April 16, 2022 - KK Split and Skopje will surely be in the top tier next season, while Borac and Zlatibor may now need to wait for new regulations in the ABA League.
It's not every day that teams don't know what the rule will be for relegation at the end of a season but it's probably only once in a lifetime that they don't even know which regulation will apply by the end of the season.
It looked well on paper that the last team in ABA League 1 will drop out (KK Krka from Novo Mesto), winner of the ABA League 2 finals will move up (Skopje and Zlatibor will face each other at 17:00 tonight). The loser of that game would face the second team from the bottom of League 1 (like last season KK Split again) to see who wins two games first and plays League 1 next season.
However, a basis for making sure that the competition stays international is that no more than 5 teams from Serbia should play in League 1. Those 5 teams are currently 1st placed Red Star, 2nd Partizan, 6th FMP, and 9th Mega from Belgrade. KK Borac from Čačak is currently in position 12, thought to be safe, and is now facing a possible relegation due to Zlatibor from Čajetina in Serbia being one of the two finalists in League 2.
Today's game between Zlatibor and Skopje may now open several undefined scenarios.
- If Zlatibor wins the final they may either end up taking Borac's place directly or may need to play them for relegation. KK Split would be saved from relegation as would Skopje who would take Krka's place.
- If Skopje wins the final and moves up directly taking Krka's place it could get really fascinating. KK Split may then have to play against Zlatibor knowing that Split cannot drop out. The only reason for the game would be in order to establish if Zlatibor -should they beat Split- would then have to play against Borac which they would not need to if they lost against Split.
Seems like just another day in the Balkans. Let's hope that at least for the future such regulation will be clearly defined without any loopholes.
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