UNICEF Trophy: Megarida and Aegaleo for the title and the Final 8

OR Magarida is pitted against the Egaleo in the grand final of the Final 4 of the UNICEF Trophy tonight (19:00, ERT2) at the “Makis Liugas” DAK Glyfada. The winning team over the trophy will secure it “ticket” to the Final 8 of the Cup Men’s, where all the first seven teams in the ranking of the first round of the Stoiximan GBL (Panathinaikos, Olympiacos, PAOK, Prometheus, AEK, Karditsa and Peristeri) will take part.

OR Megara team qualified for the second consecutive year in the final of the competition, as last year it was defeated by Panionios 66-63. His team George Mantalowhich is second in the Elite League at the end of the first round, on the way to the final eliminated Proteas Voulas (75-85), Esperos Lamias (75-62), Korivos Amaliadas (68-75) and in yesterday’s first semi-final against AO Mykonos (84-80).

“World basketball is full of cases where a great semi-final performance is followed by a not-so-good performance in the final. I still have the 2006 Mundobasket semi-final in Saitama in my mind. We keep our heads down, we have a final ahead of us. If we put on a performance like this on Saturday, then we can celebrate“, stated the coach of NEM, while the captain of the team, Angelos Gatzias, said: “Every team that participates in a Final 4 goes to win it. We have to forget the semi-final, we have to come to the final to claim the trophy».

The Egaleo became the second National League 1 team to reach the final of the UNICEF Trophy, after Panionios who already won it in 2022. His team Alexis Papadatosis first in the first group of the category with 9-2, eliminated in order Apollo Patras (77-73), Cholargos (95-78), Ionio (59-110), HANTH (89-65), Ermis Schimatariou (109-100) and in the semi-final Papagou (87-81).

“Participating in the final is a miracle for us. We are playing a very strong team that is fighting for promotion through the Elite League. It’s a final, we’ll give our souls to claim what we can claim“, said the coach of Aegaleo, while Mr Fotis Vassilopoulos said: “Eating opens up the appetite. We have one more game to see where we will go».

The three-day basketball celebration will end on Sunday (29/12) with the Women’s All Star Game, at 11:30 a.m. at the Makis Liugas Sports Complex in Glyfada.