By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
From Vassilis Spanoulis to Petteri Koponen. The former player from Finland will be the head coach of ANGT U18 Next Generation Select Team, Euroleague Basketball announced Monday.
Koponen, 34, will share his experience with the youngsters making the Select Team for the next Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament. The previous head coach, Spanoulis went on to take over Greek Basketball Champions League participant Peristeri bwin, following the ANGT stint.
Announcing the 2023 schedule, Euroleague Basketball confirmed Munich, Patras, Zadar, and Belgrade as the hosts of the ANGT Qualifying Tournaments.
Per the press release: “The Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament is pleased to announce the schedule for 2023. The format remains the same with four qualifying tournaments, though the sites for some have changed with Munich, Germany; Patras, Greece; Zadar, Croatia; and Belgrade, Serbia, now representing the sites that will propel the winners to compete for the continental junior club crown at the 2023 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four.
This season will see one of the greatest shooters in EuroLeague history, Petteri Koponen, serve as the head coach of the U18 Next Generation Teams. A veteran of six EuroLeague seasons, the recently-retired Koponen will share his wealth of experience with the players. The Next Generation Teams will be made of the best U18 players in Europe who are not affiliated with other clubs already competing at the ANGT. Koponen replaces Euroleague Basketball Legend Vassilis Spanoulis who guided the Next Generation Select Teams last season.
The first qualifying event this season will take place on January 20-22 in Munich with FC Bayern Munich serving as the host. This marks the return of the ANGT qualifiers to Munich for the first time since 2020. Promitheas Patras will host the second tournament in its home city on February 10-12. It will be the second season in a row that Patras has one of the ANGT qualifiers.
For the first time in ANGT history, there will be a qualifier in Zadar. It will take place on March 3-5 with local company Sport Event as the event hosts with the support of BC Zadar. The fourth and final qualifier will be on March 31 through April 2 in the capital of Serbia with Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade as the host.
This season marks the 21st edition of the ANGT and the competition has seen a who’s who of basketball stars come through the ranks including future EuroLeague and NBA stars such as Luka Doncic, Alberto Abalde, Goga Bitadze, Luigi Datome, Vasilije Micic, Nikola Mirotic, Donatas Motiejunas, Dario Saric, Milos Teodosic, Jonas Valanciunas and Victor Wembanyama, among others.”