The 2022-23 Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament tips off on Friday, January 20 with the first qualifier in southern Germany as U18 FC Bayern Munich returns as hosts of the ANGT Munich. Two former champions - U18 Real Madrid and U18 Zalgiris Kaunas - are among the eight teams fighting for the first of eight spots at the ANGT Finals, where the U18 continental champion will be crowned in Kaunas at the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four from May 19-21, 2023.
The eight teams in Munich are broken down into two groups of four with each team facing the others in their groups in a round-robin style at Audi Dome in western Munich. The winners of each group will advance to Sunday's first-place game - the winner of which will book its ticket to the ANGT Finals. The breakdown of the teams is as follows: Group A has Real, U18 ALBA Berlin, U18 EA7 Emporio Armani Milan and U18 ratiopharm Ulm. Group B features host Bayern, U18 Panathinaikos Athens, Zalgiris and U18 Next Generation Team Munich.
Real headlines Group A with its 16th showing in a row since 2007-08. Los Blancos won the title in 2015, 2019 and 2021 and lost in the ANGT Championship Game in 2014. Real has won its qualifying tournament each of the last nine seasons, including three ANGT Munich events as well as last season’s ANGT Ljubljana. ALBA is back in Munich for the fourth time after playing in Ljubljana in 2021-22 and finishing fourth there. The German side is competing in the ANGT for the 13th time since 2008-09, missing only 2013-14 and 2020-21. Milan is on board for the fifth time and participating in back-to-back ANGTs for the first time since their initial three years of events in 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16. The Italian club finished with a 2-2 record for seventh place at ANGT Varese last season. Ulm returns for the sixth straight appearance, the first three coming in Munich. Ulm’s best result was third at 2020-21 Valencia and the team took sixth place last season in Varese.
In Group B, Bayern returns for the first time since hosting a qualifier for a third straight time in 2019-20. This is Bayern’s eighth ANGT appearance having competed seven times in a row starting in 2013-14. In Bayern’s last showing, the host team lost to Real in the 2019-20 ANGT Munich first-place game. Panathinaikos is on hand for the fifth time overall and the second time in Munich following 2018-19. The Greens were winless at ANGT Varese last season and have only grabbed one victory in their ANGT history, beating host side U18 Crvena Zvezda Belgrade in the opening game in 2019-20. Zalgiris is the other former champion in the field, having claimed the crowns in 2003 and 2007 while finishing runners-up three times (2005, 2006, 2011). Zalgiris has participated in every edition of the ANGT starting in 2002-03. The last time the Lithuanian side won a qualifying tournament was at home at ANGT Kaunas in 2018-19. Zalgiris lost to Real in the ANGT Ljubljana first-place game last season. The final team in the field is the Next Generation Team Munich, which will be named in the coming days.