MUNICH (Germany) - The new FIBA Europe Cup season is almost upon us as the sixth edition of the competition gets underway on Tuesday next week.

The 24 confirmed entrants in the Regular Season have been split into six groups of four with the top two in each pool advancing to the Round of 16, alongside the four best third-placed teams.

Here's a look through the field and some key points you need to know about each club:

GROUP A - s'Hertogenbosch (NED)

 Belfius Mons-Hainaut (BEL)

• In four seasons in the FIBA Europe Cup, they advanced beyond the Regular Season on two occasions;
• Summer signing Ajdin Penava recently made his senior international debut for Bosnia and Herzegovina as they qualified for FIBA EuroBasket 2022;
• American Justin Cage has been with the club since joining in 2009 from fellow Belgian club Liege.

  Iraklis BC (GRE)

• Iraklis become the third Greek side to compete in the FIBA Europe Cup, and second to make it to the Regular Season after Aris;
• The club earned promotion back to the domestic top-flight in the 2018-19 season;
• Skyler Bowlin is a former FIBA Europe Cup runner-up with s.Olivier Wurzburg - scoring a game-high 20 points in the Second Leg of the 2018-19 Finals.

  Egis Kormend (HUN)

• The Hungarian side are entering their fifth season in the competition with back-to-back Round of 16 showings in 2016-18; 
• Travis Taylor is averaging a double-double in his second season with the club having also averaged a double-double in last season's FIBA Europe Cup;
• Kormend signed Anthony Ireland earlier this month with the American guard impressing with SL Benfica in the curtailed 2019-20 campaign.

  UNAHOTELS Reggio Emilia (ITA)

• Aiming to become the third Italian side to win the FIBA Europe Cup title after Umana Reyer Venezia (2018) and Dinamo Sassari (2019);
• The club were the penultimate winners of the now-defunct FIBA EuroChallenge in 2014;
• Brandon Taylor leads the team in scoring, domestically, with 16.6 points per game and previously played in the FIBA Europe Cup with Alba Fehervar.

Schedule

January 26: Belfius Mons-Hainaut v UNAHOTELS Reggio Emilia; Iraklis BC v Egis Kormend
January 27: Egis Kormend v Belfius Mons-Hainaut; UNAHOTELS Reggio Emilia v Iraklis BC
January 29: Belfius Mons-Hainaut v Iraklis BC; Egis Kormend v UNAHOTELS Reggio Emilia

GROUP B - Samokov (BUL)

  BC Kyiv Basket (UKR)

• Kyiv made it to the Quarter-Finals of last season's competition before losing to Pinar Karsiyaka by 39 points on aggregate;
• Head coach Ainars Bagatskis led Ukraine to qualify for FIBA EuroBasket 2022 - he also made four appearances as a player with Latvia;
• Ukraine international Olexandr Mishula joined the club in the summer having previously spent almost a decade with BC Dnipro.

  Rilski Sportist (BUL)

• The club has competed in the Regular Season of the FIBA Europe Cup on three previous occasions, but never advanced beyond that stage;
• Since losing their opening league game this season, Rilski Sportist have won 12 consecutive games;
• Chile international Nico Carvacho is in his rookie year out of Colorado State, where he was the NCAA leader in rebounds in the 2018-19 season.

  Kapfenberg Bulls (AUT)

• The Austrian side have played in all bar one FIBA Europe Cup season, but have never advanced beyond the Regular Season;
• Nemanja Krstic won two silver medals for Serbia (U18 Euros, U19 World Cup) in 2011 and competed at EuroBasket 2013 at the age of 20;
• American Alex Herrera played in the first edition of FIBA Europe Cup with Finland's KTP.

  BC Prometey (UKR)

• The club were founded in 2018 and earned immediate promotion to the top-flight in its first season;
• Prometey defeated Kyiv by 19 points on the road in their recent league meeting and clash again in the group opener;
• Viacheslav Petrov joined the club after two seasons with Kyiv, and was part of Ukraine's roster in the FIBA EuroBasket 2022 Qualifiers

Schedule

January 26: BC Kyiv Basket v BC Prometey; Rilski Sportist v Kapfenberg Bulls
January 28: Kapfenberg Bulls v BC Kyiv Basket; BC Prometey v Rilski Sportist
January 29: Kapfenberg Bulls v BC Prometey; BC Kyiv Basket v Rilski Sportist

GROUP C - Wloclawek (POL)

  Szolnoki Olajbanyasz (HUN)

• In their two previous FIBA Europe Cup appearances, they advanced through the Regular Season before being eliminated in the Second Round;
• They lead their domestic league and recently defeated fellow participants, Egis Kormend, by 31 points;
• Angelo Warner is the team's leading scorer in the league with three other players also averaging 13+ points per game.

  Sporting CP (POR)

• The men's team were refounded in 2019, following a 24-year absence;
• Unbeaten in their domestic league with a perfect 14-0 record so far;
• Claudio Fonseca - who won multiple titles with SL Benfica - was part of the last Portugal squad to compete at EuroBasket, in 2011.

  Ironi Ness Ziona (ISR)

• After reaching the Round of 16 in their debut FIBA Europe Cup campaign, Ironi Ness Ziona went unbeaten through the Regular Season in 2019-20 before being eliminated in the Second Round;
• Welsh-born Tal Dunne has been at the club since 2011 when he joined for a second time;
• Nimrod Levi was part of the Israel roster that qualified for FIBA EuroBasket 2022 with a 4-0 record through the first two windows.

  Arged BMSLAM Stal (POL)

• This is their first Regular Season appearance in the FIBA Europe Cup having fell at the First Qualifying Round in the 2017-18 edition;
• Arged BMSLAM Stal won their first-ever trophy with victory in the 2019 Polish Cup;
• Jakub Garbacz has elevated his scoring average from 6.4 points to 18.1 points per game in his second season at the club.

Schedule

January 26: Szolnoki Olajbanyasz v Arged BMSLAM Stal; Sporting CP v Ironi Ness Ziona
January 28: Ironi Ness Ziona v Szolnoki Olajbanyasz; Arged BMSLAM Stal v Sporting CP
January 29: Ironi Ness Ziona v Arged BMSLAM Stal; Szolnoki Olajbanyasz v Sporting CP

GROUP D - Istanbul (TUR)

  CSM CSU Oradea (ROU)

• Oradea achieved a home-and-away double over Sibiu when the two teams met in last season's Regular Season;
• The club's best result in FIBA Europe Cup history was a Round of 16 appearance in 2016-17, after entering from the Basketball Champions League;
• 35-year-old naturalized Romanian, Giordan Watson, has played for both Oradea and U-BT Cluj Napoca in the FIBA Europe Cup.

  BC CSU Sibiu (ROU)

• Sibiu claimed their first FIBA Europe Cup win at the seventh attempt when they beat Fribourg Olympic in last season's Regular Season;
• 1999-born guard Lucas Tohatan has become a regular for the senior national team;
• Marquis Addison is averaging 17.7 points per game in the domestic league, as the third leading scorer.

  BC Balkan (BUL)

• In last season's top flight, Balkan had an 18-1 record before the season was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic;
• They advanced to the Round of 16 in the 2018-19 edition of the FIBA Europe Cup with a three-point aggregate loss coming against Hapoel Holon;
• Siyani Chambers is averaging 14.2 points and 6.9 assists per game in the league having played for Heroes Den Bosch last season.

  Besiktas J.K. (TUR)

• The club made four consecutive trips to the Basketball Champions League Round of 16 stage in the last four years;
• Ahmet Kandemir is back in charge for a third time as head coach, after an 0-6 start in league play this season;
• Joel Berry - who joined in November - previously made his mark in the NBA G-League with a best of 44 points

Schedule

26 January: BC CSU Sibiu v BC Balkan; CSM CSU Oradea v Besiktas J.K
28 January: BC Balkan v CSM CSU Oradea; Besiktas J.K v BC CSU Sibiu
29 January: CSM CSU Oradea v BC CSU Sibiu; BC Balkan v Besiktas J.K

GROUP E - Wloclawek (POL)

  Anwil (POL)

• The Polish side are making their FIBA Europe Cup debut after three consecutive seasons in the Basketball Champions League;
• Anwil won the Polish Cup in 2020, but currently sit in 13th place in the league with an 8-14 record;
• Ivan Almeida, who has represented Cape Verde at international level, is in his second spell with the club and is averaging 20+ points per game domestically.

  Fribourg Olympic (SUI)

• The club are the most successful side in Switzerland with 18 Championship titles;
• Fribourg made their FIBA Europe Cup debut last season and were eliminated in the Regular Season with a 2-4 record;
• Arnaud Cotture and Paul Gravet both played in Switzerland's shock victory over Serbia in the FIBA EuroBasket 2022 Qualifiers.

  BC Dnipro (UKR)

• Dnipro are the reigning league champions in Ukraine after the 2019-20 season was ended prematurely;
• The club are entering the competition for a fourth consecutive season, but have yet to progress beyond the Regular Season;
• Issuf Sanon impressed in the FIBA Europe Cup last season and was selected in the Second Round of the 2018 NBA Draft by the Washington Wizards.

Schedule

January 26: Fribourg Olympic v BC Dnipro
January 27: BC Dnipro v Anwil; 
January 29: Anwil v Fribourg Olympic

GROUP F - s'Hertogenbosch (NED)

  BC Parma (RUS)

• Won their first-ever FIBA Europe Cup tie by 53 points in the 2017-18 season Qualifiers, but fell in the Second Qualifying Round;
• Lithuanian Kazys Maksvytis took over as head coach in 2019 - he previously led his National Team to golds at all junior age groups from 2008-12;
• Latvian international Mareks Mejeris played seven games for Elan Chalon in the 2016-17 season, with the French club finishing as runners-up.

  Heroes Den Bosch (NED)

• In their FIBA Europe Cup debut in the 2018-19 season, the Dutch side were eliminated after the Regular Season with three wins from six games;
• Captain Stefan Wessels is in his 12th season with the club having joined in 2009;
• Slovenian Miha Lapornik signed a two-year deal in the summer and scored 22 points in the season opener as the DBL resumed this month.

  Donar Groningen (NED)

• The FIBA Europe Cup regulars made a trip to the Semi-Finals in the 2017-18 edition;
• Former NBA player Damjan Rudez joined the club to link up with older brother, Ivan Rudez - who became head coach in April 2020;
• Henry Caruso is another new signing on the roster and will face his former side, Heroes Den Bosch, in the group phase.

Schedule

January 26: Heroes Den Bosch v Donar Groningen; 
January 28: Donar Groningen v BC Parma
January 29: BC Parma v Heroes Den Bosch

The Regular Season will be played over the course of four days next week, with the full schedule available here.

FIBA