[by Kris SANTIAGO] - Campeones! Campeones! Ole - ole - ole!
Spain won the European Football Championships last weekend and having a girlfriend from the country, you may know what went on during Sunday night in Frankfurt...

Let's start with the news surrounding the two African teams who are currently preparing for Athens:

Jeff Xavier is now officially part of the Cape Verdean team for Athens:

Newest member of Cape Verde's national team and Israel's National League top-scorer Josh Gomes:

Pedro Gomes of Africabasket.com talks about the preparations here.

I just talked to Cameroon's coach Lazare Adingono, and he told me, that Luc Richard Mbah A Moute is currently into talks with his family and his new team, as he has to decide whether to play for Cameroon or in the NBA Summer League.
It would be a huge blow for the Indomitable Lions who just started their preparation in Lyon.

Watch an Alfred Aboya interview recently given:

Here is the extended radio interview of Alf with some inside on the national team as well.

Terrible news from the US: Nyam Menghe collapsed and died during a game.
He played lastly at Canisius where national-team coach Lazare Adingono is also coaching…my condolences to his family and friends!

News from around the block:

Unicaja Malaga gets a true Montenegrinian in Omar Kukic (He grew up in Bruklin/Novi Jorko):

I found a special friend in former-Hawk Steve Smith, who is a really creative guy and knows a ton on European hoops.
Check out the videos that the guys of Ball in Europe compiled in their blog right here:

Vice-champs and ULEB-Cup team Euphony Bree (Belgium) may not be around in the next season.
They weren't able to obtain a license in time and may disappear from the European scene, if their appeal will not be granted by the federation.

In Spain, Palma Aqua Magica is no more playing in the LEB Oro and is instead focusing on the EBA-team Palma Playa Park (5th Division).
They were stunned last season by the sudden departure of their main sponsor and couldn't get a new sponsor for the '08-'09 season.
The other team from Mallorca, Drac Inca, fusioned with Basquet Muro to form Basquet Mallorca and to compete in the LEB Oro and LEB Bronce but has also serious monetary problems right now.
A sad situation for Mallorquin basketball...

ACB's Manresa is interested in the services of Bulgarian guard Filip Videnov, who played in Spain before.
Also, in more interesting news, the same team wants one of Serge Ibaka's younger brothers (14 years old, 2,00m) to play on the team as well. Lets see if the younger Ibaka (One of 19 sisters and brothers in the family!) pans out to be a future star like his brother.

As read on Solobasket, Akasvayu Girona maybe bought by Andorran investors to collaborate with BC River Andorra in the near future. The cooperation with Vic has been cancelled already and the EBA from Andorra could send some of their players to practice with Girona's squad if the deal is finalized.
Girona went through financial troubles last season and lost their main sponsor Akasvayu for the 2008-2009 season.

Spain named their U-20 for the upcoming European Championships:
The will be preparing in Madrid prior to a tournament in Luxemburg where they will be facing Russia, Luxemburg, France and Turkey. After the preparation, they will be heading towards Latvia where they will meet Montenegro, Bulgaria and hosts Latvia in Group C-play.

Colombia is missing their top players prior to the South American Championships. Stalin Ortiz, who is on my All-Name team of the century, is not going to join the team, the same with Juan Tello-Palacios from Louisville who joins the NBA's Cavs for the NBA Summer League.

The best mix of nationalities so far: Indian-Australian-Israeli-Armenian! Eban Hyams played lastly in Israel and may pop up in on of the European leagues soon. Check out his video right here.

American guard Corey McIntosh of Augustana (NCAA D2) is currently in Varna (Bulgaria) for try-outs.
The point guard played previously for four different schools (Pasadena College, Fullerton College and Iowa State before heading to Augustana) and could be soon the new import player on the Cherno More-team that has German company E-on as the main sponsor.

Azerbaijan wins the European Champions! (Well the Division C for smaller countries...)

Here is a run down on the top players from the C-Division:

Azerbaijan had their best in Davit Barbakadze (19,6 ppg and 10 rpg) who is playing in Georgia for Avia Tbilisi.
Tahir Bakhshieyev from NTD Devon was also instrumental for the Azeri with 19 points per game. The Azeri weren't playing with big man Aleksandar Rindin (2,25m) this time and still were victorious, also because point guard Fuad Niftaliyev dished out 8,4 assist per game and netted in 15 ppg.

Moldova had their best in the experienced duo of Eugeni Scripcaru (18,2 ppg) and Eugeniu Melinic (17 ppg) who are either playing or played abroad.Scripcaru played for Gomel in Bielorus before (He is back home with Gamma) while Melinic is a fixture in the Romanian championship for Valcea.

Third placed Scotland had a well balanced team where Gareth Murray (14 ppg) stood out.
He is playing in the British BBL for the Scottish Rocks while guard Laurie Costello (Edinburgh Knights) recorded marvelous 4,8 assists per game for the hosts. Keith Bunyan of the Falkirk Fury added another 11 ppg

Little Andorra came out big again with the contribution of guard Xavier Galera Ruz (15,8 ppg and 5 apg) who is playing in the EBA in Spain for BC River Andorra and River-teammate Daniel Marin Rodriguez (15,2 ppg) while forward Marc Martret Rebollar of AE Sedis (Also in the Spanish EBA) pulled down 9,8 boards for the Andorrans.

San Marino's Andrea Raschi is a true professional and led the Divison C in scoring with 22,4 points per game and is playing in the Lega Due of Italy for the Rimini Crabs on the forward-spot. Stefano Rossini of Titano San Marino, who are competing in the Italian Serie C2, also contributed to the teams success with 15,4 ppg.
Guard Flavio Bottiroli of Basket Gualdo (Serie B2) and forward Emanuele Crescentini of Titano both scored another 13ppg and 14ppg respectively for one of the smallest countries in Europe.

Gibraltar's national team competes as a club team (Foster's GABBA) in the Spanish Provincial Cadiz League (8th Division) where David Garcia Ramirez is playing in the starting five. He led Gibraltar in scoring with 16,7 points per game and pulled down 9,4 rebounds as well, while Adam Cassaglia of Los Barrios B (Primera Nacional Andalucia - 6th Division) poured in steadily 10,8 points per game. Jordan Ramagge (Foster's GABBA) was also instrumental of reaching the sixth place by dishing out 4,6 assists each game.

Malta had their best in Steve Schembri of the local side Luxol, who contributed with 11,2 ppg while young Samuel Deguara (2,19m -17 years old) added 8 ppg and 8,1 rpg for the Maltese national team. He is developing his game in Italy in the Junior-team of Benetton Treviso and is by far the biggest talent out of Malta right now.

Wales' trio of Collin Duppa (Chesire Jets - GB's BBL), Michael Gregory (Ex-ETB Essen/Germany) and Anthony Berry carried the team who went dead last in the championships.
Duppa scored 12,6 ppg while Gregory added 11,8 ppg for the Welsh, who had Anthony Berry on the boards (8,8 rpg) and Owen Williams at point guard (4,8 apg).

That's all for this time, enough news to check I guess…

I'm out like Germany's football team in Vienna.