Basketball: Monaco at the Final Four 26 years after the last French club, why such a long wait?

2023-05-11 20:10:04

We call it making history. For the first time since 1997, in the absence of a “French” club since it is that of the principality, a representative of French basketball is qualified for the Final Four of the Euroleague, the Champions League of basketball players. The last four, with Barcelona, ​​Real Madrid and Greek Olympiacos, will take place in Kaunas, Lithuania from May 19-21. Monaco, who defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv in 5 sets (3-2), will face the Greek club in the semi-finals on May 19. The Roca Team will not start as favorites for the title but anything is possible. In the meantime, this feat marks the hexagonal basketball that has waited so long. Here’s why.

The 5th French club in the last four

After Berck and the Jean Galle generation in the mid-1970s (1974, 75), Alain Gilles’ Asvel in 1976 and 1978, Freddy Hufnagel’s Pau-Orthez in 1987, Richard Dacoury’s CSP Limoges in 1993 and 1995 and then the latest Asvel by Greg Beugnot in 1997, Monaco is the fifth French basketball club to reach the semi-finals. Until the end of the 1990s, the Euroleague was still called the European Cup of Champion Clubs and only the clubs that won their domestic championship were entitled to participate in it the following year. Remember that France has only triumphed once: in 1993 thanks to Limoges. “I’m 26 myself and I had just been born when Asvel qualified,” smiles Monegasque hero Elie Okobo.

The Euroleague, a very closed league

Since the beginning of the century, European basketball has been a huge bazaar with European Cups galore (Euroleague, Eurocoupe, Champions League, Europe Cup, etc.) often difficult to read and managed by two competing bodies, sometimes even at war: the Euroleague, a private company, and FIBA ​​Europe, the equivalent of UEFA. The only Cup that is really worth is this Euroleague which crowns the best club on the continent. Only, the Euroleague is a closed circle which is accessed by invitation. Led by a private company based in Barcelona, ​​the Euroleague invites whoever it wants provided it has the means. Only two French clubs have access to it for the moment: Villeurbanne and Monaco. But the company has long been eyeing Paris and its club, Paris Basketball.

The French for a long time too poor…

From 2002 to 2016, no club in France has passed the first round of the Euroleague. Pau, Le Mans, Asvel, Strasbourg, Roanne, Orléans, Nanterre, Cholet, Nancy, Gravelines, Chalon, Limoges tried their luck without ambition. For lack of financial power. An example ? Nanterre, 10 years ago. Surprise French champion in 2013, Victor Wembanyama’s training club happily embarked on the adventure with a budget at the time of €4.5m to face golgoths like CSKA Moscow (€43m) or FC Barcelona (34M€). Nanterre stood up to the giants, even beat Barça but how to compete for an entire season under these conditions?

…or completely absent

Between 2017 and 2019, the Euroleague completely snubbed France. No chance under these conditions of having a representative in the last four. 18 teams are entitled to participate: the 13 teams holding a long-term invitation, the two Eurocup finalists from the previous season and three guests including Monaco, which owes its place to its victory in the Eurocup two years ago . Monaco, for the moment, is therefore just “tolerated” at the big table, not a permanent guest. But the club does not hide its ambitions and its desire to win the “License A”, the sesame for a presence of 10 years. His qualification for the Final Four should help him: “The qualification of the Roca Team is fantastic for Monaco, for French basketball. We must rejoice and congratulate her, ”says Jacques Monclar, the voice of basketball on BeINSPORT.

Monaco has given itself the means

Leader of the Betclic Elite, very big favorite for the title of champion of France, the Roca Team has given itself the means to go to the end. Already a quarter-finalist last year, it benefits from a budget of €20.7 million and a payroll of €10.8 million, pharaonic amounts on the scale of French basketball. It is essential to play on two tables: around forty Euroleague matches and as many in the league. Asvel with its 15.7M€ did not last the distance. With such a piggy bank, Monaco presents the most beautiful workforce of French basketball since, perhaps, always. “I have no memory of such a team at this level in the French Championship”, says for example Vincent Collet, the coach of the Blues. “We reached the Final Four in just two seasons, appreciates Sasa Obradovic. Historic clubs like Maccabi Tel-Aviv have waited years to reach it. We deserved this attention, we deserve to be in the Final Four. There are two games left to play. Let’s keep dreaming! »