Past champs headline ANGT Varese starting Friday

The first-ever Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament in Varese will be headlined by two former continental champions as well as a debutant and three teams that did not play last season in the global 18-and-under showcase.

The eight-team field in the northern Italian city includes 2010 and 2017 winner U18 PFYM INSEP Paris and 2013 champ U18 Joventut Badalona as well as the first-time participant and home side U18 Varese Academy. The other teams are U18 AX Armani Exchange Milan, U18 Casademont Zaragoza, U18 Panathinaikos OPAP Athens, U18 ratiopharm Ulm as well as the U18 Next Generation Tournament Varese selection.

The breakdown of the groups are Joventut, NGV, Panathinaikos and Varese in Group A while Group B is made up of Milan, PFYM, Ulm and Zaragoza. The teams will play all others in their group in round-robin style. The top finisher in each group will face off in the first-place game on Sunday. The winner of that game will secure a spot at the ANGT Finals during the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four from May 19 to 21 in Belgrade, where they will join U18 ASVEL Villeurbanne and U18 Stellazzurra Rome, which grabbed first place at the ANGT Belgrade and ANGT Patras, respectively.

In Group A, Joventut is the club with the most experience, participating in the event for the 15th season and having won the continental crown in 2013. The Spanish club reached the ANGT Valencia first-place game in 2020-21 after taking third place at both ANGT Valencia 2018-19 and ANGT Kaunas 2019-20. Varese will be playing in the competition for the first time as it hosts the event. NGV is the third selection chosen by Adidas of players not participating in the qualifiers with their own clubs, following Next Generation Team Belgrade and Next Generation Team Patras. Panathinaikos is back in the competition after not participating in the ANGT last season. It will the fourth appearance for the Greek club, which finished eighth at ANGT L’Hospitalet 2016-17, ANGT Munich 2018-19 and ANGT Belgrade 2019-20.

In Group B, Milan is also making its return to the competition after a previous run of three straight appearances stopped in 2015-16. The Italian side finished third at the ANGT Rome 2013-14 followed by sixth place in 2014-15 and then fourth place in 2015-16. PFYM is another returnee to the ANGT after missing last season for the first time since it started participating in 2009-10. In the previous two seasons, the French side finished third at the ANGT Kaunas 2018-19 and lost in the ANGT Belgrade 2019-20 first-place game. Ulm will be playing in the competition for a fifth straight season after the German side placed third at the ANGT Valencia in 2020-21. Zaragoza meanwhile is making its third appearance, going winless for eighth place at ANGT Kaunas 2019-20 and taking fifth at ANGT Istanbul last year.

https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/ngt/news/angt-varese-players-to-watch/