Eighteen teams from all over Europe will compete in the latest edition of EuroLeague basketball, with Spain represented by four clubs and two of them feature at the head of the betting market for this competition.
Barcelona are one of the eleven licensed clubs in the tournament and they’ve made a winning start to the 2019-20 season by winning their first two matches of the season.
Barca are trading at odds of 4/1 with Ladbrokes to claim their third EuroLeague title, although Real Madrid have also claimed a couple of opening victories and look as though they are going to go deep in this season’s competition.
Real made it to the Final Four last season before being eliminated by CSKA Moscow in the semi-finals and they then claimed third place in the competition by thrashing Fenerbahce which was a real statement of intent.
Real Madrid have already won the EuroLeague on ten occasions and there’s every reason for thinking they will go close this time, although last year’s champions are likely to be a warm order on the outright market.
CSKA are a 5/1 shot with William Hill and there was everything to like about the Russian side last season considering that they beat Real Madrid by five points in the semi-finals before a final win over Anadolu Efes which was a comfortable eight-point margin of victory.
Fenerbahce really lost their way in last season’s play-offs after finishing top of the regular standings and they will have learnt lessons from the collapse in the Final Four matches.
The Turkish side are still among the favourites to go well this season and look to carry the biggest threat from their own country, with Paddy Power going as short as 10/3 about them winning the EuroLeague.
However, Anadolu Efes Pilsen are not to be discounted and they’ve been involved in a high-scoring early match where they triumphed by a single point against ALBA Berlin.
Paddy Power have 10/1 about them going one better than last season and they will know what’s required to make the final after doing exactly that last season, knocking out Barcelona along the way.
The bookies regard these five teams as heavily likely to be champions, although there are other clubs who have an outside chance of making the Final Four and it should be noted that Panathinaikos had some close encounters in the play-offs against Real Madrid.
The Greek team often carry the hopes of a nation and Pana are as big as 25/1 and as short as 14/1 to win the EuroLeague, while Armani Milano, Saski Baskonia and Khimki are among the other teams who merit respect.