Bulgaria takes on Spain in its first battle of EuroBasket 2022 – Basketball – EuroBasket
The men’s national basketball team of Bulgaria is playing against Spain in the opening match of the European Championship. The Group A match is today at 14:30 Bulgarian time in Tbilisi.
The opponent of the “lions” is the world champion from the World Cup 2019. Our group also includes Turkey, Montenegro, Belgium and Georgia. Bulgaria is returning to the European stage after missing three consecutive championships on the Old Continent.
In the days before the start of EuroBasket 2022, Rosen Barchovski’s team recorded two victories in the preliminary qualifiers for the European Championship in 2025 – over Cyprus with 88:55 and over Romania with 84:72. Vezenkov is the great leader of the “lions” – in the first meeting he finished with 24 points and 8 rebounds, and in the second – with 28 points and 15 rebounds. Expectations are high for Dee Bost, even though they didn’t turn up well against Romania. The naturalized American will end his career with the Bulgarian team after the end of EuroBasket 2022.
Konstantin Kostadinov, Ventsislav Petkov, Vasil Bachev and David Kravish, who joined the team in the last month, dropped out of Bulgaria’s group at the last moment. The most experienced in the lineup with Chavdar Kostov and Alexander Yanev.
Spain has a rather rejuvenated squad compared to the World Cup three years ago. Only Rudy Fernandez and brothers Willie and Juancho Hernangomez remain. The team recorded two leading victories in the world qualifiers at the end of August – over Iceland with 87:57 and the Netherlands with 86:64. Before that, however, the Spanish lost three of their four controls – twice to Lithuania and once to Greece.
COMPOSE
BULGARIA: Ivan Alipiev, Dee Bost, Deyan Karamfilov, Chavdar Kostov, Alexander Yanev, Emil Stoilov, Pavlin Ivanov, Stanimir Marinov, Andrey Ivanov, Alex Simeonov, Dimitar Dimitrov, Alexander Vezenkov
Breeder Rosen Barchovski
SPAIN: Lorenzo Braun, Jaime Pradia, Rudy Fernandez, Xabi Lopez-Arostegui, Jaime Fernandez, Dario Brizuela, Alberto Diaz, Sebas Sais, Ousmane Garuba, Willy Hernangomez, Juancho Hernangomez, Joel Parra
Selector Sergio Scariolo