Two days before the matchup, authorities decided that the EuroLeague game between Valencia and Hapoel Tel Aviv would be held behind closed doors due to security concerns.
With Hapoel coming out on top, some might assume the lack of a home crowd benefitted the visiting team, but head coach Dimitris Itoudis made it clear that this wasn’t the focus.
Addressing the situation directly in the post-game press conference – without being prompted – Itoudis said, “It’s a pity that in such a great arena … and I congratulate Valencia for the construction of this arena, it’s what basketball needs. And what basketball needs is more fans. The fans are great, they push their team, but they also push everybody to play good basketball here. So I hope that the next games will happen with a full arena, and that’s what basketball needs.”
Valencia head coach Pedro Martinez was asked whether playing without fans impacted the result. He dismissed that idea, making it clear that he wouldn’t use the situation as a reason for the loss.
“I don’t want to use everything that happened before the game as an excuse. We have to adapt to situations and not complain because it’s useless. We would have loved to have fans, but I will not say that we lost because we were missing our fans”.
It’s still uncertain whether similar restrictions will be enforced in future games involving Israeli teams in Spain.
In addition, Itoudis once again voiced his support for expanding the EuroLeague to 30 teams, a stance he previously shared in an interview published on the EuroLeague Head Coaches Board platform.
The Greek coach, who also serves as the president of the EHCB, also commented on the roster limitations his club faces in the Israeli league due to local regulations.
He expressed a desire for more uniformity among EuroLeague clubs and added that he believes local players don’t need protection, and they don’t play just because they got a passport.
