Valencia Basket opens the Liga Endesa hosting Barça at Roig Arena

Valencia Basket men’s team opens its participation in the 2025-26 Liga Endesa by hosting Barça (Sunday 5th, 7:00 pm, Roig Arena, DAZN) in what will be the first national competition game at the new taronja home, following last Friday’s debut with a victory over Virtus Bologna. Pedro Martínez’s men will need to draw extra energy from their fans to bring out their best version, as this will be their fifth game in just over eight days. During that stretch of official matches, Valencia Basket secured its fourth national title, the Supercopa Endesa, which will be presented to the Roig Arena crowd moments before tip-off.

It will be the first time that the taronja side hosts this rival in a season opener, offering them a chance to reverse their recent negative trend when starting the ACB season at home (they have lost on the last two occasions they opened the Liga Endesa as hosts). Their opponent won’t make it easy, having taken six of their last eight visits to Valencia in Liga Endesa play. While waiting to see when the first injured players return, Xabi López-Arostegui, Jean Montero, Brancou Badio, and Yankuba Sima have missed all of the official season so far, and with the need to leave out one of the three non-EU players, the taronja coach may have to rely on young players who trained with the first team during preseason to complete the roster.

Barça will go down in history as the first team to visit Roig Arena in national competition and arrives at the new taronja venue with slightly less wear and tear, having not taken part in last week’s Supercopa Endesa, but also coming off a double EuroLeague week, which they closed on Friday with a prestigious 96-103 victory on one of the toughest courts in the competition, that of Panathinaikos. The Catalan team has retained much of its core from recent years, in addition to bringing back Laprovittola and making top-level signings such as Will Clyburn (Barça’s offensive leader in the first official games), Toko Shengelia, Juani Marcos, Myles Cale, and Miles Norris, although one of their three non-EU players will have to sit out due to ACB license regulations. The blaugrana side is without long-term injured Juan Núñez.

Rosters

ÁRBITROS: Carlos Peruga - Luis Miguel Castillo - Fabio Fernández