Turkish Airlines EuroLeague to tip off Thursday

Regular season's first match to be played between Khimki Moscow, Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv

By Can Erozden

ANKARA (AA) - Europe's international top-tier club basketball tournament Turkish Airlines EuroLeague's new season will start on Thursday.

The first match of the 2019-20 season will be played between Russia's Khimki Moscow and Israeli club Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv.

In this season, two Turkish teams -- Anadolu Efes and Fenerbahce Beko -- are participating.

The 2017 EuroLeague winners Fenerbahce Beko will face Real Madrid in Spain on Oct. 3.

Fenerbahce Beko reinforced their squad with players such as French star Nando De Colo, point guard Leo Westermann, U.S. power forward Derrick Williams and Serbian center Vladimir Stimac.

Meanwhile, Serbian shooting guard Marko Guduric and Italian power forward Nicolo Melli left Fenerbahce Beko to play in NBA. Fenerbahce Beko's Turkish shooting guard Sinan Guler moved to another Turkish club Darussafaka Tekfen. U.S. guard Erick Green left Fenerbahce Beko as well.

The 2019 EuroLeague runners-up Anadolu Efes will take on Barcelona from Spain in this season's first match on October 4.

Anadolu Efes will host Barcelona at Sinan Erdem Dome.

The Istanbul team managed to keep their U.S. star Shane Larkin this summer.

Anadolu Efes also cemented their forward position with two U.S. players, Chris Singleton and Alec Peters.

Singleton had last played for Barcelona, while Peters was a CSKA Moscow player last season.

Australian power forward Brock Motum moved to Spanish club Valencia Basket.

In addition, the U.S. power forward, Derrick Brown, joined Crvena Zvezda Mts Belgrade (Red Star).

- 2020 Final Four to be played in Germany

There will be 34 rounds in EuroLeague's regular season, ending on April 10, 2020.

The 18 teams will face each other in a total of 34 games. The best eight out of 18 teams will go to playoffs to play best of five series. Winners will go through the EuroLeague Final Four.

The 2020 Final Four will be held in Cologne, Germany.

The Lanxess Arena in Cologne will host semifinals and final from May 22 to 24, 2020.

Opened in 1998, this venue has more than 18,000 seating capacity for the Final Four.

- EuroLeague teams in 2019-20 season as follows:

ALBA Berlin (Germany)

Anadolu Efes (Turkey)

AX Armani Exchange Milan (Italy)

Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade (Serbia)

CSKA Moscow (Russia)

FC Barcelona (Spain)

FC Bayern Munich (Germany)

Fenerbahce Beko (Turkey)