On Saturday, October 22, the thirty-second Ukrainian basketball championship among men’s teams in the elite league, long called the Super League, is scheduled to begin. Precisely planned, as Kyiv (where the first matches of the new season are supposed to be played) has been subjected to a much more intense racist bombardment lately, but let’s hope the situation calms down and the games are played.

In any case, the fact that the championship will take place (let’s be optimistic and hope for the best) is a great merit of those already participating. Basketball continues in Ukraine, and even the war could not stop it. Of course, there is no need to talk about the high quality of the upcoming season. Compared to the previous championship, the quality loss seems huge. But now it is objectively impossible to rely on pre-war alignments in any area of ​​our lives.

Who and how will they play?

After a very difficult period between the two championships that the language does not dare to call a full-fledged season, the list of teams ready to play in the Super League of the 2022/2023 season has been determined. Initially, this list included eight clubs, but on the eve of the official press conference dedicated to the start of the new season, it was announced that there will be nine such teams. So, Budivelnik (Kyiv), Kyiv-Basket, BC Zaporozhye, Dnipro, Cherkasy Mavpy, Old Lutsk-Universitet, Prykarpattya-Goverla (Ivano-Frankivsk), joined the “BIPA team of the Odessa region” and “Lviv” at the last moment. Polytechnic”.

Nine teams will play each other in four rounds during the regular season, according to the bubble system already tested during the coronavirus pandemic. The tournament will not end with the traditional playoffs, and the champion of Ukraine will be determined by the results of the regular season. However, the leadership of the Ukrainian Basketball Federation (FBU) did not completely close this issue, and if the situation in the country allows (primarily in terms of military and security), the playoffs can still be returned.

Compared to last season, Prometheus, MBK Nikolaev, Kharkiv Falcons, BC Ternopil, BC Odessa, Khimik and Kryvbas will not take part in the tournament. The gaps were filled by three teams from the western region of our country, which played in the Higher League last season, and a completely new team from traditional basketball Odessa. At the same time, the BIPA team of the Odessa region, BC. He is not a direct successor to the history of Odessa or Yuzhnensky Khimik. Time will tell if this project is permanent or temporary. For now, one should be content with the fact that the history of the Odessa teams’ performances in the Ukrainian championships has not been interrupted.

scandal of the season

The championship has not started yet, but we can say with 99% certainty that the main scandalous story of the 2022/2023 season has already happened – the current champion Prometheus will not play its last match in the upcoming Super League.

Slobozhansky club will not be involved due to financial problems, here the team is doing just fine. Quite early, the club formed a second team to participate in the Ukrainian championship, mainly consisting of young basketball players twice as high as Yuzhnensky Khimik, which, according to the current conditions, made a normal preparation for the season. . Also, the Slobozhansky club was ready to provide financial assistance to other teams so that they could perform in the new season (first of all, it was about MBK “Nikolaev” and “Kharkiv Sokoly”).

However, shortly before the deadline for accepting applications and entry fees for participation in the new season, the FBU announced that this fee for Prometheus would be UAH 4.5 million instead of UAH 40,000 for other clubs. That is, the entrance fee for “Prometheus” has been increased more than a hundredfold. The reason for this decision was the participation of the Slobozhan club in the European Cup, which was not held under the auspices of FIBA.

Prometheus considered such measures to be cruel to itself and stated that the club would not participate in the tournament if the amount of the entrance fee was not reduced. So it finally happened. MBK “Nikolaev”, who, together with the Slobozhansky club, will not take part in the new season and, incidentally, is the only team in history that has not missed a single championship of Ukraine. The “shipbuilders” stated that they will not be able to find the necessary funding to participate in the tournament in the time before the championship starts.

It is very likely that the current conflict between Prometheus and FBU is mainly a conflict between Volodymyr Dubinsky (head of the Slobozhansky club) and Mikhail Brodsky (head of FBU) and the essence of misunderstandings between the two great figures of Ukrainian basketball. It lies much deeper than the total entrance fee to the Super League. Both sides expressed and confirmed their positions through various means of communication. In my opinion, Prometheus’ arguments seem a little more plausible – to play in a stronger European Cup tournament with a guaranteed place among its participants and a very logical decision, despite the small possibility of entering the Euroleague. Managers and coaches of the Sloboda club. However, one can regret that even a full-scale war in Ukrainian basketball will not be able to stop the internal conflicts.

season favorites

Returning to the sports component of the upcoming championship, it is worth noting that so far the main favorite has appeared on paper. This is what the Dnieper looks like. The team managed to keep Stanislav Timofeenko, one of the leading players of last season, in the team. Also experienced Maxim Zakurdaev and Sergey in Zagreba. Yevgeny Sorochan and Roman Bondarchuk, who were already in the Super League, were returned to the team on loan. Oleksandr Tarasenko will continue his career in Dnepr after three years in Kharkiv Sokoly.

B.C. Dnieper

Budivelnik will try to challenge Dnipros. Note that in international tournaments you should not confuse the “builders” for the season with the Super League squad. There will be another team led by Dmitry Zabirchenko. However, the junior coach will have a pretty good roster for the current local championship. Veteran defenders Pavel Burenko and Oleksandr Kolchenko, forwards Volodymyr Konev and Serhiy Priymak and Maksim Sandul will fill the position.

Other teams are noticeably inferior to Dnipro and Budivelnik in terms of front layout. But currently, there are more than twenty free basketball players who were featured characters in the past Super League.

Season Features

The upcoming championship will be the most unusual and uncertain championship of Ukrainian basketball. There is only one reason – the war started by Russia. It’s certainly good that basketball continues, but so far there are more questions than answers.

Safety comes to the fore. The FBU announced that the Super League matches will be played without spectators, and that makes sense and four cities were chosen for the balloons – Kyiv, Lutsk, Ivano-Frankivsk and Dnipro. The choice of the Dnieper, which is very close to the front line, is somewhat surprising. But I want to believe that everything will be alright during the season.

There are many uncertainties associated with air raid warnings. Of course, matches will be interrupted, and this will happen more than once. The FBU continues to complete the Superleague security protocol, for which instructions on this topic should be detailed. Also a nuance with lighting. If the interruptions are too great, the tournament schedule and the start time of the fights should be seriously adjusted.

The coming season will definitely go down in history, because for the first time in the annals of Ukrainian independent basketball we will not have a single legionnaire at the beginning of the season (even in the early 90s there were several players from neighboring countries). ) and without them it is very likely that our inner superiority will come to an end.

Everything is clear in terms of the quality of basketball and the strength of the teams. They’re clearly not going to change for the better. However, there are always positive aspects in such a situation. For example, during the season, more than one player who deleted the bench will appear and someone who has no experience in the Super League will announce himself loudly.

Our basketball has gone through many difficult times. He will survive the current war. Even in such a difficult time in Ukraine there will be a full-fledged championship. And true fans of the orange ball will not turn their backs on their team and the Super League as a whole. Yes, for now we will have to forget about the All-Star Games and the brilliant American legionnaires, but there is no doubt that the coming season will bring many interesting moments. Believe me, Ukrainian basketball does not know how to do it differently.