According to Serbian media, Partizan is close to getting an A-license for partitipation in the Euroleague, which would guarantee their presence in the continent’s top competition for the next three years, regardless the results in domestic competitions (given of course the club won’t be relegated).
It seems that Partizan’s qualification to the Final Four after twelve years, in addition to the team’s performance in recent years, TV coverage and public attendance to Euroleague games (Partizan holds the record with 22.567), has put up quite a public demand for Partizan to get an A-license and guaranteed Euroleague partitipation for three years.
Partizan is the only Final Four participant without an A-License this year. The 13 clubs that hold A-licenses are Barcelona, Real Madrid, Caja Laboral, Unicaja Malaga, Panathinaikos, Olympiacos, Siena, Roma, CSKA, Maccabi, Efes Pilsen, Fenerbahce and Zalgiris. The Serbian club drew succesful results against six of them on their run to the Final Four in Paris, including Maccabi in the quarterfinals with home court disadvantage.
The Serbian Champions picked up the pace in the 2006-2007 season when they reached the Top 16 round for the first time in ULEB era, with a 8-12 overall record. In the following two seasons, Partizan went one step further and reached the quarterfinals, with overall records of 11-12 and 9-10 respectively. This season they stand at 10-8 currently with further improvement possible, as there are still two more games to be played in Paris.
In any case, Partizan will be a top seed in next season’s draw thanks to the Final Four qualification.
