AEK owner: 'We will be a top 10 team in Europe after investments' / News - Basketnews.com

AEK BETSSON Athens's owner Makis Angelopoulos revealed ambitious plans for the club.

Credit: FIBA Credit FIBA

Makis Angelopoulos, the owner of AEK BETSSON Athens, revealed that the club had high ambitions to become one of the top clubs in European basketball after the realization of all investments.

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In an interview with ERA Sport, Angelopoulos elaborated on his connection to AEK, which began with the club's football branch and the road to developing the club.

"I'll never forget skipping home from school to watch the cup match with Olympiacos; we won 6-1. I even remember the team composition. The win against Porto by the same score was [one of] the best games I've ever seen," Angelopoulos recalled.

Despite his connection to the club, his efforts to develop the basketball branch have been riddled with difficulties. Particularly, he states that there was no faith behind the project to develop another giant in Greek basketball.

"There is no one who told me to do it [to invest in AEK]. I was prevented because of the EuroLeague environment, that there are two teams with guaranteed large revenues, and that the venture will not be successful," explained Angelopoulos.

"Olympiacos and Panathinaikos take all the titles. I said we will try and whatever happens. Taking stock after eight years, I can say that we have achieved something," he said proudly.

Angelopoulos later criticized the EuroLeague and the practice of A licenses.

"Unfortunately, we live in an environment in basketball where a private organization has the upper hand and gives guaranteed amounts to some teams. [T]his is a definition of unfair competition for domestic leagues," Angelopoulos admonished the EuroLeague.

"We await the decision of the European court that will determine the rules of the game at the end of December; I have been a witness, I know the case, and this will perhaps be the beginning of the end of the schism in European basketball," he said hopefully.

Later on, the owner of AEK talked about the newly built team stadium.

"I'm proud of the stadium," he said outright. "It's a great success for AEK after 14 different stadiums to get the concession of the Olympic property. We had the misfortune with the first lockdown and went back with our business plans," he explained.

"[W]e made big investments to bring it to a good condition. Now, we are in the second phase with the arena. We will change the colors, and outside, we have plans to create 1-2 theme parks, the ultimate family destination in Attica [a region in Athens]," he talked about future plans.

Finally, Makis Angelopoulos revealed his views on the current situation of AEK in the European basketball context and mentioned his ambitions to improve the club's situation even further.

"I estimate that AEK is currently among the top 20 brands in Europe," Angelopoulos stated. "With the investments we are preparing in the stadium, which will not only be the theme parks, we are trying to solve the issue of access to the field...

I estimate that when all this is completed, our team will be among the top 10 teams in Europe," the AEK owner concluded ambitiously.

AEK, which built a strong roster this year, currently sits atop Group D in the Basketball Champions League with 5 wins and 0 losses. In the Greek Basket League, they are 6th with 5 wins and 5 losses.

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