"Opava" (Czech Republic) - "Prometey". Champions League qualification. 1/2 final. September 16. 18:30. Sofia (Bulgaria). "Arena Armiets Sofia". Broadcast - "XSPORT", prometeybc.com
In Sofia bubble, the number of contenders for the only ticket to the group stage of the Champions League after yesterday's matches has been reduced to four. Besides the Bulgarian "Levski Lukoil", the Israeli "Hapoel" from Eilat, which lost to the Russian "Parma" - 76:79, dropped out of the tournament,. Now the Czech "Opava" and our "Prometey" will play in the first semi final of the qualification, and "Parma" and the French "Le Mans" in the second one.
The rival of our team represents the city of the same name in the Czech Republic with a population of about 60,000 and in recent years “Opava” is the second in status club in the country after "Nymburk", the absolut basketball hegemon of the Czech Republic, which has been successfully managed for seven years by the current head coach of "Prometey" Ronen Ginzubrg. In the last season of 2020/2021, "Opava" became the vice-champion of the Czech Republic, losing in two matches of the final series exactly to "Nymburk".
"Opava" has considerable experience in European competitions of various levels. Its possible successful attempt to play in the group round of the Champions League will not be the first, however, participation in one of the groups in the 2018/2019 season can hardly be called successful: the team took the last place out of 8 participants, winning only 2 victories in 14 matches.
"This team is really very strong, they have been playing together for more than five years, they understand each other very well. This team is a very dangerous opponent," said Ronen Ginzburg. For several seasons, "Opava" is characterised by the stability of its composition. In the current off-season, only one player left the team, but it was replenished with three newcomers. Among them we can highlight the Swedish center Matthias Marcuson (height 217 cm).
One of the unconditional leaders of Opava is, first of all, Jakub Širžina (height 186 cm), a player of the Czech national team. Jakub - the most productive player of "Opava" last season (average 18.1 points per match) and its best assistant (7.6 assists). With equal success he hits the opponent's hoop and creates conditions for his partners to effectively complete the attack. Heavy forward Martin Hnyadek (height 203 cm) is another outstanding player of Opava, who can also play as a center, but just in those cases when the team's head coach Petro Chudek decides to release a "light" five on the court.
In general, "Opava" plays fast basketball, skillfully presses and successfully applies several schemes of defense. Ronen Ginzburg assures that his wards represent how to neutralize the opponent's trump cards: "We understand how to deal with this opponent, so we will prepare an attack and defense accordingly, although it will not be easy. However, I already have a plan for the game."
We wish our guys to be able to follow all the coaching instructions tomorrow and once again demonstrate such basketball, which would allow them to take another step towards the group tournament of the Champions League!
The confrontation between Opava and Prometey will take place on September 16 at 6:30 p.m. It will be possible to follow its course on the XSPORT TV channel and the official website of our club.
