01 September, 2016
30 April, 2017
Fulvio Bastianini
23/08/2016
News
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Charleroi want to shine in prestigious Basketball Champions League

CHARLEROI (Basketball Champions League) – Ten-time Belgian champions Proximus Spirou Charleroi are one of the eight clubs that have been included in Group E of the Basketball Champions League following the expansion of the competition last week from 32 to 40 teams and from four to five Regular Season groups.

"We must realize how prestigious it is to take part in such competition. Any professional athlete hopes to play at the top European level and our players will do that in the 2016/17 season." - Bastianini

Charleroi were initially set to enter the competition in Qualification Round 2 and fight off the winner of the tie between Kataja Basket and Södertälje Kings for a berth in the Regular Season. Head coach Fulvio Bastianini, who took the reins of Proximus Spirou this year following a long spell at Belgacom Liege, learned of the development just as he was welcoming players to training camp and is delighted that the bar has been raised in his first European campaign at his new team.

“[Entering Group E] was great news to start the season,” Bastianini said. “Many sacrifices have been made, the management of the club has put in so much work to bring back Charleroi to the top, it was a goal that had to be achieved and now we have reached it, so it is a form of reward to all the hard daily work.

“I think we should try to do the best possible and try to go as far as possible. It will require us to take it game by game and at the same time enjoy ourselves. We must realize how prestigious it is to take part in such a competition. Any professional athlete hopes to one day play at the top European level and our players will have the opportunity to do that in the 2016/17 season.”

The Belgian side will go up against AEK Athens, Partizan KK Belgrade, Polish champions Stelmet Zielona Gora, Besiktas Sompo Japan Istanbul, Dinamo Sassari, MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg and Hungarian champions Szolnoki Olaj in Group E.

“Besiktas, AEK and Dinamo are consecrated teams that clearly have larger budgets than us,” Bastianini said. “At the start point they are superior, but we will see how they play on the court. What’s certain is that if we want to get results against these teams, it will require us to be good collectively.”

While Bastianini officially took charge of the team in August, the club and the coach had agreed terms already last spring and that is part of the reason they planned the new season and put together the roster relatively early in the summer.

Charleroi brought in Ioann Iarochevitch, who had worked with Bastianini at Liege as well as Niels Marnegrave to further strengthen their Belgian core, which also includes fellow Belgian internationals Kevin Tumba, Loïc Schwartz, Alexandre Libert, Maxime Gaudoux and Yannick Diop.

Spirou also added an American forward who is well-versed in the European game in Jevohn Shepherd, who played last season for Pesaro in the Italian Serie A. Charleroi also signed three up-and-coming compatriots of the 30-year-old small forward in 25-year-old center Adam Kemp, shooting guard Dietrich James (D.J.) Richardson who impressed last season with Finnish champions Kouvot and 24-year-old Darnell Harris. The last addition to the roster was that of 21-year-old forward Haris Delalic, of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“A club like Proximus Spirou must clearly have high ambitions, winning the Belgian Cup and becoming [Belgian] champion. In addition, we want to shine on the European stage,” said Bastianini.