Tuesday, July 30, 2024, 02:00
UCAM will be the protagonist of a competition in which last season it had its best campaign, with the runner-up position, its record of victories and its presence in the Copa del Rey. Sito Alonso’s team will not only participate in a Super Cup that will be held again in Murcia on September 21 and 22, but, just six days later, on September 28 at 6:00 p.m., its match, on Joventut’s court, will be the first of the 2024-25 regular season in the Endesa League.
As luck would have it, Sito’s men will start in Badalona, where the UCAM coach finished his training as a coach and where he made his debut at the highest level. It is also where Todorovic and Birgander started out, but as players, and where one of the only two signings, Vladimir Brodziansky, comes from. A team, the green and black, that comes into the new season with many unfinished business after its irregular last season, without a Cup or playoffs, and with important new faces, among them a former UCAM player like Artem Pustovyi.
A week before this match, UCAM will have already played at the Palacio in the Super Cup and three days later they will play in the Champions League against Turkish side Manisa, but the league debut in front of their fans will come on Saturday 5th October, at 20.45, against Bilbao. Then they will hit the road again to visit Baskonia, also on Saturday, as well as the visit of Zaragoza next week and, the following week, the trip to Gerona. The first match on Sunday will not be until the sixth matchday, but at 18.30, in the re-edition of the last final against Real Madrid, at the Palacio.
The Whites’ game will be their first against a rival that played in the last playoff, and the next one will not come until the ninth round (Gran Canaria). That is to say, for UCAM the start is not as complicated as it has been for many others. And, in a league of 17 games at home and as many away, this time they have lost nine at the Palacio in the first round, in which the objective will be the Copa del Rey. To complete this ambition, UCAM will have to play precisely against the two newly promoted teams in the last two rounds, receiving Lleida in the 16th and visiting Coruña in the 17th.
The second half of the season will then begin with a visit to the Palacio by another top-selling team, Barça. This second half of the season is characterised by a greater number of away games against teams that were not in the top eight last season and are not going to compete in Europe, but it has serious twists and turns in its final stretch. With a lot at stake in the final days, UCAM will travel to Málaga to face Unicaja on matchday 32 and will finish the regular season in Gran Canaria, a direct rival.
As last season, there will be two Murcians in the Endesa League. Chumi Ortega is leaving Palencia for Andorra and, while Juan Rubio is leaving (Estudiantes), Álex Hernández is returning (Coruña). Their visits will take some time. Ortega will not come to the Palacio until March 29, on matchday 25, and Hernández will be the last to do so, on matchday 33 on May 24.
The prime time slot, Sunday at 12.30 at home, which usually favours the most attendance, will only be used on matchdays 9 and 16 throughout the season, with Saturday afternoon being the most repeated slot.
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