U18 Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade was once the dominant force at the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Belgrade and the 2014 continental champion hopes it can finally take first place again at the tournament it has hosted since 2008-09. Past first-place finishers U18 Mega Mozzart Belgrade and U18 Partizan NIS Belgrade are among the seven teams looking to keep Zvezda’s doldrums going. The ANGT Belgrade will also see two newcomers - the first appearance of U18 Lietkabelis Panevezys and the debut of the U18 Next Generation Teams.
Host Zvezda aims to reclaim first place at ANGT Belgrade
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The eight teams participating in the tournament from February 25 to 27 at Basket City in Belgrade are broken down as follows: Group A features Zvezda, Partizan, U18 Tofas Bursa and U18 Valencia Basket. Group B consists of Next Generation Team Belgrade, U18 ASVEL Villeurbanne, Lietkabelis and Mega. The four teams will play each other in round-robin style groups and the top finishers in each group will play on February 27 in the first-place game for the first ticket to the ANGT Finals, which are set to be played at the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four in May.
Zvezda’s last game at the ANGT Belgrade saw it waste a 19-point lead and lose 80-82 against city rival Mega in the 2021 Belgrade first-place game. It was the third straight season in which Zvezda failed to take first place at its host tournament after having won the Belgrade qualifier the eight previous years. Zvezda also lost to Mega in the 2019 first-place game and was beaten by Partizan in the final group game in 2020. Partizan beat Zvezda 78-77 in that game on a Lazar Stefanovic layup with 1.7 seconds left and then went on to defeat U18 CFBB Paris in the first-place game. That qualified Partizan for the ANGT Finals for the first time, but unfortunately for Partizan, the 2020 ANGT Finals fell victim to the COVID-19 pandemic and were canceled. Partizan has been playing in the ANGT since 2009-10 and took third place in Belgrade last season. The team competed at the ANGT Munich in 2018-19. Tofas has never won an ANGT game, losing all four games at both the 2019-20 ANGT Valencia and 2020-21 ANGT Istanbul. Valencia competed in 2007-08 and 2009-10 and then not again until 2018-19 when it hosted one of the qualifiers and took first place. Last year it finished seventh with just one victory and then lost all three games when it hosted the ANGT Finals.
Lots of eyes will be on Group B as it includes the Next Generation Team, a grouping of players who will be chosen by adidas officials and coached by recently-retired legend Vassilis Spanoulis. Another debut in the group will be Lithuanian side Lietkabelis competing in the ANGT for the first time. Also in Group B is ASVEL, which will be playing in the competition for the eighth year and fifth straight. The French club finished seventh at ANGT Valencia in 2018-19, fifth in the same qualifier in 2019-20 and sixth in Valencia last season. The nominal favorite in Group B will be Mega, which has played in the event every year since 2011-12. Mega grabbed first place in this event in 2019 and last season - beating Zvezda both times. Mega also has twice reached - and lost - the ANGT Championship Game, falling to U18 CFBB Paris in 2017 and U18 Real Madrid in 2019. Mega placed third at the 2019-20 ANGT Belgrade.