LFB Basketball news from three clubs in the spot light



After six round of games in the season the LFB basketball news reviews the situation of three clubs playing in the Ligue Féminine de Basketball.

With the FIBA Eurocup Women group phase starting this week, seven French clubs are involved in this inter-continental competition this week: 4 clubs in the EuroLeague Women and 3 clubs in the EuroCup Women.

The LFB was allocated four places in the EuroCup Women for the 2008-2009 season. The last place would have gone to Saint Amand. However due to their merger with USVO the spot was passed on to Clermont-Ferrand (Stade Clermontois Auvergne Basket 63) who for reasons to be explained were refused entry by the French Federation.

LFB basket news from the club of Stade Clermontois Auvergne Basket 63

Clermont-Ferrand were initially penalised by the French Basketball Federation for not having a third senior team. All the clubs in the LFB must have a second team.

The so called "Espoir" team either plays in NF2 or NF3. They must also have a U18 team playing the French National Championship and a third senior team that can play in any league.

Clermont-Ferrand's failure in having a third team implied that they did not meet all the Federation's requirements. Hence they were refused entry into Europe.

Yet Clermont-Ferrand's financial situation neither permitted them to even consider any European competition.

Elena Nikipolskaia (Clermont-Ferrand) ©  Ligue Féminine de BasketBallIn fact the club owed about 350,000 Euro. They needed to find 150,000 by the start of this season, if they wanted to use their full professional roster. As they could not rise the amount necessary at the time, Elena Nikipolskaia (left) and Lourdes Pelaez San Gil (right) were not allowed to play for the club.Lourdes Pelaez San Gil(Clermont-Ferrand) ©  Ligue Féminine de BasketBall

At the moment a committee is running the club. Some of the sponsors have returned.

In addition Nikipolskaia has been allowed to play. However it appears the French adventure is already over for Palaez San Gil.

Despite all these problems outside the basketball court Emmanuel Cœuret has managed to keep his squad focused and his players were rewarded with an important victory against Union Hainaut to end their three-game losing streak.

It is never nice to report dismissal in the LFB basketball news

Last season Tarbes changed their coach after five games, Mondeville waited six this season.

Olivier Hirsch was hired last season (2007-2008) on a three-year contract. He had a rocky start but the club was competitive and appeared to be on for a top four finish.

But when Caroline Aubert left to go and play in Russia the side started to struggle. Then Lenae Williams was hurt. So the club missed out on a top four finish.

Furthermore the season did not end well as Mondeville lost in the first round of the Challenge Round play-off series.

With most of the key players returning this season, the expectations for this season were high. The results so far have been disappointing with one victory in six matches.

The President of USO Mondeville Basket decided on Tuesday, 21 October 2008, after meeting with the management committee to make some immediate changes:

Olivier Hirsch ©womensbasketball-in-france Olivier Hirsch and his assistant Mickaël Dejardin have been relieved of their functions with immediate effect.

Didier Godefry, who is responsible for the basketball academy (centre de formation), has been appointed as interim head coach.

This announcement may mean the return of Hervé Coudray to the club.

LFB Basketball news reports that not all is well at Nantes-Rezé 44

Simon Guillou, the head coach of Nantes-Rezé has not been happy with his players. He cannot understand why his players have been unable to concentrate for 40 minutes.

Then the players correct one error but then make other errors. Although he noted that the team only turned the ball over 14 times in the last match, they still lost.

He went to explain that his players failed to reach the same level at the same time. As a result he has not been able to count on anybody at the moment.

With the retirement of Agnieska Cieslak and the injury to Yuliya Andreyeva, Guillou has been looking to bring in one more player. He hopes that this player could be the catalyst for better things.


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LFB Basketball news picture credits:
womensbasketball-in-france.com
Ligue Féminine de Basketball
Date created: 22 October 2008


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