FIBA Europe Cup opponents confirmed for London Lions

By Bradley Gains on September 23, 2020

Image credit: BCL

London Lions now know who they are set to face in the FIBA Europe Cup regular season, even if it may not be at the forefront of their minds having lost their qualifier in the Basketball Champions League a little more than 24 hours ago.

The BBL side were provisionally placed in Group E, when the group stage draw took place last month, alongside three losers from the BCL qualifiers – now confirmed to be Dnipro (Ukraine), Fribourg (Switzerland) and Anwil Wloclawek (Poland) with the competition start being pushed back to January.

The main goal was of course to make it to the group stages of the Basketball Champions League, but the Lions still have a chance to make a splash in European competition via the FIBA Europe Cup – even if their roster may look different come the New Year.

There is already uncertainty regarding the upcoming BBL season following the latest guidelines set out by the government that included the delay in plans to welcome fans back to sports from its initial October date.

The Lions can still make history by becoming the first British side to win in Europe in over a decade with the FIBA Europe Cup not as strong as previous editions and with a reduced field in terms of participating clubs, too.

Leicester Riders followed the same path in the 2018-19 season as they entered the FIBA Europe Cup regular season – after a loss to Bakken Bears in the BCL – but went 0-6 in their group with home/away defeats against Dinamo Sassari as well as Hungarian duo Falco and Szolnoki.

Do you like our work?

We have a tiny favour to ask. In 2018 we set out to make Hoopsfix sustainable by building our relationship directly with our readers. Up until now, Hoopsfix has been creating editorials, videos and podcasts to provide sorely missing coverage of the British game and its distinct culture and community.

We have funded Hoopsfix with our freelance work creating basketball media, but sadly that means not only does it fall behind our client’s priorities, but some of those clients are the same organisations we need to report objectively on putting us in a conflicted position.

We want to devote more time to our mission of helping British basketball reach its potential, and produce even more content for the basketball community by making Hoopsfix a sustainable 100% independent business funded directly by our readers through Patreon.

If everyone who enjoys our content chose to support us, our future would be much more secure. For as little as $3 per month, you can support Hoopsfix – and it only takes a minute.

We are tremendously honoured and humbled to have a community of people who value what we do, and we look forward to being at the forefront of the British game as it continues to evolve.

Support Hoopsfix