By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
The first FIBA World Cup qualifying windows are upon us and ten EuroLeague teams decided to give few of their players to the national teams.
However, in most cases, those players have a limited role in their clubs’ rotation and the real stars will be absent in the qualifying games. This is mainly a gesture of goodwill towards the local federations after many back and forths between them and the clubs of the same country.
After all, only 13 of those players are available for both games of the November “window” and are missing the EuroLeague game of their club. They are the following.
CSKA Moscow |
|
| Vitali Fridzon | Russia |
| Mikhail Kulagin | Russia |
| Semen Antonov | Russia |
AX Armani Exchange Milano |
|
| Simone Fontecchio | Italia |
| Awudu Abass | Italia |
Anadolu Efes Istanbul |
|
| Dogus Balbay | Turkey |
| Birkan Batuk | Turkey |
FC Barcelona Lassa |
|
| Sasa Vezenkov | Bulgaria |
| Rodions Kurucs | Latvia |
Khimki Moscow Region |
|
| Andrei Zubkov | Russia |
Maccabi Fox Tel Aviv |
|
| Jake Cohen | Israel |
Fenerbahce Dogus |
|
| Melih Mahmutoglu | Τurkey |
Seven more players will be available for their national teams only on Sunday or Monday. Among them, the only real star of the EuroLeague, Nick Calathes, who together with Ian Vougioukas and Thanasis Antetokoynmpo will join Dinos Mitoglou.
Mitoglou is the only member of Panathinaikos who will play tonight in the game between Great Britain and Greece. France has also asked players from EuroLeague teams, but so far there’s no response and also it remains to be seen if Krunoslav Simon will join the Croatian national team for the upcoming game against Italy on Monday. Here’s the list of the players who are already confirmed as available only for the second game of the November “window”.
Panathinaikos BC Superfoods |
|
| Dinos Mitoglou* | Greek |
| Nick Calathes | Greek |
| Ian Vougioukas | Greek |
| Thanasis Antetokounmpo | Greek |
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade |
|
| Branko Lazic | Serbia |
| Nemanja Dangubic | Serbia |
| Nikola Jovanovic | Serbia |
Valencia Basketball |
|
| Tryggvi Hlinason | Iceland |
* Mitoglou is the only player of Panathinaikos who will play in the two November games of the Greek NT.