As was previously reported, "Prometey" would play home matches of the EuroCup at "Arena Riga".
Today we are telling about the new home court of our team.
Arena Riga recently turned to 16 years old. Immediately after its opening, it hosted the 2006 World Hockey Championship, and last year it became the venue for the second time.
The first major basketball events after the opening were the All-Star Game and the Final Four of the Baltic League for the 2006/2007 season.
In addition to concerts (Depeche Mode, Metallica, Rammstein, Sting, Elton John and other world-class artists have performed here), many sports events take place in the arena - the legendary local hockey team "Dynamo" plays home matches here.
It is interesting that, in addition to hockey and basketball games, Arena Riga hosts the world championship in motor freestyle every year!
At basketball matches, the hall can accommodate 11,200 spectators.
Over the years of its existence, six European championships and two world basketball championships were held at the Riga Arena:
2008 - European Championship among men's U20 National teams
The Ukrainian youth team, which included the current player of "Prometey" Denys Lukashov, as well as such famous basketball players as Serhii Gladyr, Oleksandr Kolchenko, Oleksandr Sizov, Stanislav Timofeenko, took 8th place. The MVP of the championship was Vladimir Dashych, who played for BC "Ternopil" last season.
2009 - European Championship among women's National teams
Our team participated in that championship. However, we played the group in the city of Liepaja, but did not make it to the final stage, which took place in Riga.
2011 - World Cup among men's U19 National teams
Youth teams of Ukraine have never played at the world championships. The Lithuanian team then became the champion, and Jonas Valanciunas was recognized as the MVP.
2013 - European Championship among men's U18 National teams
Our juniors, among whom was the current player of "Prometey" Illia Sydorov, finished that championship in 14th place and were relegated to Division B. Such well-known representatives of Latvia and Lithuania in the NBA as Kristaps Porzingis and Domantas Sabonis played in that tournament.
2015 - European Championship among men's National teams
The EuroBasket, which was supposed to take place in our country, was moved to four countries - France, Croatia, Germany and Latvia - due to the invasion of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine in 2014. The National team of Ukraine played group stage matches at the Riga Arena. Let us remind, at that time our opponents were the teams of the three Baltic countries - Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, as well as Belgium and the Czech Republic. Two current players of our team, Lukashov and Lypovyy, played for the blue-yellow team. And the Czech national team under the leadership of the current head coach of "Prometheus" Ronen Ginzburg took 7th place.
2018 - European Championship among men's U18 National teams
The national team of Ukraine again played in Division A and again in Latvia, and was again relegated to Division B. The Serbians became champions, and the Latvian team won silver at the home championship.
2019 - European Championship among women's National teams
The games of the tournament took place in two countries - Latvia and Serbia. The National team of Ukraine played in Riga again. Unfortunately, then our girls lost all three matches and did not leave the group.
2021 - World Cup among men's U19 National teams
The USA team became the champion at Arena Riga, which defeated the French team in the gold match - 83:81. And the MVP of that tournament was the second pick of this year's NBA draft, Chet Holmgren. It is interesting that, according to experts, the most likely first pick of the future draft, Victor Vembanyama, played for the French.
In 2025, "Arena Riga" will once again host the men's EuroBasket once again. And now not only the group stage, but also the final stage of the tournament.
This year, "Arena Riga" became the home for the Ukrainian National team, where five "Prometey" basketball players played - Sanon, Sydorov, Tkachenko, Petrov and Lukashov. Let us remind you that Oleksandr Lypovyy is recovering from an injury, due to which he was unable to help the National team. The blue and yellow team played home games against Georgia and Spain in the capital of Latvia. And on August 24, the Independence Day of Ukraine, our National team will host the Italian team in the match of the second round of qualification for the 2023 World Cup at the Riga Arena.
As you can see, Latvia is a very basketball country, which has successfully held a huge number of top international competitions in our favourite sport at the Riga Arena. Now "Prometey" will add their victories to the rich basketball history of the main arena of the capital of Latvia.
