In an interview with TVMonaco’s Roca Sph\u00e8re, the managing director of AS Monaco Basket gave a mixed assessment of a historic but trophy-less season, while setting out his ambitions for 2025-2026.<\/strong><\/p><\/p>\n\n Oleksiy Yefimov makes no secret of his disappointment: for the first time since 2021-2022, Monaco are ending the season with a “blank slate”<\/em>, without a trophy to their name. However, the managing director refuses to talk about total failure. “It was an intense, interesting and difficult season. It was also historic because we reached the Euroleague final for the first time,”<\/em>\u00a0he points out.<\/p><\/p>\n\n The European campaign was a stellar one: finalists in the Euroleague despite a budget ranked only 9th or 10th out of 18 participating teams, AS Monaco Basket proved that it could compete with the European giants. “Being the second-best team in Europe is no mean feat,”<\/em>\u00a0says Yefimov.<\/p><\/p>\n\n The end of the season was tough: 12 matches in 26 days after the Final Four in Abu Dhabi. But Yefimov won’t hear of it: “We don’t want to make excuses. From the start, we knew that if we were to go all the way to the Euroleague, we’d have to play over 19 games.”<\/em><\/p><\/p>\n\n The defeat against Paris Basketball in the Betclic \u00c9lite final\u00a0<\/span><\/a>(3-2) is a particularly bitter pill. The Roca Team had come back from being 0-2 down, but losing games at Bourg and Chalon in the build-up to the Final Four cost them the home advantage.<\/span><\/p><\/p>\n\nThe final marathon: fatigue or lack of experience?<\/h2>\n\n
AS Monaco Basket puts rumours to rest: Mike James fully reinstated<\/a><\/blockquote>