Sito Alonso’s men will face an affordable first stage as they return to the Champions League after three seasons without continental competition
Since the correct names of the players in Sito Alonso’s next squad are not known, UCAM has already given a name and surname to those who will be their rivals in the Champions League next season, the one when they return to Europe and to a competition who already played twice, in the 2017-18 season (‘Final Four’ and bronze) and in 2018-19 (eliminated in the round of 16 against Belgian Antwerp).
But unlike then, the Champions League has a competition format that was already released last season and that UCAM and its fans still don’t know. FIBA’s top club league has more groups and fewer teams in each of them. Up to eight for a total of 32 applicants making the first stage much shorter, with four teams per group and thus only six matches with their round trip journey against each of the three rivals.
Sito’s, who already directed UCAM in three Champions League matches when he signed for Murcia at the end of January 2019, has fallen into Group A of the competition. The theoretically strongest rival in the group, at least by the distribution of the draw pots, but with a lot of work still to be done on the roster, will be Strasbourg, which was seventh in the last French competition and which reached the quarter-finals in last year. the Champions. The title of sweet expert goes to the Hungarian Falco, located in the city of Szombathely, champion of his domestic league and one of the surprises of the last Champions League, as he was the leader of his group and went straight to the ‘top 16’ where it emptied. And the fourth member of the group will not be announced until September, when the previous preliminary rounds will be played, but whose favorite is the Turkish Tofas. Neither Breogán nor Unicaja will be, the other Spaniards who will have to play for the time being, as teams from the same country cannot coincide in the first phase.
The great novelty of the Champions lies in the way the competition continues from the group stage. The first of each qualifies directly for the ‘top 16’, the fourth will be eliminated and the middle, second and third will have to play a ‘play-in’ against the group neighbor’s third and second respectively (the B in this case) to determine the eight teams that will complete a ‘top 16’ in which the eight leaders of their respective groups will already be waiting.
This “play-in” is a two-team elimination format for the best of three games that the NBA modified two seasons ago to determine the final two teams classified for the “play-off” of each conference, and which the champions imported the last campaign . For example, the second and third of group A play against the third and second of group B, one of the most powerful and among them are two old acquaintances from UCAM such as Pinar Karsiyaka, rival of the controversial quarterfinals in 2018, and AEK Athene , executioner of the heart-pounding semi-final of the ‘Final Four’ hosted and championed by the Greek team. With them the Italian Reggio Emilia and the German Bonn.
Once the ‘top 16’ has been determined, the members are divided into four new groups of four teams each and, as in the initial phase, they play competitive matches against each other. From here on, the top two from each group qualify for the quarter-finals, which, unlike when UCAM played them in 2018 (and the eighth, which are disappearing, of 2019), are not a tour, but best of three games.
After the eight groups of the initial phase that go from A to H, the four of the ‘top 16’ go from I to L. In the quarter-finals, the first of I will compete against the second of J, the second of I to the first of the J, the first of the K to the second of the L and the second of the K to the first of the L. The four resulting teams will be measured in the ‘Final Four’, which will be held in single game eliminations and in the same location on weekends.
Source: La Verdad
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