MADRID, 1 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
CD Ilunion, Bidaideak Bilbao and Econy Gran Canaria will begin their respective paths this Friday to qualify for the quarterfinals of the Champions Cup, the top European wheelchair basketball competition.
With Amiab Albacete, winner of the last two editions, exempt from this first round along with the German RSB Thuringia Bulls, current runner-up, another 14 teams are looking for their place divided into three mini-tournaments that will be played between Friday and Saturday and that each will grant two places among the eight best.
Ilunion, triple continental champion and runner-up against the La Mancha team in 2022, will play in Austria against the host Interwetten-Coloplast Sitting Bulls, its rival for the debut, the German Baskets Hamburg, the Italian GSD Porto Torre and the French CHT de Lannion, at which will also be measured this Friday, playing its other two games on Saturday.
For its part, Bidaideak Bilbao, current champion of the Copa del Rey, was placed in the only group of four teams with the powerful Turkish Galatasaray, which will play at home, the French Hornets Le Cannet, its debut rival on Friday, and the German Cologne 99ers.
The Econy Gran Canaria, finally, will be measured in another group with five components and that will take place in Italy together with the powerful German RSV Lahn-Dill, which it will face in its debut, the French CS Meaux, the Stefano Sport and the Briante84 Cantú Italians, the latter the host.