MANISA (Türkiye) - Season 3 of the Youth Basketball Champions League is ready to roll again on April 22. When we tip-off this time around, we will have five new teams and two new countries represented.
The growth of this event has been dramatic and these new teams are not just here to make up the numbers. Let's get to know our first hopefuls from Serbia, Spartak Office Shoes.
THE PAST
Spartak Subutica or Spartak Office Shoes for sponsorship reasons, is a men's professional basketball club based in Subotica, Serbia.
The club was founded in 1945 and celebrates its 80th anniversary this year, and won the ABA Second Division in 2024 to earn a promotion into the ABA First Division.
Only the year before that, the club earned their return to the Serbian KLS in 2022, after winning the 2MLS championship.
This season the club narrowly lost 87-84 to Juventus in the BCL qualifiers and are ranked seventh in the ABA League with a 14-12 record.
Spartak have been involved in charity work and working with children and youth for years. Currently, more than 600 boys and girls in Subotica have a chance to practice basketball for free thanks to the efforts of the club.
THE PRESENT
The team that has arrived in Manisa is made up of players from their U19 and U17 teams. Both teams play in the age appropriate Serbian League competitions and the U19's played in the U19 ABA League this season.
The U17s are in the Serbian League Play-Offs and will face Mega Basket, whilst the U19s will also head to the Play-Offs after Manisa, where they will take on FMP.
The U19s played their last game in the Serbian League on April 15 and recorded a 91-87 win over Mega.
The 2007-born generation will be led by forward Aleksandar Culum who is averaging 5.6 points in the U19 league and put put up 19 points vs Radnicki in December.
Vukasin Kovacevic will be a another leader in the 2007-born group. He has put up 7.8 points and 5.3 rebounds this season, and had a huge double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds against Konstantin Nis in January.
Combo guard Pavle Steljic, also a 2007-born, is totaling 7.7 points per game including 17 points versus FMP in October.
The rest of the 2007 generation includes Aleksandar Matija Vukovic, seven-footer Jovan Vukovic (unrelated), and Aleksa Mucalj.
Amongst the 2008-born generation is Simon Grubanov, Luka Kockar, Srdjan Bakula, Nemanja Muhadinovic, and Aleksandar Nedeljkovic who is the second-top scorer in the Serbian U17 League.
Also, look out for 2009-born point guard Ognjen Simjanovski who will be part of the Serbian U16 national team for this summer.
THE FUTURE
Spartak open their YBCL campaign on April 22 at 17:30 in Group D against ERA Nymburk. The Czech powerhouse will be an experienced opponent, coming back again in this competition after finishing tenth in 2023, and seventh in 2024.
The second part of Spartak's "Welcome to the YBCL" double-header comes on April 23 at 20:00 against perennial challengers, and likely group favorites, Tofas Bursa.
Tofas finished second in 2023 when they hosted, and ended another strong campaign last year with a third-placed finish.
Spartak represent the unknown for both of their opponents in Group D and head coach Nikola Nikolic will be hoping to capitalize on that and pick up the two wins they will need to guarantee a shot at the podium.