First ANGT Qualifier starts Friday in Valencia | Adidas Next Generation Tournament

The 18th edition of the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament will tip off once again in southeastern Spain as U18 Valencia Basket will host seven other teams from Friday, December 27 through Sunday, December 29. It is the first of four qualifiers over two months whose winners will qualify for the ANGT Finals at the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four in Cologne, Germany in May.

The eight-team field in Valencia also includes 2016 continental champion U18 FC Barcelona as well as ANGT debutant U18 Tofas Bursa. The teams are broken down into two groups of four teams playing round-robin style with the two first-place finishers facing off in Sunday's first-place game for a spot at the ANGT Finals. Also on Sunday. The second-placed teams from each group will play for third place while the third-place finishers will square off for fifth and the final two teams for seventh place. U18 Valencia Basket defended its home court last season, winning all four games, to make its first-ever appearance in the finals.

This time, Group A is made up of Valencia, U18 Cibona Zagreb, U18 Olympiacos Piraeus and U18 Unicaja Malaga. Cibona is back in the competition after not playing in 2018-19. The Croatian club had competed in the previous three ANGTs and four of the last five. Olympiacos, which grabbed third place last year at ANGT Belgrade and fourth the year before at ANGT Munich, will be playing a qualifier for the third straight season, all in different countries. Unicaja is also making its return after not playing a qualifier last season. The Spanish club appeared in the event from 2011-12 to 2017-18, hosting the ANGT Coin in 2016-17 and claiming fifth place at ANGT L'Hospitalet the following season.

Group B includes Barcelona, U18 LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne, U18 Herbalife Gran Canaria and Tofas. The 2016 champion, Barcelona, which also reached the ANGT Championship Game in 2008 and 2013, slumped to fifth place at the ANGT Valencia last season and missed out on finals for a second straight season. Gran Canaria is another team returning to the competition after not playing in 2018-19. The club reached the ANGT L'Hospitalet semifinal in 2016-17 and was fourth at the same tournament a season later. ASVEL will play for a third straight season after the French club finished seventh at ANGT Valencia last year and third at ANGT L'Hospitalet in 2017-18. ASVEL also competed in the ANGT in 2009, 2010 and 2015. The final team is U18 Tofas, from Bursa, Turkey, which will be playing in the competition for the first time.

The group games will be played at L'Alqueria Del Basket, Valencia Basket's state-of-the-art facility. The placement games will be played at La Fonteta, Valencia's home court in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.