FIBA Europe Cup Semi-Final ties confirmed

The Semi-Final pairings of this season’s FIBA Europe Cup were decided on Wednesday night, upon the conclusion of the Quarter-Finals stage.

Italy’s Unahotels Reggio Emilia will go up against Bakken Bears of Denmark in one Semi-Final tie, while ZZ Leiden of the Netherlands will face Turkey’s Bahcesehir College in the other.

In Wednesday’s return legs of the Quarter-Finals Reggio Emilia and Bahcesehir emerged victorious at home, against Legia Warszawa and Sporting CP respectively, to make it two-out-of-two wins, albeit the Italian side needed overtime to bend the resistance of the Polish visitors.

Bakken also won both games against CSM CSU Oradea but punched their ticket in more eye-catching fashion as they prevailed 70-61 on the road, after earning a slim two-point cushion at home last week.

Meanwhile, ZZ Leiden prevailed 85-77 over HAKRO Merlins Crailsheim at home, to wipe out a three-point defeat in the reverse fixture in Germany.

Bahcesehir and Bakken had reached the last four of the FIBA Europe Cup also in the 2019-20 season, which was curtailed due to the pandemic. The Danish team also made the competition’s Semi-Finals once before, in the 2017-18 season.

Reggio Emilia are the only club in this Semi-Final field to have celebrated the conquest of a European title, as they were proclaimed EuroChallenge 2013-14 champions.

The Semi-Finals will be played in home-and-away games and both first-leg encounters are scheduled to take place on Wednesday, March 30.

The return-leg games are set to tip off a week later, on Wednesday, April 6. The two teams that emerge victorious from the Semi-Finals will clash for the 2021-22 title in the Finals, which will also be played over two legs, on April 20 and on April 27.