The biggest storylines going into the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Belgrade are whether host side U18 Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade can start a new winning streak or U18 Mega Bemax Belgrade can take first place at the event in back-to-back years. Or will another of the six teams competing claim the fourth ticket for the ANGT Finals?
In addition to the 2014 continental champion Zvezda and Mega, the final ANGT qualifier includes two-time champion U18 CFBB Paris of France, U18 Partizan NIS Belgrade, U18 Asseco Arka Gdynia, U18 Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana, U18 Maccabi Fox Tel Aviv and U18 Panathinaikos OPAP Athens.
The eight teams are broken down into two groups of four teams and will play the other three opponents in their group. The top-placed finishers in each group will face off in the first-place game. The second-place finishers will play in the third-place game; the third-placed clubs for fifth place and the bottom teams in the seventh-place game. The victor of the first-place game will advance to the ANGT Finals at the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four in May in Cologne, Germany.
U18 Herbalife Gran Canaria, defending ANGT champion U18 Real Madrid and U18 Rytas Vilnius all have secured their tickets to Germany after winning the ANGT Valencia, ANGT Munich and ANGT Kaunas, respectively.
In Belgrade this weekend, Group A includes Zvezda, Maccabi, Panathinaikos and Partizan. Zvezda won this qualifying tournament each season from 2011 to 2018 but saw its 38-game ANGT Belgrade winning streak snapped in last season's first-place game, which Mega won 73-63. Zvezda, which later received a wild card for the ANGT Finals last season, had last surrendered a defeat at the ANGT Belgrade against U18 Beovuk 72 in the 2010-11 season. Maccabi returns to the Serbian capital for the first time since 2016-17, when it finished seventh. The Israeli powerhouse finished second at the ANGT Munich last season and was granted a wild card for the ANGT Finals. Panathinaikos will be appearing in its third qualifying event, for the first time in Belgrade. The Greek side went winless and finished eighth at ANGT Munich last season. Partizan returns to Belgrade after playing at the ANGT Munich last season, where it finished seventh.
Mega tops Group B, which also includes Arka, CFBB and Olimpija. Mega will have the confidence of taking first place in Belgrade last season and ending Zvezda's long run of dominance. Mega reached the ANGT Championship Game last season but lost to Real Madrid. That was Mega's second appearance in the championship game after losing to CFBB in 2017. Arka has not played in the competition since 2008 when the Polish side went 1-3 in Belgrade in the final season of a four-year run in the qualifiers. CFBB is one of five teams with two U18 continental titles (2010 and 2017). The others are U18 Zalgiris Kaunas, U18 FMP Belgrade, U18 Real Madrid and U18 Rytas Vilnius, while U18 CSKA Moscow collected three straight championships from 2004 to 2006. The French club will be playing in Belgrade after competing at the ANGT Kaunas for the last five seasons, taking third place last year in the Lithuania tournament. Olimpija will be playing in the competition for the 12th time in the last 13 seasons. Last year, the Slovenian team took fourth place at ANGT Belgrade.