Ann Wauters (BEL)
31/03/2015
Paul Nilsen's Women's Basketball Worldwide
to read

EuroCup Women can't be left in the darkness

NEWCASTLE (Paul Nilsen's Women's Basketball Worldwide) - If I was involved with a EuroCup Women club, I would currently be underwhelmed and slightly disappointed by the exposure the competition currently earns.

While admittedly the second ranked women's competition behind EuroLeague Women, there is no doubt that the EuroCup Women (an official FIBA competition) can be promoted with much more vigour than is currently the case.

It deserves to be and it needs to be.

Playing second fiddle to the EuroLeague Women shouldn't mean lagging behind and remaining in the shadows.

After all, the EuroCup Women has more clubs and players involved it in and, for many years now, has provided a springboard for those who want to step up to its elite 'sister' competition.

Most importantly of all, EuroCup Women does provide some brilliant entertainment and is a lifeblood for the women's game in Europe.

But I fear that unless we find a collective will to push it into the open space of social media and the like, we are in danger of choking off a hugely important tournament each year.

I appreciate that it's not easy and I can hear shouts of 'nobody cares'. But that is a familiar echo that has been ringing in my ears for such a long time when it comes to most aspects of women's basketball. It's just that it's uber-negativity or ignorance from a wide range of people when it comes to the EuroCup Women.

It's time to change, because there are so many terrific aspects to the competition and they need to be recognised, appreciated and communicated more boldly.

It's a two-way street though and I do think that the malaise which has struck many aspects of the competition is entrenched in the attitude of many clubs themselves. A handful of teams who enter, don't even do anything themselves to promote their own team or the EuroCup Women as a competition and this should surely be a mandatory requirement.

Yet, I can also see why some involved with EuroCup Women clubs might think 'why bother?' - because they feel nobody else truly cares and I do relate to that.

However, seeing a magnificent 6,500 fans at the Spiroudome in Charleroi for Castors Braine against Villeneuve d’Acsq, provided a backdrop fitting of the competition.

It came just a couple of seasons after more than 10,000 fans stepped out to support Kayseri Kaski Spor.

The EuroCup Women is the competition where you can lose track of rising talent, because so many of tomorrow's future Olympic and FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup stars take their first career steps in the tournament.

European national team players are so often born in the EuroCup Women. So too are many of the top women's teams in Europe and indeed the world.

The incredible and unrivalled EuroLeague Women dynasty at Sparta&K M.R. Vidnoje was born with a EuroCup Women title. Kayseri Kaski Spor reached the Final ahead of joining EuroLeague Women (as Agu Spor Kulubu) and it is a similar story for Dynamo Kursk.

There was so much to love about this year's Final and while it didn't match the 2013 one in Kayseri for sheer drama, there was still loads to love on and off the court.

Whether it was seeing a veteran legend like Ann Wauters playing as if she was a teenager, Marjorie Carpreaux making behind-the-back passes for fun, Anete Steinberga staking a claim that she could be the next big thing for Latvia - or just the Belgian Prime Minister watching the action intently from the stands.

I implore everyone to get behind this competition for 2015-16 and make sure it is given a more prominent position. Because at the minute, the EuroCup Women is still wallowing on the fringes like Pluto the planet and in dire need of being give more exposure to some beautiful PR sunlight and being brought in from the cold and darkness.

Paul Nilsen

FIBA

FIBA's columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA.

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Paul Nilsen

Paul Nilsen

As a women's basketball specialist for FIBA and FIBA Europe, Paul Nilsen eats, sleeps and breathes women’s hoops and is incredibly passionate about promoting the women’s game - especially at youth level. In Women’s Basketball Worldwide, Paul scours the globe for the very latest from his beloved women’s basketball family.