The countdown has begun, and from the 25th to 27th of January the preliminary round of the adidas Next Generation Tournament 2019 - ANGT for short - will begin in Munich. The U18 tournament in which the best young players in Europe compete against each other will find its way into the Audi Dome for the second time in its 17-year history.
32 teams want to reach the Final Four
The ANGT will be held in four different qualification rounds. In addition to Munich, the top European teams will also be competing in Valencia (already played, winner: Valencia), Kaunas (Lithuania) and Belgrade (Serbia) for entry into the Final Four. In all rounds the eight teams are divided into two groups of four each. The group phase is followed by the deciding, placement games. The four preliminary round winners plus four wildcard teams will play for the honor of being the best junior team on the continent parallel to the EuroLeague Final Four (17th - 19th May).
For the second time in Munich
Last year, the ANGT preliminary round celebrated its German premiere: For the first time in the history of the renowned junior tournament, one of the qualification rounds took place on German soil. As with this year, the venue was the Munich Audi Dome. Previously, only Spanish, Lithuanian, Italian and Serbian cities witnessed the high-class U18 games. The Munich preliminary round proved to be a complete success, in the final the Real Madrid team defeated the surprisingly strong hosts in front of 1,500 spectators and entered the final round in Belgrade. This time the teams from Frankfurt, Belgrade, Tel Aviv, Madrid, Berlin, Ulm and Athens will visit the Bavarian state capital
Bayern's record in the ANGT
Bayern's U18 is about to take part in their fifth ANGT: Munich has entered the ANGT since the 2013/14 season. The 2018 tournament brought the greatest success when, after two wins in the group stage against Piraeus and Seville, they were the first in the group to face Real Madrid in the final - against whom they were beaten despite a tough performance. FCBB youngster Kilian Binapfl was voted one of the top five players in the tournament. His team also enjoyed the invitation to the final round in Belgrade and celebrated the greatest success in the ANGT history of Bayern.
The ANGT talent factory
The junior tournament can look back on a long list of former participants, including several basketball stars today: In addition to the EuroLeague players Arturs Gudaitis, Nemanja Nedovic (both Milan), Thomas Heurtel (FC Barcelona), Luigi Datome, Marko Guduric (both Fenerbahce Istanbul), Alexej Shved (Khimki Moscow) and Klemen Prepelic (Real Madrid), the two NBA superstars Luka Doncic (Dallas) and Dario Saric (Philadelphia) also showed off their talent at the ANGT.
ANGT Tickets
The tournament tickets for the ANGT cost only 10 Euros each game and are valid for all three game days. Season ticket holders of the FCBB have free entry.
The ANGT teams:
Group A
Real Madrid
Alba Berlin
Ratiopharm Ulm
Panathinaikos Athens
Group B
FC Bayern Basketball
Maccabi Tel Aviv
Partizan Belgrade
Fraport Skyliners Frankfurt
The games of the FCBB U18:
Friday, January 25th
11:00.: FCBB - Fraport Skyliners Frankfurt
19:00: FCBB - Partizan Belgrade
Saturday, January 26th
14:30: FCBB - Maccabi Tel Aviv
Sunday, January 27th
10:00.: Placement games (final at 16:00.)