Cinderella story of Starwings ends, and Fribourg wins the Swiss title

Fribourg Olympic beat Starwings Basket Regio Basel 85-76 in the 3rd game of the best of five series. As a result, this is their third Swiss title in a row. Sounds like a dull championship? Boring playoff series that ended in 3-0? Not really. On the contrary.

The end of the Swiss series was sensational. Starwings Basket ended seventh in the regular-season league ranking with a 9-17 losing record. In the quarter-finals, nobody gave them a chance against the league’s top-ranked team Geneva. Indeed, Geneva won the first game with 85-66, and everything looked like business as usual. However, Starwings came back and won the second game with 77-75 and then followed through with winning another nailbiter in the decisive game 3 with 73-70. The biggest upset of the Swiss season was a fact, and the seventh seed team had just kicked the top-ranked team out of the playoffs!

But Starwings’ Cinderella story didn’t end there. In the semi-finals, they won the series 2-0 against the fourth-ranked team Neuchatel.

Reaching the final is the biggest success in the history of Starwings. Especially because their season was plagued with injuries and COVID-19 infections, however, they had no more gas left in the tank to upset their opponent in the finals, Fribourg. The final series ended in a 3-0 victory for Fribourg that claims the Swiss title, but the story of the season is Starwings.