2025–26 Basketball Champions League

Basketball Champions League
Season2025–26
DatesQualifying:
23–28 September 2025
Competition proper:
7 October 2025 – 10 May 2026
TeamsCompetition proper: 32
Total: 53 (from 30 countries)
2026–27 →

The 2025–26 Basketball Champions League will be the 10th season of the Basketball Champions League (BCL), a European professional basketball competition for clubs launched by FIBA.

Unicaja are the defending champions.[1]

Team allocation

A total of 53 teams from 30 of the 50 FIBA Europe member associations are set to participate in the 2025–26 Basketball Champions League.[2] The country ranking based on the country coefficients is used to determine the number of participating teams for each country:[3]

  • All countries, if they entered, each have at least one team qualify.[4]
  • The winners of the 2024–25 Basketball Champions League are given an additional entry if they do not qualify for the 2025–26 Basketball Champions League through their domestic league.[5]
  • The organiser may grant access to the League through the attribution of up to 4 invitations (wild cards) to the Regular Season or to the Qualification Rounds.[5]
  • If one or more clubs do not use their right to participate in the Basketball Champions League, the organiser may decide to allocate the respective place(s) to other clubs of the same or other country.[5]

Country ranking

.It takes into account their performance from 2022–23 to 2024–25.[6]

Country ranking for 2025–26 Basketball Champions League
Rank Country Coeff. Teams
1  Spain 97.70 4+1
2  Turkey 65.95 3+1
3  France 65.58 2+1
4  Israel 65.33 2+0
5  Greece 65.00 3+1
6  Germany 54.75 3+1
7  Czech Republic 49.50 1+0
8  Italy 43.92 2+1
9  Lithuania 38.00 1+1
10  Hungary 36.00 1+1
11  Portugal 34.00 1+1
12  Belgium 33.50 1+1
13  Bosnia and Herzegovina 31.00 1+0
14  Latvia 27.00 1+0
15  Poland 21.00 1+1
16  Serbia 9.50 1+0
17  Denmark 9.00 0+1
Rank Country Coeff. Teams
18  Slovakia 7.00 0+1
19  Switzerland 7.00 0+1
20  Estonia 6.00 0+1
21  Netherlands 5.00 0+1
22  Romania 5.00 0+1
23  Sweden 5.00 0+0
24  Cyprus 4.00 0+1
25  Finland 4.00 0+1
26  Kosovo 4.00 0+1
27  Great Britain 3.00 0+0
28  Austria 2.00 0+0
29  Ukraine 2.00 0+0
30  Georgia 2.00 0+1
31  Bulgaria 2.00 0+1
32  North Macedonia 1.00 0+1
33  Montenegro 1.00 0+1
34  Azerbaijan 1.00 1+0

Teams

The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:

  • TH: Title holders
  • 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc.: League positions of the previous season
Qualified teams for 2025–26 Basketball Champions League (by entry round)[2]
Regular season
La Laguna Tenerife (3rd) Promitheas Vikos Cola (4th) Bnei Penlink Herzliya (5th) VEF Rīga (1st)
Unicaja (4th)TH Karditsa Iaponiki (5th) Trapani Shark (3rd) Rytas (2nd)
Joventut Badalona (6th) Tofaş (5th) Pallacanestro Trieste (6th) Legia Warszawa (1st)
Dreamland Gran Canaria (7th) Mersin (6th) Sabah (1st) Benfica (1st)
MLP Academics Heidelberg (3rd) Galatasaray (7th) Filou Oostende (1st) Spartak Office Shoes (2nd)
Fitness First Würzburg Baskets (4th) Cholet (5th) Igokea m:tel (1st)
Alba Berlin (7th)[Note GER] Le Mans (6th) ERA Nymburk (1st)
AEK Betsson (3rd) Hapoel Netanel Holon (4th) NHSZ-Szolnoki Olajbányász (1st)
Qualifying rounds
Windrose Giants Antwerp (6th) Élan Chalon (7th) Trepça (1st) Porto (2nd)
Rilski Sportist (1st) Kutaisi 2010 (1st) Juventus (6th) CSM CSU Oradea (2nd)
Petrolina AEK Larnaca (1st) Löwen Braunschweig (5th) SC Derby (2nd) Patrioti Levice (1st)
Bakken Bears (1st) PAOK mateco (6th) Heroes Den Bosch (1st) UCAM Murcia (9th)
Kalev/Cramo (1st) Falco Szombathely (2nd) Pelister (6th) Fribourg Olympic (2nd)
Karhu Kauhajoki (2nd) Pallacanestro Reggiana (7th) Start Lublin (2nd) Bursaspor (10th)
Notes
  1. ^
    Germany (GER): Alba Berlin got a wild card.[7]

Referees

A total of 54 officials are set to work on the 2025–26 season in Basketball Champions League:[8] After the 2024–25 season, twelve referees were replaced by new ones. Newcomers are marked by *.

Round and draw dates

The schedule of the competition will be as follows.[9][10]

Schedule for 2025–26 Basketball Champions League
Phase Round Draw date First leg Second leg Third leg
Qualifying rounds 2 July 2025 19–25 September 2025
Regular season Round 1 7–8 October 2025
Round 2 14–15 October 2025
Round 3 21–22 October 2025
28–29 October 2025
Round 4 4–5 November 2025
11–12 November 2025
Round 5 18–19 November 2025
9–10 December 2025
Round 6 16–17 December 2025
Play-ins 6 January 2026 8 January 2026 13–14 January 2026
Round of 16 Round 1 20–21 January 2026
Round 2 27–28 January 2026
Round 3 3–4 February 2026
Round 4 10–11 February 2026
Round 5 10–11 March 2026
Round 6 17–18 March 2026
Play-offs Quarter-finals 20 March 2026 31 March–1 April 2026 7–8 April 2026 14–15 April 2026
Final Four Semi-finals 8 May 2026
Final 10 May 2026

Qualifying rounds

The 24 teams will face in three qualifying round tournaments, one of which belong to the Champions Path, which contains the domestic league champions, and the other two to the League Path, which contains the rest of the teams that vie for qualify to the regular season. In each path, teams will be seeded ordered by the club ranking and by the country ranking for clubs that have not yet participated in the competition. The three winners of the finals will then qualify for the regular season and will join the 29 directly qualified teams in the main draw. The rest of the teams will qualify, if they apply, to the FIBA Europe Cup.

Draw

The draw for the qualifying rounds was held on 2 July 2025 at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland.[11]

Champions path

Pot 1
Team Pts
Bakken Bears 9
Patrioti Levice 7
Pot 2
Team Pts
Heroes Den Bosch 5
Kalev/Cramo 5
Pot 3
Team Pts
Trepça 2
Rilski Sportist 2
Pot 4
Team Pts
Kutaisi 2010 1
Petrolina AEK Larnaca 1

League path

Pot 1
Team Pts
UCAM Murcia 111
Falco Szombathely 41
Pallacanestro Reggiana 39
PAOK mateco 35
Pot 2
Team Pts
Bursaspor 14
Fribourg Olympic 7
Karhu Kauhajoki 3
CSM CSU Oradea 3
Pot 3
Team Pts
Juventus 2
Windrose Giants Antwerp 2
Élan Chalon 65.58†
Löwen Braunschweig 54.75†
Pot 4
Team Pts
Porto 34.00†
Start Lublin 21.00†
Pelister 1.00†
SC Derby 1.00†

Tournament 1

The tournament 1 will be played on September 21–25, 2025.

 
Quarter-finals
September 21–22		Semi-finals
September 23		Final
September 25
 
          
 
 
 
 
 Patrioti Levice 90
 
 
 
 Petrolina AEK Larnaca 69
 
 Patrioti Levice 81
 
 
 
 Kalev/Cramo 69
 
 Kalev/Cramo 93
 
 
 
 Rilski Sportist 84
 
 Patrioti Levice (2OT) 100
 
 
 
 Bakken Bears 98
 
 Bakken Bears 84
 
 
 
 Kutaisi 2010 81
 
 Bakken Bears 82
 
 
 
 Heroes Den Bosch 77
 
 Heroes Den Bosch 80
 
 
 Trepça 68
 

Source: FIBA

Tournament 2

The tournament 2 will be played on September 19–23, 2025.

 
Quarter-finals
September 19		Semi-finals
September 21		Final
September 23
 
          
 
 
 
 
 PAOK mateco 79
 
 
 
 SC Derby 67
 
 PAOK mateco 73
 
 
 
 Bursaspor 92
 
 Bursaspor 81
 
 
 
 Löwen Braunschweig 74
 
 Bursaspor 77
 
 
 
 Windrose Giants Antwerp 58
 
 Pallacanestro Reggiana 99
 
 
 
 Pelister 87
 
 Pallacanestro Reggiana 78
 
 
 
 Windrose Giants Antwerp 81
 
 CSM CSU Oradea 71
 
 
 Windrose Giants Antwerp 79
 

Source: FIBA

Tournament 3

The tournament 3 will be played on September 20–24, 2025.

 
Quarter-finals
September 20		Semi-finals
September 22		Final
September 24
 
          
 
 
 
 
 UCAM Murcia 100
 
 
 
 Start Lublin 84
 
 UCAM Murcia 81
 
 
 
 Juventus 71
 
 Karhu Kauhajoki 89
 
 
 
 Juventus 103
 
 UCAM Murcia 88
 
 
 
 Élan Chalon 96
 
 Falco Szombathely 79
 
 
 
 Porto 83
 
 Porto 79
 
 
 
 Élan Chalon 100
 
 Fribourg Olympic 80
 
 
 Élan Chalon 107
 

Source: FIBA

Regular season

Main article: 2025–26 Basketball Champions League regular season

The regular season will be played by 32 teams divided into eight groups of four in which 29 teams receive direct spots plus the three qualifying round tournaments winners. The regular season will begin on 7 October and will conclude on 17 December 2025. In each group, teams will play against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format where the eight group winners from each regular season group will qualify directly to the round of 16. Moreover, the second-placed and third-placed will qualify to the play-ins, where the series winners will qualify for the round of 16, while the remanining last-placed teams will be eliminated after the regular season.

A minimum of 18 countries will be represented in the regular season which will involve up to nine domestic league champions. Continental powerhouses like Alba Berlin, Joventut Badalona and Dreamland Gran Canaria will join the league after their previous stage in Euroleague Basketball competitions,[12][13][14] others like Karditsa Iaponiki, Mersin and Trapani Shark will make their debut appearance in international competitions.

Group A

Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Pts Qualification VIL HDB PRO WAR
1 Rytas 6 4 2 564 534 +30 10 Advance to round of 16 — 116–90 98–79 93–85
2 MLP Academics Heidelberg 6 3 3 502 507 −5 9 Advance to play-ins 92–83 — 82–62 67–74
3 Promitheas Vikos Cola 6 3 3 481 507 −26 9 111–95 89–83 — 72–85
4 Legia Warszawa 6 2 4 468 467 +1 8 77–79 83–88 64–68 —
Source: FIBA

Group B

Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Pts Qualification ALB CHA NYM SAB
1 Alba Berlin 6 5 1 549 483 +66 11 Advance to round of 16 — 76–81 94–78 106–82
2 Élan Chalon 6 5 1 539 513 +26 11 Advance to play-ins 91–100 — 97–84 84–71
3 ERA Nymburk 6 1 5 512 546 −34 7 75–88 95–97 — 93–65
4 Sabah 6 1 5 486 544 −58 7 76–85 87–89 105–87 —
Source: FIBA

Group C

Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Pts Qualification CJB CHO HOL BUR
1 Joventut Badalona 6 6 0 531 455 +76 12 Advance to round of 16 — 91–73 97–95 94–67
2 Cholet 6 3 3 539 524 +15 9 Advance to play-ins 87–89 — 92–103 109–77
3 Hapoel Netanel Holon 6 3 3 531 521 +10 9 65–81 92–94 — 84–74
4 Bursaspor 6 0 6 441 542 −101 6 68–79 72–84 83–92 —
Source: FIBA

Group D

Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Pts Qualification LLT TOF TPS HER
1 La Laguna Tenerife 6 4 2 519 474 +45 10 Advance to round of 16 — 80–70 80–83 108–85
2 Tofaş 6 3 3 495 511 −16 9 Advance to play-ins 64–81 — 99–93 90–86
3 Trapani Shark 6 3 3 521 516 +5 9 78–84 89–91 — 101–88
4 Bnei Penlink Herzliya 6 2 4 509 543 −34 8 94–86 82–81 74–77 —
Source: FIBA

Group E

Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Pts Qualification GSM WUE TS IGO
1 Galatasaray MCT Technic 6 5 1 534 474 +60 11 Advance to round of 16 — 89–83 79–80 94–82
2 Fitness First Würzburg Baskets 6 4 2 480 452 +28 10 Advance to play-ins 74–99 — 78–63 70–68
3 Pallacanestro Trieste 6 2 4 501 519 −18 8 90–91 77–90 — 115–90
4 Igokea m:tel 6 1 5 452 522 −70 7 65–82 56–85 91–76 —
Source: FIBA

Group F

Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Pts Qualification AEK OLA PAT VEF
1 AEK Betsson 6 5 1 494 431 +63 11 Advance to round of 16 — 91–77 99–88 95–64
2 NHSZ-Szolnoki Olajbányász 6 3 3 451 439 +12 9 Advance to play-ins 80–69 — 84–54 77–76
3 Patrioti Levice 6 3 3 461 467 −6 9 69–71 73–71 — 85–69
4 VEF Rīga 6 1 5 411 480 −69 7 53–69 76–62 73–92 —
Source: FIBA

Group G

Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Pts Qualification UNI MSK KAR OOS
1 Unicaja 6 6 0 575 435 +140 12 Advance to round of 16 — 97–66 115–84 102–80
2 Mersin 6 4 2 415 404 +11 10 Advance to play-ins 77–100 — 81–73 84–76
3 Karditsa Iaponiki 6 2 4 461 519 −58 8 55–72 72–80 — 82–78
4 Filou Oostende 6 0 6 563 656 −93 6 73–89 86–104 93–95 —
Source: FIBA

Group H

Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Pts Qualification DGC SPA MSB SLB
1 Dreamland Gran Canaria 6 6 0 518 425 +93 12 Advance to round of 16 — 77–62 73–68 87–63
2 Spartak Office Shoes 6 3 3 469 462 +7 9 Advance to play-ins 83–93 — 74–73 99–69
3 Le Mans 6 2 4 484 460 +24 8 88–90 76–61 — 89–69
4 Benfica 6 1 5 429 553 −124 7 61–98 74–90 93–90 —
Source: FIBA

Play-ins

The Play-ins will take place from 6 to 14 January 2026. The teams classified in second and third place in their respective groups of Basketball Champions League, went to the Play-ins. The winners will advance to the round of 16. First legs will be played on 6 January, second legs on 8 January and if required, third legs will be played on 13–14 January.

Team 1 Series Team 2 Game 1 Game 2 Game 3
MLP Academics Heidelberg 0–0 ERA Nymburk
Tofaş 0–0 Cholet
Hapoel Netanel Holon 0–0 Trapani Shark
Élan Chalon 0–0 Promitheas Vikos Cola
Fitness First Würzburg Baskets 0–0 Patrioti Levice
NHSZ-Szolnoki Olajbányász 0–0 Pallacanestro Trieste
Mersin 0–0 Le Mans
Spartak Office Shoes 0–0 Karditsa Iaponiki

References

  1. ^ "Final Four MVP Carter leads Unicaja to back-to-back BCL titles". www.fiba.basketball. 11 May 2025. Retrieved 12 May 2025.
  2. ^ a b "Basketball Champions League Season 10 lineup announced". www.championsleague.basketball. 17 June 2025. Retrieved 18 June 2025.
  3. ^ "Basketball Champions League Presentation - Access List Principles". www.championsleague.basketball. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
  4. ^ "Basketball Champions League Regulations". Basketball Champions League. Retrieved 16 December 2025.
  5. ^ a b c Competition Regulations 2024-25 (PDF). FIBA. 31 May 2024. p. 5. Retrieved 19 June 2024. The Organiser may grant access to the BCL through the attribution of up to four (4) invitations to the Regular Season or to the Qualification Rounds.
  6. ^ "Country coefficients 2024–25". bcl-access-list.fiba.webpont.com. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
  7. ^ "ALBA BERLIN to compete in the Basketball Champions League in 2025-26". www.fiba.basketball. 7 May 2025. Retrieved 20 June 2025.
  8. ^ "Referees". Basketball Champions League.
  9. ^ "Competition System - Basketball Champions League | FIBA Basketball". www.championsleague.basketball. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
  10. ^ "2025-26 Regulations" (PDF). assets.fiba.basketball. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
  11. ^ "All you need to know ahead of BCL Season X draw". www.championsleague.basketball. 30 June 2025. Retrieved 30 June 2025.
  12. ^ Sim, Josh (8 May 2025). "Alba Berlin swap EuroLeague for Fiba's BCL as NBA Europe looms". SportsPro. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
  13. ^ "Joventut Badalona reportedly considers joining FIBA Basketball Champions League". basketnews.com. 12 May 2025. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
  14. ^ "Gran Canaria officially joins BCL". basketnews.com. 13 June 2025. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
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