Coach Dušan Alimpijević: 'Even If It Is Not Us, Turkey Should Have 3 Teams in EuroLeague'

Before the 39th Turkish Presidential Cup final, coach Dušan Alimpijević did not talk about pressing or triangle spacing. He chose a bigger topic: the future of Turkish basketball as a whole. “Even if it is not us, Turkey should have 3 teams in EuroLeague,” the Serbian tactician of Beşiktaş declared in a press conference ahead of the clash with Fenerbahçe. For anyone who has followed European basketball for years, this sentence is not mere motivation. It is a statement about league governance, about how EuroLeague distributes participation slots, and about the position of a market investing more and more money in the sport. The Presidential Cup is Turkey's traditional season-opening super cup. Historically, it features the domestic league champion against the national cup winner. Because it is held early, almost no team has enough preparation time. Alimpijević admitted this openly. He said: “It's still very early in the season, preparations are not fully completed, the desired form level has not been reached. What we can see is character shown on the court.” He also said that “the best and most beautiful basketball will not be displayed” in this match. Beşiktaş enter as challengers. Fenerbahçe are a club with pedigree, having appeared in many finals, and in Alimpijević's own words, “truly deserving of great respect.” His respectful words before a derby were not accidental. They were polite, calming, and at the same time pushed expectation onto the opponent. Notably, he mentioned “4-5 finals” between the two sides. I cannot confirm the exact figure from the original source; it may refer to the finals he personally contested, or to the club's history. I was once burned by a source, and from then on I learned to burn fake news with three rounds of verification. With information like this, the safe approach is to treat it as an estimate rather than verified fact. The real value of this speech, however, is not the final itself. It lies in the sentence: “Turkey should have 3 teams in EuroLeague, even if it is not us.” To understand this, one needs to look at EuroLeague's structure. Unlike the NBA, EuroLeague is not a fully closed league. Participation is determined by a combination of long-term licenses, seasonal invitations, and some sporting criteria. Clubs with long-term licenses, often called A-licenses, are virtually guaranteed a spot season after season. The rest rely on wild cards, issued at the organizer's discretion and not purely on merit. If Beşiktaş are in EuroLeague, as Alimpijević's answer implies, the mechanism of entry — license or invitation — has not been confirmed. That creates a significant vulnerability. Historically, the two long-term pillars of Turkish basketball are Fenerbahçe and Anadolu Efes. Both have tradition, financial power, and stable European results. A third spot, if available, is usually a soft spot. Alimpijević did not specify whether he wants that spot to become permanent or merely to expand the field. But “should have three teams” sounds like a structural demand, not a wish. Why three instead of two or four? His argument rests on three pillars. First, market size. Turkey is one of Europe's largest basketball markets; the Beşiktaş–Fenerbahçe derby generates significant broadcast attention and ticket revenue. Second, investment. Alimpijević cited “investments in basketball in a country like Turkey” as proof of owners' ambition. Third, legitimacy. The phrase “even if it is not us” was carefully chosen. It turns a club request into a principled position: Beşiktaş are not asking for a handout; the whole Turkish basketball ecosystem deserves broader representation. The commercial appeal of the Turkish derby is something EuroLeague cannot ignore. While European competitions are searching for ways to increase broadcast value, adding another high-profile Istanbul derby would be a valuable asset. Therefore, the “three teams” story is not only about sport but also about revenue. From a tactical standpoint, this match is unlikely to be a high-level showcase. Based on my experience watching early-season games, super cups tend to be slow, scrappy, and short on offensive ideas. When both teams have not reached their physical base and chemistry, the deciding factor is usually determination and the ability to handle pressure. Alimpijević understands that. His early mention of “character on the court” is not just player motivation; it is expectation management. If the game is ugly, he warned us. If Beşiktaş win through spirit, the victory will be even more celebrated. In many European basketball nations, the early-season super cup was once dismissed as a nominal friendly. Recently, however, big clubs have started to use it as a signal for the entire season. Winning the Presidential Cup gives a completely different mindset entering EuroLeague. Losing can trigger a crisis of confidence, even if the match is not decisive. That is why Alimpijević's effort to lower expectations is also a tactical move. He does not allow his young players to be obsessed with the word “final.” He wants them to play with maximum ease. But this very cleverness reveals a bigger fear: Beşiktaş's instability. When a club has to lobby for a “third” spot for its country, it is likely not confident in its own ticket. If Beşiktaş's current place is merely a wild card, the call for “Turkey should have three teams” is a polite version of “please keep us.” The more polished the words, the weaker the actual position. A club with a long-term license would not need to speak that way. Being burned once is not scary; what is scary is still acting like someone who has never been hurt. In the EuroLeague context, the risk is that the Turkish market invests heavily while results remain unstable. A bad EuroLeague season for Beşiktaş would undermine the very argument Alimpijević is making. There is an irony: to keep a place, his team must be good on the court and good at lobbying off it. Otherwise, beautiful words about investment and market will not be enough. The 39th Presidential Cup final is therefore a more significant marker than it appears. Beating Fenerbahçe would strengthen the story that “investment is paying off.” Conversely, a poor defeat would make Alimpijević's appeal sound hollow, even though a super cup says little about a team's true strength. Beyond Beşiktaş, the “three teams” question is a governance puzzle. EuroLeague does not want to become a playground for a few wealthy nations. If Turkey gets a permanent third spot, why cannot France have a third? Why not expand the Adriatic or German markets? This is a zero-sum game. Every additional slot for one market means another market loses an opportunity. Therefore, Alimpijević's statement is strong in media terms, but administratively, it will face many obstacles. In the media wave, a coach using a pre-super-cup press conference to speak about EuroLeague policy signals a change in how clubs lobby. They no longer rely only on closed-door meetings; they use public pressure from fans. This is especially effective in big markets, where derbies like Beşiktaş–Fenerbahçe are televised and generate thousands of social media posts. A well-timed statement can create enough pressure to force the organizers to pay attention. For Beşiktaş, the issue is even more meaningful because their basketball tradition in Europe is not as deep as that of Fenerbahçe or Anadolu Efes. Being in EuroLeague is already a massive image victory. Staying there is another matter. A bad season, a financial crisis, or an administrative decision by EuroLeague could knock Beşiktaş off the continental map. Alimpijević's call is therefore both national and self-preserving. The final question is not whether Turkey deserves three EuroLeague spots. The answer to that is almost certainly yes if you look at the market. The real issue is whether a governance system designed to protect the stability of big clubs will have the courage to share power with a rising outside force. Alimpijević opened a debate with a short sentence. Beşiktaş's EuroLeague results this season, and the league's decisions in the coming years, will tell the rest of the story.