U18 teams of host FC Bayern Munich, 2003 and 2007 ANGT champion Zalgiris Kaunas, Panathinaikos Athens, ratiopharm Ulm, 2015, 2019 and 2021 ANGT champion Real Madrid, ALBA Berlin, EA7 Emporio Armani Milan and the NGT Munich team coached by Koponen.

The second qualifier – in Patras, Greece from February 10 to 12 – includes host Promitheas Patras, LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne, Orange1 Bassano, 2013 ANGT champion Joventut Badalona, Olympiacos Piraeus, Cholet Basket, Rasta Vechta, and the ANGT Patras team.

The long-time basketball hotbed of Zadar, Croatia, will debut as an ANGT Qualifier host from March 3 to 5. In addition to the host team’s U18 representative, KK Zadar, the participating teams will be Casademont Zaragoza, FC Barcelona, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana, Stellazzurra Rome, Helsinki Basketball Academy and the NGT Zadar team.

The fourth and final qualifying tournament returns to Belgrade, Serbia from March 31 to April 2. Besides local clubs Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade, Partizan Belgrade and Mega MIS Belgrade, the tournament will include U18 representatives from Valencia Basket, Anadolu Efes Istanbul, PFYM INSEP Paris, Umana Reyer Venice and the NGT Belgrade team.