For the first time ever, next week will see the arrival of the Euroleague to England with The Barking Abbey Academy Euroleague Basketball Junior Classification Tournament taking place from February 18th-20th at Goresbrook Leisure Centre in Dagenham.

The cast of talent expected to be seen, should be, to put it simply, spectacular with eight teams from eight countries joining the hosts, Barking Academy. Those teams are; Union Olimpija of Slovenia, USK Future Stars Prague of the Czech Republic, Khimki Moscow Region of Russia, Kyiv of Ukrain, Lauretana Biella of Italy, Le Mans Sarthe Basket of France, Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv of Israel and Zadar of Croatia.

Two legs of the tournament have already been held so far, with Zalgiris Kaunas getting their ticket to the Final Four in the Citta Di Roma tourney, and Cajasol of Seville getting their ticket at the Ciutat de L’Hospitalet. There are two more qualifiers to be held, one in Belgrade from 12-14th February and then the final one in London.

The tournament winners advance to the Nike International Junior Tournament at the 2010 Final Four in Paris from May 7-9 to play for a chance to be recognised as the best Junior club side in Europe.

If you are around London next week, in fact if you are free anywhere in England, this SHOULD NOT BE MISSED! And if you do miss it, I’ll be filming the whole thing anyway so don’t worry too much :)

It is £2 entrance for students, £5 for adults all day ticket.

You can keep up with all the days events and the custom-built website for the event at http://www.euroleaguelondon.com

You can see the official press release and full schedule on the Euroleague’s Official Website

Image Credit: http://www.builtwithcare.me

Related posts:

1. Video: Euroleague Nike International Junior Tournament London
2. NBA Stars Coming to London?
3. Video: Josh Johnson at the Euroleague Nike International Junior Tournament 2010
4. Five-Star Basketball Camp Coming to the UK
5. Pops Mensah-Bonsu, CSKA Moscow Make Euroleague Final Four