MBC Kicks Off Its European Cup Season Against Bristol

Syntainics MBC will kick off its European North Basketball League season with a home game against the Bristol Flyers. This was decided at a league meeting in Riga. The Weißenfels team will host the British squad on October 13 for the first of four home games in the group stage. In addition, the MBC will also play four away games. Their final group-stage opponent will be UMF Tindastoll from Iceland on January 26.

Last year, the MBC hosted the final tournament but suffered a surprise defeat in the semifinals. In the end, they finished in third place. Defending champion Dziki Warsaw is competing in a different European cup this season.

Reaching the quarterfinals as an interim goal

The format of the European Cup has been changed for the upcoming season. Instead of 26, only 18 teams will participate; from two groups of nine, the top four teams will advance to the quarterfinals. There, teams can qualify for the Final Four through home-and-away series.

“This is an exciting field of participants with a wide range of countries and different basketball philosophies. We’ll face old rivals like Kapfenberg and Bristol, as well as strong new opponents such as Jonava from the basketball powerhouse Lithuania and Tindastoll from Iceland, which has signed several big names,” said Sports Director Silvano Poropat. “We want to achieve a lot in the ENBL again; qualifying for the quarterfinals is our first interim goal.”