Basketball Ireland has entered a combined team in the newly formed FIBA Europe Men’s Club Competition. Hibernia Basketball will be created to accommodate the best men’s players from the 20 teams competing in the National League.
The new tournament will follow a similar format to the Europa League in soccer and potentially bring some of the best teams in Europe to play in Dublin.
Hibernia Basketball will play their home matches at the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght. The first leg of the first round of qualification will take place on Wednesday, September 30th.
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Read about Basketball Ireland’s new sponsorship deals with “We made the case to FIBA Europe that lower ranked federations should be allowed enter a team that will be competitive,” said Basketball Ireland Secretary General and National League Commissioner Bernard O’Byrne.
“It was great to work a governing body that listens to its member federations.”
“We view this as a great opportunity for players in all 20 clubs in our National League. We think it is a great new platform and the aim is to climb up the competitive ladder within FIBA.”
“It represents an investment in the players and in the image of the league and opens the door for us to play a wider range of European opposition.”
“We’ll be starting in the qualifying rounds and it would be a tremendous challenge to reach the group stages in our first year. Teams will be at our level or slightly higher which can only help us to improve. Our ultimate goal would be to reach the first level competition within Europe.”
“This is a new dawn for Men’s basketball. We will be pulling out the stops to ensure the Arena is full to capacity for the home leg of the first round in this competition.”
