Spartak Pleven will continue to play in the European North Basketball league.
Bulgarian club is the 11th team with multiple seasons in the ENBL.
Three teams – Basket Brno, University of Tartu and Valmiera Glass/ViA – play from 2021.
Šiauliai – the Final Four participants in 2022 and 2024 – played for three consecutive seasons.
Polish clubs Zastal Zielona Gora and Start Lublin were playing from 2022 and 2023.
The reigning champions Bakken Bears Aarhus, finalists CSO Voluntari and quarterfinalists Bristol Flyers, as well as Keila Coolbet, have returned too.
Spartak Pleven proved to be a tough opponent on the home soil.
Lyubomir Minchev and his men defeated the 2023 ENBL bronze medalist Start Lublin, 101-95.
The Bulgarians also put up a good fight against Uniclub Casino Juventus, 82-92, on a day when Lithuanians went 67% from the three point line (10/15).
Local favorites Nikolay Stoyanov and Konstantin Toshkov were supported by solid foreigners like Bryant Thomas (re-located to Inter Bratislava) and Rodney Purvis.
Purvis (agency – BSA Basketball) once played for world famous UConn Huskies, the 2023 and 2024 NCAA champions.
ENBL experience helped Spartak Pleven to advance to the Bulgarian semifinals after a one year hiatus.
Spartak finished third in the regular season with a 22-10 record after Chernomorets Burgas and Rilski Sportist.
Pleven defeated sixth seeded Cherno More Varna in the quarterfinals, 2-1.
Then Spartak fell in the best-of-five series against the 2024 Bulgarian champion Rilski Sportist, 2-3.
Finally, Spartak lost the bronze medal series against Chernomorets Burgas, 1-2.
Minchev wasn`t satisfied after a Bulgarian Cup final and a fourth place in the Sesame NBL.
“Yes, we finished second in the Cup but the overall outcome of the season wasn`t good,” head coach said to Bgbasket.com on May 27.
“Opinion of the fans may differ but I think it was a good season as the team reached the Cup finals after a long break,” Purvis said.
Pleven is a historic city located 170 kilometres northeast of capital Sofia and approximately 160 kilometres south of Bucharest, Romania.
Basketball club Spartak Pleven was founded in 1947.
It was known under names of Spartak (1947-1993) and Plama (1993-1997) before rebranding itself as Spartak Pleven in 1997.
Pleven won two consecutive Bulgarian championships in 1995 and 1996.
They also won Bulgarian Cup in 1996.
Spartak Pleven reached the Bulgarian league semifinals in 2022 and 2024.
The club has five European campaigns under its belt.
Plama Pleven played in the FIBA European Cup (1994-1997), named after Raimundo Saporta, a former Real Madrid director.
The club also played at the EuroChallenge qualifiers in 2008.
Spartak has posted glorious victories over basketball giants like Real Madrid, Partizan Belgrade and Bešiktaš Istanbul.
Pleven`s home gym is a Balkanstroy Hall with a capacity of 1300.
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