BACK ON TRACK

After a long break, European basketball has officially returned to Azerbaijan. The newly formed Azerbaijan Basketball Federation restored the country's championship in a short period of time to ensure successful performance in European championships.

Sabah Basketball Club established in 2022 had no serious rivals in the national championship in its first season thanks to its strong squad. After easily making it to the final stage of the tournament, Sabah defeated Ganja in a decisive five-match confrontation and won the title of Azerbaijan's champion.

Sabah has successfully represented Azerbaijan at European tournaments as well. In Group A of the FIBA European Cup held in Northern Macedonia in early October, Sabah defeated the Dutch team Donar Groningen (75:72), the local team Rabotnicki (83:81) and Rapid (90:71) of Romania. Thanks to these victories, Azerbaijan now has the right to re-join the FIBA European Cup main stage after 18 years.

Michael Holton (20 points) was recognised as the best player of Sabah. Donovan Smith, Keevon Davenport, Desmond Cambridge, Pavel Marcinkovic, Artem Butyankov, Corin Henry, Shirzad Shirzadov, Endar Poladkhanly, Fuad Niftaliyev and Rustam Aliyev have made a great contribution to the successful performance of the team at the qualification stage.

At the current stage of the European Cup, Sabah will compete in Group D. Its opponents will be Mornar (Montenegro), Bahcesaray (Türkiye) and Nymburk (Czech Republic). The Azerbaijani club will play their first game in the group away on October 18 against Mornar.

Every opponent is strong

Head coach of Sabah, Boban Mitev, called the club's admission to the main stage of the FIBA European Cup a historic achievement. He believes that the Azerbaijani basketball has proved that it deserved this success: "We performed really well. I knew I had players with high individual skills. My job was to turn these individual qualities into systematic team play. Although we failed in some episodes in rebounding, sometimes in defence and serving, we are happier with the end result. We fought like real fighters. We are on the right track. I have every reason to think so."

According to Mitev, Azerbaijan is doing a lot of work to develop basketball: "The Azerbaijani championship is very interesting. There are projects to attract young people to basketball. Sabah's successful performance in the European Cup is only a tiny result of what can be done. The fact that we made it to the main stage of the tournament doers not mean we fulfilled our mission in full. We will try to demonstrate successful performance in the group games as well. I want to see full stands at the European Cup games in Baku".

The head coach said that he knew all the three rival teams well: "My first acquittance with Bahcesaray was when I worked in Türkiye. This is a good team. Mornar is a very dangerous team. It has two experienced coaches. And Nymburk is a club with basketball traditions. All of them are strong opponents. We will move forward step by step."

As to their first game in the group against Mornar, Mitev added that they would prepare very seriously for the match: "I can promise that in every game we will fight with full commitment. I am happy that we have brought real basketball to the country. The fans will be able to enjoy this beautiful game."

Anticipating grand basketball celebrations

Like his coach, Sabah player Desmond Cambridge expressed his confidence and optimism in the club's success in future: "I'm very happy, but also excited. I am lucky that our team qualified for the FIBA European Cup regular season in my first year as a foreign player. It wasn't easy, but together we managed to overcome the difficulties. The European Cup will allow us to follow continental basketball. A large number of teenagers will be interested in this amazing game. In the coming months Azerbaijan will be part of grand basketball celebrations."

The 24-year-old American player believes most people didn't expect this kind of result from the team. "But I believed. I love playing for our fans. It gets me excited. As for the opponents, we will play to win every match. We have quite an experienced team. Few people believed that we would be first when we went to North Macedonia. But we managed. And now we say that the success will continue. The only thing we want is to support us at the matches in Baku".

New season

The 2023/2024 season in the Azerbaijan Basketball League will start on October 22. Unlike last year, ten teams will fight for the championship, including Sabah, NTD-Indigo (Khachmaz), Ganja, Khirdalan, Serhedchi, Neftchi, Jalilabad, Sheki, Khazri and Sumgayit. The competition will consist of two stages, 18 rounds. According to new regulations, clubs finishing the regular season in the top six will be eligible for the play-offs. The first two places in the top six will start directly from the play-off semi-finals, while the remaining four teams will start from the 1/4 finals. The club with the two fastest wins in the 1/4 and 1/2 finals and the three fastest wins in the final series will be the leader.

The games of the Azerbaijan Basketball League will be held at the Serhedchi Sports Centre, as well as at regional Olympic sports facilities.