FC Porto play semi-final today for a Champions League spot | OneFootball

After the impressive victory on Saturday against the Hungarians of Falco Szombathely, by 79-83 in the quarter-finals - recovering from a 19-point disadvantage (61-42) with 15 minutes to go - FC Porto faces today (12:15) an even more demanding obstacle in the semi-finals of the 3rd Qualifying Tournament for the FIBA Champions League.

At the SamElyon Arena, in Samakov (Bulgaria), the Portistas will have to overcome the French team Élan Chalon to reach the final of the qualifying stage, on Wednesday - only the winner (there are three tournaments) secures the available spot in Group B of the Champions, where Alba Berlin (Ger), Nymburk (Czech) and Sabah (Aze) already feature.

Benfica, directly qualified - something unprecedented in national basketball - is part of Group H, along with Gran Canaria (Esp), Le Mans (Fra) and Spartak Subotica (Ser).

To reach this semi-final, Élan Chalon - which was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the LNB Pro A play-offs by Lyon-Villeurbanne (2-1) in 2024/25 - convincingly defeated the Swiss team Fribourg Olympic by 80-107.

In the match, the American-Cameroonian point guard Jeremiah Hill (18 pts, 5 reb, 6 ass) - with stints at Betis and Girona and who helped Cameroon achieve 4th place in the AfroBasket in the summer - as well as the Canadian Nate Darling (25) and the French Yohan Choupas (17) stood out. The team from Chalon-sur-Saône has not competed in the Champions since 2017/18.

Tournament 3 - quarter-finals, SaturdayFalco Szombathely (Hun) - FC Porto, 79-83Fribourg Olympic (Sui) - Élan Chalon (Fra), 80-107Murcia (Esp) - Star Lubin (Pol), 100-84Karhu Kauhajoki (Fin) - Juventus (Lit), 89-103

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.