HERAKLION (Greece) - Neoklis Avdalas and Alexandros Samodurov both have many years of experience playing for Greece. But neither have won a continental youth crown - something the superstar duo is looking to change in front of the Hellas crowd at the FIBA U20 EuroBasket 2025.
Greece is one of four nations to have hoisted the U20 trophy three times - along with France, Serbia and Spain. The first came in 2002, followed by the party in 2009 in Rhodes and Ialysos and the most recent championship came in 2017 in front of the home fans in Heraklion, Rethymno and Chania.
What we want is to go all the way to the top.
The Greeks have traditionally performed extremely well when they host this tournament, claiming four of their seven podium finishes - runners-up in 1992, champions in 2009 and 2017 and third place in 2023.
"It's a big motivation for us that we are playing in our country," said Samodurov. "We want to make people happy. We want them to support us and in return we want to make every single one of our fans happy."
While Samodurov had yet to play for his country at home before this tournament, Avdalas played two windows of the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers and appeared in games in Thessaloniki and Patras.
"We want the fans to be there, next to us. It will be amazing for me and my teammates to see Hellas supporting us," Avdalas said.
"It's the biggest motivation, it ignites the passion in all of us. It will be unique for us to step on the court and feel the energy also from the fans. We'll give our all in order to succeed and to make our fans happy and our country proud."
"We aim high… We don't hide it. We want a medal."
This is Avdalas' fourth youth competition following FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2022 and the FIBA U18 EuroBaskets in 2023 and 2024. But he does not own any hardware from those events with a fourth place finish in 2022 being the best result.
Samodurov, meanwhile, appeared in the 2022 and 2023 FIBA U18 EuroBaskets before helping Greece take third place in the FIBA U20 EuroBasket last summer.
That was Greece's second straight third place at the U20 level after losing to France both times in the Semi-Final and then bouncing back each time to beat Belgium for a medal.
Greece's two stars expect to make it three straight podium finishes for the country.
"What we want is to go all the way to the top. We have worked for it and we are not afraid to state that we aim high this summer," Samodurov said. "We believe in ourselves and in our team and since our coach believes in us as well there no reason not to say that our target is the podium."
Avdalas added: "We aim high… We don't hide it. We want a medal. We are lucky to play in our country. It's not pressure for us. It’s an advantage and we have to take it and make the most out of it."
Good thing for Samodurov and Avdalas that Greece have traditionally rode the wave of the home fans to winning a medal.
FIBA