Exited through the back door of the 2023 edition of the Euroleague of basketball, completed with a last place in the ranking and 13 consecutive defeats, Villeurbanne is in search of redemption with a team still largely overhauled this summer and stimulated by the entry into its new Arena.
“Of course, we went to the final of the French Cup and won the Leaders Cup but we have very high standards at Asvel and this season will be a bit of a revenge season for us,” warned president Tony Parker in mid-September in an interview with the daily newspaper Le Progrès.
In the championship, the ambition will be to regain the title from Monaco, “the best team on paper” according to Parker. The Roca Team remains on six consecutive victories over the Rhone club, all competitions combined, and already has a perfect record of five victories and zero defeats since the start of the season, compared to 3 victories and 2 defeats for the Villeurbannais.
Euroleague play-off objective
“It’s human, when you win three titles in a row, it’s hard to stay motivated. The fact of not making it to the final was weird for everyone and I think it was a good wake-up call,” said Parker, who is aiming to qualify for the Euroleague play-offs.
This season, a play-off will give the teams ranked ninth and tenth an additional chance to climb into the Top 8.
“Maybe I’m too ambitious but you have to dream big like I said when I was inducted into the Hall of Fame (in the NBA). If people make fun of me, it doesn’t matter. I believe in this team and if we stay healthy, I think we have a chance,” he also said, referring to “a complementary team” rebuilt in the offseason.
“We have the right players in the right places with experience and Nando De Colo as an exemplary leader,” he described.
Asvel will also benefit from the contribution of Joffrey Lauvergne, injured throughout last season, Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot (Olimpia Milan), Paris Lee (Panathinaïkos, ex-Monaco) and the return of Edwin Jackson (Minorca).
The Arena, a factor of economic development
This ambition to climb into the Euroleague play-offs is also manifested in the infrastructure and the entrance to the new Arena on November 23 for the Euroleague match, Asvel-Bayern Munich.
This will be the first event scheduled in this new ultra-modern hall with 12,000 seats in basketball configuration, located in Décines-Charpieu opposite OL’s Groupama stadium. “An incredible tool,” rejoices Tony Parker.
“This Arena is a very important development tool for us and we should have a much higher budget which will exceed 20 million euros this year compared to 16 in 2023,” underlines the deputy president, Gaëtan Müller.
For this 2024 edition of the Euroleague, Villeurbanne, the resident club of this venue, will play at least eleven matches there, perhaps thirteen.
Those in the championship will remain at the Astroballe, “which remains very important in our project and the club’s ecosystem”, according to Tony Parker.
The Lyon-Asvel women’s team will also play all its Euroleague matches there.
