Slovenia - Ukraine: announcement of the opening match of the EuroBasket 2025 qualifiers

On Thursday, February 22, the Ukrainian men's national basketball team will start the qualifying tournament for the 2025 European Championship. Slovenia will be the first opponent of coach Vitalii Stepanovskyi's team. The teams are in Group A, where Israel and Portugal also play.

The match between the Ukrainians and the Balkans will take place at the Bonifika Arena in Koper. Watch the online broadcast of the match Slovenia - Ukraine on OBOZ.UA. The match starts at 19:00 Kyiv time.

WHERE TO WATCH SLOVENIA VS UKRAINE

Ukrainian basketball fans will be able to support the national team via a live broadcast on Xsport TV channel.

The game will also be available on the official website of the Basketball Federation of Ukraine (FBU).

SLOVENIA VS UKRAINE FORECAST

The hosts are the favorites of the match. Bets on the Slovenian team to win are accepted with odds of 1.26. The odds on the success of the Ukrainians reach 3.50.

TEAM SQUADS

Slovenia: Jaka Blažič, Žiga Dimec, Gregor Hrovat, Aljaž Kunc, Miha Lapornik, Jakob Čebašek, Aleksej Nikolič, Bine Prepelič, Klemen Prepelič, Žiga Samar, Leon Stergar, Tibor Mirtič, Mike Tobi.

Ukraine: Vitalii Zotov, Oleksandr Mishula, Oleksandr Kovliar, Anatolii Shundel, Pavlo Krutous, Ivan Tkachenko, Andrii Voynalovych, Viacheslav Bobrov, Viacheslav Petrov, Artem Pustovyi, Bohdan Bryniuk.

WORDS BEFORE THE MATCH

Aleksandar Sekulic, head coach of the Slovenian national team:

– Ukraine is the team we pay the most attention to and think about the most. This is an extremely high-quality team, perhaps even the most demanding opponent in our group. Their players play in European competitions and the Spanish league. The players have extensive experience in major competitions. They are tall and physically fit, so it will be a very interesting match.

Vitalii Stepanovskyi, head coach of the Ukrainian national team:

– We have to play aggressively in defense. The Slovenes have a lot of shooters and, first of all, we have to be very careful with Prepelic and Blažić. It is important to feel the game and complicate all the attacks that will come from them. The Slovenes also have a very experienced player, Mike Tobey. He may not get a lot of time at Red Star, but he will play 100% in the national team, and he is also a good shooter.

HISTORY OF MEETINGS

European Championships 1997

Slovenia - Ukraine - 75:80 (46:45, 29:35)

European Championship 2001, qualifying round

Ukraine - Slovenia - 63:76 (33:45, 30:31)

Slovenia - Ukraine - 96:73 (20:17, 23:14, 27:24, 26:18)

Eurobasket 2011. Group stage

Ukraine - Slovenia - 64:68 (12:18, 8:23, 18:16, 26:11)

EuroBasket 2013, match for 5-6th place

Slovenia - Ukraine - 69:63 (16:23, 24:13, 14:8, 15:9)

EuroBasket 2017. Qualification

Slovenia - Ukraine - 84:77 (23:15, 25:24, 24:17, 12:21)

Ukraine - Slovenia - 69:80 (17:15, 19:27, 19:11, 14:27)

EuroBasket 2017. 1/8 finals

Slovenia - Ukraine - 79:55 (26:17, 16:10, 26:16, 11:12)

2019 World Cup. Qualification

Ukraine - Slovenia - 82:54 (22:18, 13:7, 23:9, 24:20)

Slovenia - Ukraine - 85:84 OT (17:20, 13:21, 18:17, 28:18, 9:8)

EuroBasket 2022. Qualification

Slovenia - Ukraine - 84:73 (33:9, 17:19, 13:19, 21:26)

Ukraine - Slovenia - 70:65 (9:11, 15:16, 17:15, 29:23)

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