“It will be a very balanced group in which anyone can beat anyone, except perhaps Serbia. We can be satisfied with the group, but at the moment no one knows what composition the teams will play, who will come and in what form,” said the national team coach. Ronen Ginzburg.

The tournament, which was postponed for a year due to the coronavirus pandemic and the postponement of the Olympic Games, will take place from 1 to 18 September 2022. Four teams from each group will advance to the playoffs. The elimination phase will take place in Berlin.

Coach Ginzburg, who also acquired Czech citizenship last October, can look forward to an interesting duel with the national team. The Czechs last played with Israel in July 2014 in preparation in Moscow and won 73:63.

Patrik Auda, the national pivot, discussed not only the European Championship in the new Basketball Focus podcast:

“Of course, this will be very special and interesting. So far I have only played against Israeli teams at the club level, not against the national team. It can be seen now that the Israeli media called me right after the lottery and asked about Satoransky, Vesely, Hruban, “Ginzburg said.

From the strongest first basket, Serbia’s silver defender won his selection. At the last meeting, the Czechs lost in the duel for the final fifth place at the previous year’s World Cup in Beijing 81:90, yet they achieved historic success.

The Czechs competed with Finland in the World Cup qualifiers in China and won both in November 2017 in Helsinki (64:56) and seven months later at home in Pardubice (77:73). The last time two preparatory duels were played with the Dutch in August 2014 was before the European Championships and they won twice (77:68 and 65:51).

Nowitzki was to blame

Because German basketball legend Dirk Nowitzki pulled the Czechia out of destiny as the last of the organizers in Group D, the tournament for the team will not begin until the second day of the championship on Friday, September 2, with a duel with Poland. A day later, the Czechs encounter Serbia, on September 5 they will face the Netherlands, a day later Finland and Israel on September 8.

“But Israel is not the only team in the group. There are others who guarantee a great atmosphere. The Finns will definitely bring a lot of fans, Poland too,” Ginzburg said in anticipation of a good atmosphere at the O2 arena. “Serbia may be the best in Europe and in the world. But it will be a great atmosphere and good news for fans to see all these stars,” said Ginzburg, a duel with Serbian stars led by Nikola Jokic or Bogdan Bogdanovich.

“I am optimistic towards EuroBasket. Not because of the lot, but in general. I believe that if we are healthy, we can play great things for the Czechia,” Ginzburg hoped in a similar way as at the World Cup in China.

“The group is beautifully distributed. All teams have loyal fans who will definitely come to Prague. Serbia can probably put together the strongest team of all participants on paper, we know the Poles well … It’s well drawn so that the matches are in front of a full audience and we have procedure in their own hands, “said Captain Vojtech Hruban.

Poland chose the Czech team as a partner team to the group in mid-March. Germany then chose Lithuania, Georgia Turkey and Italy Estonia. Ginzburg’s team was placed in the second basket at the draw.

In Group A, in addition to the home team of Georgia and Turkey, the reigning world champions are the Spaniards, Russians, Belgians and Bulgarians. In addition to Lithuania, the Germans will also host France, the defenders of the triumph of Slovenia, Hungary and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In Group C, Greeks, Croats, Ukrainians and British were forged in Italy and Estonia.