Bourges starts season in Vilnius with EuroLeague spot at stake
EuroLeague - Bourges Basket arrived in Lithuania this Wednesday to play their first EuroLeague preliminary round match against Kibirkstis Vilnius. Without three young players who stayed in Bourges, the Tango team will try to secure their spot for the group phase with the first leg this Thursday (6pm).
Photo Credit : Tango Bourges Basket
The Tango Bourges Basket team arrived in Vilnius Wednesday afternoon after a stopover in Riga. Under cloudy skies and after a long wait to get their rooms, Olivier Lafargue’s players headed to the Arena (2,500 seats), where they begin their official season this Thursday. First challenge: a knockout match in the EuroLeague qualifying round, Europe’s premier basketball competition.
⚡️ 𝗐𝗍’𝗌 𝗀𝖺𝗆𝖾 𝖽𝖺𝗒!
🏆 | Qualification Euroleague Women
🔚 | Vilnius
⏲️ | 18H00
📺 | https://t.co/rgpTOjiUuPFirst official game of the season, to put one foot in Euroleague Women! 😎#FiertéTango pic.twitter.com/cV2JqWFOot
— Tango Bourges Basket (@BourgesBasket) September 18, 2025
Three absentees, but a united group
The trip was made without Inès Pitarch-Granel (1.82m, 19 years old), still recovering from an ankle sprain sustained during preparation, nor Mathilde Selle (1.90m, 19 years old) and Alicia Tournebize (1.94m, 18 years old), who stayed in France for their high school graduation makeup exams. However, young players Rokia Bamba and Maewenn Poilvé, who participated in the preparation, are part of the group. Despite this setback, the Tango team shows smile and determination.
Reunion with Kamile Nacickaite
The duel will be special for a former Bourges player, Kamile Nacickaite-Van der Horst, now leader of Kibirkstis. The Lithuanian club, coached by national team selector Vilius Stanisauskas, underwent significant renewal during the offseason. For Tima Pouye, who faced and beat Lithuania in the Euro quarter-finals this summer with the French team, vigilance will be required: « Lithuanians are usually good shooters, we’ll need to limit that as much as possible. It’s up to us to do the job on both ends of the court, » she indicates in Le Berry Républicain.
A decisive first game
The qualifying format – home and away – puts this meeting at the heart of the season right from the start. « We’re still building, but we just need to focus on playing good basketball, » said new Tango center Maeva Djaldi-Tabdi. A victory would give Bourges the opportunity to join the group phase and ensure another campaign at the highest continental level.
Tip-off this Thursday at 6pm for Tango’s first official match in 2025-26, to be followed on the EuroLeague YouTube channel. The return leg of this preliminary round will take place on Wednesday, September 24.
Gabriel Pantel-Jouve est le fondateur et rédacteur en chef de BeBasket, qu’il anime depuis 2010 (sous le nom de Catch & Shoot). Passé par l’Ecole Publique de Journaliste de Tours, puis deux universités en Amérique du Nord, il a pu développer son expertise sur le basket français, de la Ligue Nationale aux divisions amateurs, durant ces 20 dernières années. En parallèle, il est aussi engagé dans le développement de clubs du côté de Montpellier.
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