The Sabah basketball team will play its first game in the FIBA ​​Champions League in Baku on October 15 at 8:00 PM.

Offsideplus.az reports that the head coach of the “Owls” Rimas Kurtinaitis spoke about the team’s preparation against the “Alba” (Berlin) club in a statement to our website before the game:

“We are playing in the Champions League, which is one of the best tournaments in Europe, so it is not easy for us. We do not have much experience at this level and although we have several foreign players, most of them have not played in the European Champions League before. Yes, it is a bit difficult. But we are training well, we are ready to play. Our first game against “Nymburk” was not good at all, we had no energy. Everything seemed good in training, when we went out on the field we played twice as slow as usual. I think this was mainly due to the fact that we are still getting used to this new tournament and its atmosphere. Now we understand better what it is like and I believe that we will perform better tomorrow. Without a doubt, we will play for victory - there is no question about it. No matter what, we will do our best "We will do it and we will try to win."

He spoke about the atmosphere at the National Gymnastics Arena, where the match will be held, and called on fans to support the team:

"I want to ask everyone in Baku to come and support us again - we really need our fans, especially the basketball and football fans of "Sabah". This is our team and we also try to support football games. That's why we want their support. We will do our best to play great basketball and I hope we will win the first Champions League victory in the history of Azerbaijani basketball.

When it comes to playing at the National Gymnastics Arena, it's definitely different. It's a big, world-class gym and an amazing feeling. It's bigger than the arenas we usually play in, so of course the feeling on the court is different - there's more space, more atmosphere. But overall we're happy to play here. We had a few big games in the European Cups last season, but this is our first time in such a big arena. The court is perfect, the baskets are great - now we just need fans in the stands and "We are ready for the game."