This morning, after the conclusion of the bid process, the CERS Rink Hockey Committee assigned the organization of the Final Four of the Male Euroleague of Rink Hockey to FC Barcelona. The venue chosen to host the Final Four is the “Barris Nord” sports hall that can contain more than 6.000 persons.
The Final Four of the Male Euroleague is scheduled on Saturday, May 13 (semifinals) and Sunday, May 14 (final). The timing of the three games and the TV coverage of the Final Four will be decided during the next days.
The four teams that will participate to the Final Four are SL Benfica (Portugal, defending champion), UD Oliveirense (Portugal), Reus Deportivo (Spain) and FC Barcelona (Spain, home team).
CERS Rink Hockey received three proposals for organizing the Final Four of the Male Euroleague 2017: UD Oliverense (Portugal), Reus Deportivo and FC Barcelona (Spain).
The economic proposal from Reus Deportivo has been excluded because it was lower than the others. The proposals from FC Barcelona and UD Oliveirense were equal.
Article 7.5 of the regulations of the Euroleague states: “When two or more clubs from different countries pose their candidature to host the event with same conditions, the decision will be favorable to the club of the country which has not organized the event the previous year.”
The organization of 2016 Final Four of the Male Euroleague was entrusted to the Portuguese club of SL Benfica.
According to the regulations, the Cers Rink Hockey Executive Committee decided to assign the organization of 2017 Final Four of the Euroleague to FC Barcelona, agreeing with the club’s proposal to play the competition in the Lleida’s Sports Hall on May, Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th.
As stated by the official Euroleague regulations, the allocation of the Final Four to FC Barcelona is provisional. It will become official after the confirmation of the all conditions offered by FC Barcelona and the verification of the venue and related equipment by the Vice President of CERS RH responsible for competitions, Mr. Lluis Ferrer, that will take place on Wednesday, April 19th.