Along the Samoș River in Cluj-Napoca, the largest city in the Romanian province of Transylvania, not far from a huge park, and right next to the grandiose "Dr. Constantin Radulescu" football stadium, there is another grandiose venue - the "BT Arena".
The home of Cluj basketball players, a participant in the AdmiralBet ABA League this season, and a participant in the Eurocup for years, a club where the legendary Duško Vujošević had his last coaching engagement.
And the club, which on Friday, in the second match of the quarterfinals of the regional competition, defeated Buducnost Voli (94:90) and returned the series to Podgorica, where the decisive match for a place in the semifinals will be played on Tuesday (20).
"BT Arena" was opened in 2014, and then it was called "Polyvalent Hall", and it took its current name three years later, and BT in the name means - Bank of Transylvania. Exactly three years later, more precisely, in 2017, the capacity of the arena was expanded to its current 10 thousand seats, and the total investment amounted to 21,5 million euros. The reason for the expansion, among other things, lies in the fact that that year Romania was one of the four countries in which Eurobasket was held at that time. And it was in that arena that the basketball players of Montenegro, led by the coach, Bogdan Tanjević, played the group stage matches of the continental championship against Spain, Croatia, Hungary, the Czech Republic and the host nine years ago. Then our selection reached the round of 16 in the home of Cluj, moved to Istanbul, but Latvia was too strong there.
The original name "Polyvalent Hall", or multi-purpose hall, clearly speaks of what kind of hall it is. And it's not just basketball that's played there - "BT arena" will host Group D of the European Volleyball Championship in September, and at the end of the year it will also host the teams of Group B, when the EHF Euro for women's handball is on the program. The WTA tournament from the 250 series is played there, and when it comes to tennis, the most trophy-winning Romanian tennis player and once the number one on the WTA list - Simona Halep - will end her career at the same location on Saturday, June 13, as part of the "Festival of Sports" event. And it was on Friday, during the match between Cluj and Buducnost, that match was announced several times on LED advertisements.
The home of Cluj-Napoca basketball players has also hosted numerous world music stars, and boasts excellent acoustics, which was noticeable during the second game of the ABA League quarterfinals. In a hall that can accommodate 10 thousand people, according to data from the regional competition website, there were four thousand fewer present, but even those six thousand fans created a great atmosphere. The club was sung, the opponent was not insulted, and every point was celebrated as if it were at least a final.
The atmosphere created by the Cluj fans was phenomenal, and the Romanian team - with its results, arena, fans, logistics - in every way justified the trust it received from the ABA League when it joined the regional competition.
"BT arena" is in an excellent location, because, as we have said, there is a large city park nearby, which offers various recreational opportunities. It is connected to the city center by tram and bus lines, so it is easy to get from this destination to the well-maintained center and the Unification Square, where the Church of St. Michael is located, in front of which is a statue of the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus, who was born in Cluj, and the house in which he was born is nearby. There are also cafes on the Square, as well as in numerous side streets.
The city is also known as a student city, after all, it is home to the largest, Baboš-Boljaj University in the country, and a few years ago it became part of the UNESCO network of creative cities as a city of film.
And according to the latest data, just over 300 thousand inhabitants live there.
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