Next season without Maccabi

The director of ABA Radovan Lorbek informed Maccabi will not play in Goodyear League for the next season when 4 teams from Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro and two from Bosnia and Herzegovina will participate. He also explained the final eight will be played in the future with Belgrade hosting the Final Four 2005.

»We thank the Israelian club for participating in the league in the crucial moments when we were still on our way to prove in Europe. There is not doubt Maccabi is one of the best and most recognizable clubs and we are proud it decided to be part of our league in 2002/03 season. Therefore we decided to keep the competition system with 4 clubs from Slovenija, Croatia and S&MN and two from Bosnia and Herzegovina in the next season while things will change in 2005/06. At that time the country with the best club after the regular season 2004/05 will get the fifth place, while the last one will loss one. But we will start with the 4-4-4-2 system at the beginning of every season deciding who will loss one and who will gain one according to the previous year,« explained Lorbek.

The competition system will stay the same, with 26 round in the regular part of the season while the form of the Final Four, known so far, will be adjusted. »We decided for the final eight system, the one that is very known in Spain, but we still didn't agree whether it will be played as a tournament by a knock-out system until the end or the best four teams after the quarter-final will have to play at the FF. The Final Four for 2005 will definitely be in Belgrade,« said Lorbek.