Ambitious LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne enters the 2018-19 campaign with an opportunity to establish itself as a force at the continental level after falling just short of advancing beyond the 7DAYS EuroCup Top 16 last season. The team looked superb at times, especially in the latter weeks of the regular season when it strung together a run of five consecutive victories to finish atop Group D with an impressive 7-3 record. The last of those victories was one of the most remarkable games in EuroCup history, a triple-overtime showdown eventually yielding an astonishing 128-129 victory at Herbalife Gran Canaria on the back of an incredible 42 points for John Roberson, who set a new competition record by sinking 11 three-pointers despite being held scoreless in the first half. ASVEL’s good vibes continued into the early weeks of the Top 16, with three straight wins – one against Grissin Bon Reggio Emilia and two against Limoges CSP – seemingly clearing a path to the quarterfinals. But the Top 16 finished with single-digit defeats against UNICS Kazan and Reggio Emilia, leaving the side frustratingly and narrowly eliminated despite boasting a 10-6 record for the season. Victory in either of those games would have sent ASVEL into the last eight, and now the knowledge of having come so close to competing in the latter stages will serve as motivation for an even stronger challenge this time.

EuroLeague

EuroCup

ASVEL Villeurbanne was one of the first powers in the French League with 15 championships between 1949 and 1981 and has remained among its country's elite clubs for the past few decades. In the 1990s, ASVEL won several cups, made the 1997 EuroLeague Final Four and reached the French League finals in five out of six seasons. It again conquered the French League in the spring of 2002, when ASVEL roared through the playoffs and swept archrival Pau-Orthez in the finals to earn its first domestic crown in 21 years. That success carried over to the 2002-03 EuroLeague as it advanced to the Top 16. ASVEL played the EuroLeague for several seasons before making its ULEB Cup debut in 2005-06, when it reached the quarterfinals. In the 2007-08 season, ASVEL missed the ULEB Cup Last 16 by a single point and fell a victory short of reaching the French League title game. ASVEL did better in the 2008-09 season, with Vincent Collet as head coach, when it defeated Orleans in the French League final to claim the title. The triumph also secured the club a return to the EuroLeague for the 2009-10 season, but a 2-point loss in a do-or-die regular-season finale prevented ASVEL from reaching the Top 16. ASVEL bounced back the following season by edging Orleans to win the Semaine des As title, however, what ensued were five title-free seasons. ASVEL competed in the EuroCup four times in five seasons, but only in the 2011-12 campaign managed to get past the regular season. During that span, the team reached a pair of French League playoff semifinals and made one French Cup and one Semaine des As Cup semifinals appearance, but had to wait for another title until it lifted the French League crown in 2016. ASVEL entered the playoffs as the fifth-place team that season, but went on to beat Elan Chalon, Monaco and eventually Strasbourg to become the French champion for the 18th time in its history. And after competing for more trophies in the last two seasons, ASVEL does not hide its ambition to add more silverware to its trophy case, while competing against the best clubs on the continent.

Trophy Case