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Group B preview: A former BIBL winner is joined by two ambitious teams

Group B preview: A former BIBL winner is joined by two ambitious teams
10-10-2020 | 15:37

The new season in the Balkan League is just a few days away and we continue with the presentation of the Israeli teams that will take part in the competition. After looking at groups C and D, now it′s the time for Group B. There we can see a former winner in Hapoel Gilboa Galil, which lifted the trophy back in 2012 and 2013, and two ambitious teams in Ironi Nahariya and Maccabi Haifa.

 

As mentioned above, Hapoel Gilboa Galil is more that familiar with the Balkan League. The team spent three season in the competition in the early 2010s winning it twice and finishing runner-up in one occasion. Now the team returns with one familiar face - the head coach of the two championships Lior Lubin is once again here and eager to prove himself at this stage once again. Gilboa Galil managed to reach the semifinals of Israeli league last season which is a testament about the team′s quality. There is a good mix of local Israeli players and Americans who must add experience, quality and competitiveness.  

 

Ironi Nahariya is no stranger to European competitions and it had a strong 2016-2017 season reaching the 1/4 finals in FIBA Europe Cup. After the team though had two straight seasons finishing 11th in Israeli league, now the ambitions and the goals are without doubt bigger. Despite that, earlier this year, Ironi reached the Cup final in Israel which is a testament that this is another quality team. Danny Franco is the experienced head coach of the team for the past two season and he has an impressive resume with winning the Israeli championship in 2015 with Hapoel Jerusalem. Ironi will for sure battle hard for the first place and this should translate in to interesting games for the fans.

 

When are one of the oldest team in Israel and when you′ve been a champion just few years ago, you should always have big ambitions. Such is the case with Maccabi Haifa who in 2013 shocked Maccabi Tel Aviv and won the title. The team had few good years after before however being relegated to the second division. They spent there just one year returning for the last season and finishing 5th in the Regular season. Now Maccabi will try to continue the same way and performing well in the Balkan League would be good start. The head coach Daniel Seoane is relatively young but already with good experience. He′s been in charge since April 2019 leading the team to the title in second division and to a good season in the Premier league. Now he is getting a chance to continue and will hope to do even better. As every other team, Maccabi will count on a good mix of young and experienced player - both local and from USA, and hopefully for the team they′ll have enough to put up a big fight and aim for the top positions.

 

In the first group B game on Tuesday, October 13th, Hapoel Galil Gilboa will host Maccabi Haifa. The game will be broadcast LIVE on Sport 5 channel and on YouTube.

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