Real Madrid-Unicaja: the Liga U gets underway
Javier Juárez's team will be hoping to get underway with a win at home (6:30 pm CEST).
The first madridista academy side get their Liga U campaign underway tonight. Our team, who are placed in Group A, welcome Unicaja this evening as they look for victory in the opening game.
Format
The Liga U is made up of 15 academy teams of the clubs making up the ACB, split into two groups according to their results in the Junior Spanish Championship over the last five years. The 8 best teams are in Group A (Barça Atlètic, BAXI Manresa, Casademont Zaragoza, Fundación CB Canarias, Joventut Badalona, Real Madrid, Unicaja Alhaurín de la Torre and Valencia Basket), while the other 7 are placed in Group B (Bàsquet Girona, Bilbao Basket, Burgos Grupo de Santiago, Força Lleida, Gran Canaria, Granada and UCAM Murcia).
The first phase is made up of 14 games (home and away), to be played between 10 October and 4 January. The top 5 in the table will remain in Group A. Sixth and seventh will have a playoff against second and third in Group B, while the eighth-placed team will be relegated to Group B.
The second phase will also have 14 games (home and away) and is set to be played between 16 January and 19 April. The top four will automatically qualify for the six-team final, with the remaining two spots coming from a single-game play-in: 5th and 6th in Group A against 2nd and 1st in Group B.