Four invitees complete 2017 Euroleague Basketball adidas Next Generation Tournament field

The greatest gathering of young club basketball talent in the world, the 2017 EUROLEAGUE BASKETBALL ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNAMENT, is now set for its final phase with the announcement of four teams receiving invitations to join four winners of qualifying events to decide among them a continental junior champion in Istanbul this spring.

The 15th anniversary edition of the ANGT Finals will be played from Thursday, May 18 to Sunday, May 21 in the Turkish metropolis, featuring six former champions.

The four invitees announced this week are U18 CFBB Paris, U18 CSKA Moscow, U18 Fenerbahce Istanbul and U18 Mega Bemax Belgrade. They will join qualifying tournament winners U18 FC Barcelona Lassa, U18 Zalgiris Kaunas, U18 Real Madrid and U18 Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade.

Barcelona is the defending champion, while Real Madrid and Crvena Zvezda were champions the previous two years. CFBB Paris, formerly called INSEP, triumphed in 2010. Zalgiris took the trophy twice, both in 2007 as well as the inaugural tournament in 2003. CSKA was three time champion from 2004 through 2006. All told, the teams coming to this year's finals have claimed nine of the 14 titles to date.

In Istanbul, a dozen group games will be played over the first three days at the Ahmet Comert Arena. For the championship game on Sunday, the two winners of their groups will move to the adjacent Sinan Erdem Dome, site of that weekend's Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four, to play for the trophy on the same floor where the continental men's club champion will be crowned later that night.

ANGT alumni continue to feature legends in the making. Many players who participated in previous events can be seen playing major roles on Turkish Airlines EuroLeague and 7DAYS EuroCup rosters today, including Bogdan Bogdanovic and Luigi Datome (Fenerbahce Istanbul), Mantas Kalnietis and Milan Macvan (EA7 Emporio Armani Milan), Nikita Kurbanov and Milos Teodosic (CSKA Moscow), Luka Doncic and Jonas Maciulis (Real Madrid), Gal Mekel (Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv) or Cedi Osman (Anadolu Efes Istanbul).

Entrance to all games of the EUROLEAGUE BASKETBALL ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNAMENT is free of charge, allowing both local and visiting fans to see many elite young talents in European basketball compete against each other, the future stars of the EuroLeague and EuroCup.

All information of groups and schedule is below:

GROUPS:

GAME SCHEDULE:

Thursday 18 May, 2017

09:00 - U18 CRVENA ZVEZDA MTS BELGRADE vs. U18 CSKA MOSCOW
11:00 - U18 CFBB PARIS vs. U18 FC BARCELONA LASSA
13:00 - U18 MEGA BEMAX BELGRADE vs. U18 REAL MADRID
15:00 - U18 FENERBAHCE ISTANBUL vs. U18 ZALGIRIS KAUNAS

Friday 19 May, 2017

09:00 - U18 CFBB PARIS vs. U18 CRVENA ZVEZDA MTS BELGRADE
11:00 - U18 CSKA MOSCOW vs. U18 FC BARCELONA LASSA
13:00 - U18 ZALGIRIS KAUNAS vs. U18 MEGA BEMAX BELGRADE
15:00 - U18 REAL MADRID vs. U18 FENERBAHCE ISTANBUL

Saturday 20 May, 2017

09:00 - U18 CFBB PARIS vs. U18 CSKA MOSCOW
11:00 - U18 CRVENA ZVEZDA MTS BELGRADE vs. U18 FC BARCELONA LASSA
13:00 - U18 REAL MADRID vs. U18 ZALGIRIS KAUNAS
15:00 - U18 FENERBAHCE ISTANBUL vs. U18 MEGA BEMAX BELGRADE

Sunday 21 May, 2017

10:00 - 1ST PLACE GROUP A VS. 1ST PLACE GROUP B