The most attractive opponent in the second-tier Eurocup basketball tournament, which is also the number one seed and number one favourite to win the Eurocup, will be the first of Olimpija's European opponents to come to Ljubljana. The Khimki club from the Moscow surroundings has a quality team with a number of star names on its roster. In other words, coach Rimas Kurtinaitis's team would play a big role in the first-tier Euroleague as well. After Olimpija's good start to the season and its brilliant Sunday win against Partizan, when the dragons beat the Belgrade team by 29 points, there would've been, without doubt, great interest for the game against the rich Russians. However this time Stožice arena will have to stay empty.

The ban is the result of an incident with happened during Union Olimpija's last Eurocup match against Budivelnik, when singer Zoran Predin hit the referee. Apart from playing in front of empty stands, Olimpija also has to pay a fine, which is to be partly covered by the team, by the security agency, and by the one guiltiest for the incident, known singer Zoran Predin.

Looking forward to a great game
"It isn't normal for us to play in front of empty stands and to play basketball without the fans. But that's the way it is and we have to serve out the ban. We're preparing for the match like for any other match. We, the coaching staff, and the players, are only interested about what's going to happen on the court. Khimki is an experienced team, an absolutely Euroleague-level team. They're well covered on all their positions and they probably don't even pay attention to what’s happening in the stands. They're used to everything and there won't be any calculations on their part. We will both be well prepared for each other and we can look forward to a great game," said Union Olimpija's coach, Aleš Pipan, before the game.

Tilen Jamnik; translated by K. J.