By Amy Samin

Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv has drawn to Group B of the 2012 – 2013 Euroleague regular season, along with Montepaschi Siena of Italy, German team Alba Berlin, Unicaja Malaga of Spain, Asseco Prokom Gdynia (Poland) and newly-minted French champions Elan Chalon-Sur-Saone. The exact schedule will be announced shortly.

The regular season will get underway on 11 October and will end on 14 December. The top four teams in the group will qualify for the Top 16 round which begins on 27 December and concludes on 5 April. The playoffs will run from 9 – 25 April, and the season will conclude with the Final Four which will take place 10 – 12 May 2013 in London. The groups for the Top 16 will be crafted according to the following formula:

Group E: A – 1, B – 2, C – 3, D – 4, C – 1, D – 2, A – 3, B – 4
Group F: B – 1, C – 2, D – 3, A – 4, D – 1, A – 2, B – 3, C – 4

Group A
Panathinaikos Athens
Real Madrid
BC Khimki Moscow Region
Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul
Union Olimpija Ljubljana
QR Champion

Group B
Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv
Montepaschi Siena
Alba Berlin
Unicaja Malaga
Asseco Prokom Gdynia
Elan Chalon-Sur-Saone

Group C
Olympiacos Piraeus
Caja Laboral Vitoria
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
Zalgiris Kaunas
EA7 Emporio Armani Milan
Cedevita Zagreb

Group D
FC Barcelona Regal
CSKA Moscow
Partizan Mt:s Belgrade
Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius
Brose Baskets Bamberg
Beskitas JK Istanbul

David Blatt: "Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv is proud and happy for its fans around the world to open a new season. We look forward to new challenges and are preparing accordingly. We are building a quality team that will know how to deal with the expectations and challenges and will bring joy to our wonderful and devoted fans and with proudly represent the symbol and great tradition of Maccabi Tel Aviv. The rest of the teams in our group, just like us, have not completed their rosters and even if we don’t face the strongest teams, there is no chance we will be overconfident. We will have a relatively new team and during the regular season we will have to come together. “

Shimon Mizrahi: "We have been drawn against teams with great Euroleague traditions, like Siena and Malaga. Alba and Prokom also know the Euroleague well and Chalon had a great season in France. You don’t win games on paper. We need to come as strong as possible to advance to the Top 16, which will be even more thrilling with its new format. We are working hard to complete our squad for the coming season and I can promise everyone that we will have a great team.”