A team of Irish men will soon be participating in the new FIBA European club competition. According to Basketball Ireland Secretary General Bernard O'Byrne, this move is "a new dawn for men's basketball" which will benefit the players and make a huge development for the National League.
FIBA has given Ireland a special derogation to enter a combined club team. The said competition is part of FIBA's effort to replicate popular competition formats and will follow a UEFA Europa League format.
The Hibernia Basketball is a newly formed club which will participate in the continental tournament. The Premier League and Division One men's basketball players are all eligible to join the squad.
"We made the case to FIBA Europe that lower ranked federations should be allowed enter a team that will be competitive," explained O'Byrne.
"It was great to work a governing body that listens to its member federations. We view this as a great opportunity for players in all 20 clubs in our National League.
"We think it is a great new platform and the aim is to climb up the competitive ladder within FIBA. It represents an investment in the players and in the image of the league."
The draw where 52 federations within FIBA Europe are open to join will take place in August, while the first leg of the first round is due on the last day of September.
"This opens the door for us to play a wider range of European opposition," said O'Byrne. "We’ll be starting in the qualifying rounds and it would be a tremendous challenge to reach the group stages in our first year.
"Teams will be at our level or slightly higher which can only help us to improve. Our ultimate goal would be to reach the first level competition within Europe.” Home games for Hibernia Basketball will take place in the National Basketball Arena in accordance with competition criteria.
"This is a new dawn for men’s basketball. We will be pulling out the stops to ensure the Arena is full to capacity for the home leg."
0 comments:
Post a Comment