Bulgaria will show a new face in its key match for the exit to EuroBasket 2025
The men’s national team of Bulgaria renews its participation in the preliminary qualifications for the European Championship in 2025. The alumni of coach Rosen Barchovski face the team of Portugal tonight at 21:00 Bulgarian time in Coimbra. The “Lions” will try to keep their perfect asset and damage another serious step towards the second phase of the screenings. This is the first of a total of two visits for the Bulgarian team, which will also face Cyprus in Nicosia on Sunday.
At the moment, Portugal and Bulgaria are leaders of the classification in group “F”, with both teams having two wins from their first two matches. Third and fourth are the teams of Romania and Cyprus, who have no success until the third round of the group stage. Only the first-place finisher in the final standings advances to the main qualifying phase, while the remaining three teams will play additional qualifiers.
Bulgaria went to Coimbra with a group of 11 basketball players, and they will be joined by the naturalized center David Kravish. However, this group does not include the heroes of the European summer Alexander Vezenkov and Dee Bost. The former is included in his club Olympiakos in the Euroleague, while the American guard finished his career in the national team after EuroBasket 2022. The veteran Alexander Yanev, who also decided to end his path with the “lions” team, is no longer in the lineup. However, the leader of the team will once again be the captain Chavdar Kostov, who has agreed to help the team in key matches against Portugal and Cyprus.
For the first time in a while, the basketball players of the NBL leader Spartak Pleven – Tsvetomir Chernokozhev, Evgeni Hadjirusev and Nikolay Stoyanov – found a place in the national team at a great level. The young guard in the person of Emil Stoilov, Konstantin Kostadinov and Ivan Alipiev should also be ready to take over the baton. The other well-known names in the team with Alex Simeonov, Pavlin Ivanov and Andrey Ivanov.
Bulgaria Group: Emil Stoilov – Estudiantes, Tsvetomir Chernokozhev – Spartak Pleven, Alex Simeonov – CSKA, Konstantin Kostadinov – Palencia, Ivan Alipiev – Latina, Chavdar Kostov – Rila athlete, Pavlin Ivanov – Balkan, Evgeni Hadjirusev – Spartak Pleven, Deyan Karamfilov – Rila athlete, Andrey Ivanov – CSKA, Nikolay Stoyanov – Spartak Pleven, David Kravish – Unicaha
The Portugal team won two leading victories in the group so far – 75:59 over Romania and 102:69 over Cyprus. In both matches, the Mario Gomes team still has its most talented player in the form of Neemiyash Keta, who, however, competes for the Sacramento Kings in the NBA and therefore will not take part in the upcoming two matches of his team. The 213-centimeter center recorded 20 points and 10 rebounds against Romania and another 17 points and 13 rebounds against Cyprus, so his absence will likely significantly weaken the team’s basket.
Portugal squad: Daniel Relvao – Lusitania, Diogo Brito – Leida, Diogo Ventura – Sporting, Francisco Amraante – Porto, Gonzalo Delgado – Melia Joao Guerreiro – Porto, Jose Barbosa – Benfica, Miguel Queiroz – Porto, Nuno Sa – Madeira, Pedro Bastos – Vitoria, Rafael Lisboa – Spirou Charleroi, Ricardo Monteiro – Sporting, Williams – Sporting, Vladislav Vojtso – Porto
Photos: Borislav Troshev