The qualifying event comes to Montenegro for the first time.
Reigning champ Real Madrid starts its title defense at first-ever ANGT Podgorica
Article
3 Mins read
The 2023-24 Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament season — the 22nd edition of the competition — tips off on Friday, January 26. U18 SC Derby Podgorica will make history by hosting the first-ever ANGT Podgorica. Reigning champion and four-time U18 continental winner U18 Real Madrid headlines the eight-team field, and the first ticket to the ANGT Finals at May’s Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four in Berlin will be awarded in the Montenegrin capital.
Who is playing at the ANGT Podgorica?
The eight teams in Podgorica are broken down into two groups of four. Each team will face the others in its group in a round-robin fashion at Verde Sports Hall. The top teams in each group will then square off in Sunday’s first-place game, with the winner of that contest securing one of eight spots in the ANGT Finals.
The breakdown of the eight teams is as follows: Group A has U18 ALBA Berlin, U18 Cholet Basket, U18 Next Generation Team Podgorica and host Derby. Group B is made up of reigning champion Real, U18 Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana, U18 FC Bayern Munich and U18 Umana Reyer Venice.
Evaluating Group A
ALBA is competing in the ANGT for the 14th time since 2008-09, missing only 2013-14 and 2020-21. The German side went 2-2 at the ANGT Munich last season and took fourth place.
France's Cholet returns for a second appearance in the competition after debuting at the ANGT Patras in 2023 and grabbing third place with just one loss to eventual winner U18 Joventut Badalona.
The NGT Podgorica squad will be a gathering of many of the top talents across the continent and coached by Finnish legend Petteri Koponen for a second straight season.
Host Derby will be making its debut in the competition.
Evaluating Group B
In Group B, Real competes in the event for the 17th straight time. Los Blancos won the continental crown in 2015, 2019, 2021 and 2023 and lost in the ANGT Championship Game in 2014. Real has won its qualifying tournament in each of the last 10 seasons.
Cedevita is appearing for the 18th time, including the last six and 16 of the last 17 seasons. The club went 1-3 in the ANGT Zadar last season and took fourth place.
Bayern is competing for the ninth time, but this is the first time it is playing a qualifying tournament not at home since 2016-17 in Coin. The German side took eighth place last season and lost to Real in the 2019-20 ANGT Munich first-place game.
Reyer is making back-to-back appearances — and its seventh overall — but the Italian side has never finished better than sixth place. Reyer was eighth at the ANGT Belgrade last season.