Our former player Sergi Vidal says goodbye to basketball at the headquarters of the ACB

The acb has paid tribute to Sergi Vidal on Tuesday, the ninth player with the most matches in the history of the association. Surrounded by former teammates and representatives of the basketball family, the forward has said goodbye to active basketball at the headquarters of the acb in Barcelona.

The former player played in eight different teams in the competition: Joventut, Baskonia, Real Madrid, Gipuzkoa Basket, Unicaja, Lugo, Fuenlabrada and Manresa, as well as being an absolute international with Spain. In this long career Vidal played 641 games and scored more than 4,000 points, winning two league titles, four from the Copa del Rey and four from the Super Cup. In total, 10 national titles.

The act has started with a few words from Antonio Martín, president of the acb, who said that “Sergi Vidal represents a lot for the competition and Spanish basketball. Few people can say that they have won the League, Cup and Super Cup, but beyond that what I have left of him is a player who leaves an imprint, which has a seal and an identity ”. Thus, the president adds that “is one of the players I admire: those who enjoy competing”.

After him, his inseparable friend, former player Albert Miralles, who remembered “when we started at the Joventut, we met with 13 years old and took the floor, was like a crush: we tell our children 'go play basketball and make friends' and it was just that, it was the beginning of 35 years of friendship. Meeting Sergi has been one of the most beautiful things that basketball has left me”. Miralles pointed out that “when we started a lot of people thought that he could not arrive because he did not defend, he was a compulsive scorer: in Vitoria he went from being a reference in attack to being one of the best defenders of the league, becoming a reference making what others did not do”.

After them the emotional moment has arrived in which Sergi Vidal himself, "throughout my career I tried to be a player with passion. The first thing is to thank everyone, the acb, my family and my friends”

"When I started I didn't know if I would become a professional player, then if I could keep up, if I could win a title, if I would reach the national team... I've always been challenging and when you get it, they are very special moments. If all that you had lived alone would not have so much value, when you live with your teammates, that is unmatched”, adds the former player.

To close this emotional act Antonio Martín has handed a commemorative plaque to the player, as well as the Joventut, who, in the hands of its president Juan Antonio Morales, wanted to give the player a shirt.