By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
The dedication of Tornike Shengelia to the national team of Georgia is well-documented and resurfaced, perhaps exceeding all previous sparse boundaries, with FC Barcelona hosting LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne in Palau Blaugrana on Tuesday evening and Georgia hosting Ukraine in Tbilisi Arena less than 24 hours later on Wednesday.
“I am doing everything I can to be in top form to help my team win tomorrow’s game. And after that, I’ll think about the Georgia game,” mentioned the 34-year-old power forward on Monday, during a pregame media session heading to Round 13 of the 2025-26 EuroLeague Regular Season.
The plan for a trip across Europe, with a distance of approximately 4,500 kilometers between Barcelona and Tbilisi, is for Shengelia to return home and get some sleep following Tuesday’s EuroLeague contest, catch a flight and land in Georgia a few hours before Wednesday’s game, immediately join his international teammates and coaches at the team hotel, and eventually suit up for the senior national team of his country. The club game will tip off at 20:30 CET with the international fixture set to start at 18:00 CET.
And from there to the bottom half of the international window to start the FIBA World Cup 2027 Qualifiers, with the team coached by Aleksandar Dzikic meeting Spain in San Cristobal de La Laguna’s Santiago Martin Arena on Sunday, before refocusing on later club duties with Barca.
In Group A of the European Qualifiers, Georgia also faces the challenge of Denmark, besides Spain and Ukraine, looking to clinch a berth in the next and final Qualifiers stage. The top three seeds advance to Group I, alongside the top three from Group B, with the top three of the new group earning a ticket to Qatar.
Meanwhile, Barcelona sits inside the Play-In Showdown zone of the EuroLeague standings, tied with AS Monaco at 7-5 and in eighth place. In Spain’s Liga Endesa, a 4-4 record is tied for seventh.