2025–26 European North Basketball League
| European North Basketball League | |
|---|---|
| Season | 2025–26 |
| Duration | 23 September 2025 – 23 April 2026 |
| Teams | 26 |
← 2024–25 2026–27 → | |
The 2025–26 European North Basketball League will be the fifth season of the European North Basketball League, a regional basketball competition patronised by FIBA.
Teams
In the 2025–26 season, between 18 and 27 teams will participate. The exact amount of teams is still to be announced.[1]
Due to the high interest of Croatian clubs in the ENBL and only three spots available for Croatian teams, the Croatian Basketball Federation decided to play a tournament deciding which clubs were allowed to participate in the ENBL. Participating teams are:
The two best ranked teams from this tournament will participate in the ENBL. If Dubrava is not among the top two, it will still participate in this competition, as it is the first club to independently negotiate entry into the Northern League. Thus either two or three Croatian teams will participate in the ENBL.[2]
On September 19, two finalists of "Liburnia cup" were Dinamo Zagreb and Alkar, thus qualified for the ENBL.[3][4]
- 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc. – positions in national championships
- TH - Title holder
- QT: Qualifying tournament winner
| Regular season | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Newcastle Eagles (5th) | Dubrava (9th) | Olomoucko (3rd) | Rigas Zelli (3rd) |
| Manchester (4th) | Dinamo Zagreb (6th) | Opava (6th) | Valmiera Glass ViA (4th) |
| Bristol Flyers (7th) | Alkar Sinj (7th) | TalTech (4th) | Dziki Warsaw (10th) |
| Fyllingen Lions (1st) | KB Prishtina (3rd) | Keila Coolbet (6th) | Spartak Pleven (4th) |
| Gimle Basket (3rd) | KB Peja (5th) | Brussels (5th) | Hefte Helfen Bulls (8th) |
| CSO Voluntari (4th)TH | Donar (4th) | Slovan Bratislava (2nd) | Iraklis Thessaloniki (2nd)2nd |
| Tindastóll (2nd) | Mitteldeutscher BC (8th) | ||
Format
The exact setup and the group distribution of the 2025-26 format was discussed during the Technical Meeting of the league in Riga in the weekend of 16 and 17 August, to which each team sent a representative.[5]
The format entails three groups of 9 teams, bringing the total of 27 teams. Teams will all play in the regular season, in which they will play four home games and four away games. The groups were determined based on the following criteria:[6]
- Team positions in the ENBL 2024–2025 season
- Geographic limitations – no more than one team from each country in group, if possible
- Subjective opinion to make groups as equal as possible
Out of these matches, an overall ranking will be made. Out of this ranking, the best 16 will progress to the Round of 16. There, one match will determine which team progresses to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinals will consist of two matches, a home and an away match, and determine who progresses to the final four.[7][8]
On 17 October it was announced that the season will only entail 26 teams from 17 countries. The 27th team from the 18th country could not proceed to participate in the League. A replacement could not be found and therefore the decision was made to progress with only 26 teams. This meant that in group 3, some teams meet each other twice to guarantee the 4 home and 4 away games.[9]
Regular season
Standings
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CSO Voluntari | 6 | 5 | 1 | 554 | 473 | +81 | 11 | Round of 16 |
| 2 | Manchester Basketball | 6 | 4 | 2 | 548 | 502 | +46 | 10 | |
| 3 | Donar | 6 | 4 | 2 | 520 | 480 | +40 | 10 | |
| 4 | BK Opava | 6 | 4 | 2 | 528 | 496 | +32 | 10 | |
| 5 | Sigal Prishtina | 6 | 4 | 2 | 504 | 483 | +21 | 10 | |
| 6 | Slovan Bratislava | 7 | 3 | 4 | 565 | 572 | −7 | 10 | |
| 7 | Dziki Warsaw | 5 | 4 | 1 | 458 | 364 | +94 | 9 | |
| 8 | Tindastóll | 5 | 4 | 1 | 479 | 415 | +64 | 9 | |
| 9 | Valmiera Glass ViA | 5 | 4 | 1 | 437 | 418 | +19 | 9 | |
| 10 | Dinamo Zagreb | 5 | 4 | 1 | 438 | 421 | +17 | 9 | |
| 11 | KK Dubrava | 6 | 3 | 3 | 478 | 461 | +17 | 9 | |
| 12 | Rigas Zelli | 6 | 3 | 3 | 485 | 495 | −10 | 9 | |
| 13 | Spartak Pleven | 6 | 3 | 3 | 500 | 510 | −10 | 9 | |
| 14 | Mitteldeutscher BC | 4 | 4 | 0 | 373 | 266 | +107 | 8 | |
| 15 | Iraklis BC | 5 | 4 | 1 | 410 | 361 | +49 | 9 | |
| 16 | TalTech | 5 | 3 | 2 | 363 | 354 | +9 | 8 | |
| 17 | Brussels Basketball | 5 | 2 | 3 | 368 | 364 | +4 | 7 | |
| 18 | Bristol Flyers | 5 | 2 | 3 | 401 | 416 | −15 | 7 | |
| 19 | Gimle Basket | 6 | 1 | 5 | 474 | 554 | −80 | 7 | |
| 20 | Hefte Helfen Bulls | 6 | 1 | 5 | 475 | 513 | −38 | 7 | |
| 21 | BK Olomoucko | 4 | 2 | 2 | 308 | 346 | −38 | 6 | |
| 22 | Alkar | 5 | 1 | 4 | 351 | 413 | −62 | 6 | |
| 23 | Keila Coolbet | 6 | 0 | 6 | 457 | 554 | −97 | 6 | |
| 24 | Fyllingen Lions | 6 | 0 | 6 | 448 | 589 | −141 | 6 | |
| 25 | KB Peja | 4 | 1 | 3 | 332 | 365 | −33 | 5 | |
| 26 | Newcastle Eagles | 4 | 0 | 4 | 310 | 379 | −69 | 4 |
Rules for classification: 1) points. 2) Points difference.
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
References
- ^ "Wölfe starten international" [The Wolves start international] (in German). 4 July 2025. Retrieved 16 July 2025.
- ^ "Two or three Croatian clubs will enter the Northern League, they will decide among themselves in a tournament in Opatija" (in Croatian). 15 July 2025. Retrieved 17 July 2025.
- ^ "Dinamo je u Europi". Basketball.hr (in Croatian). 19 September 2025. Retrieved 19 September 2025.
- ^ "Alkar piše povijest, evo Sinjana u europskom natjecanju". Basketball.hr (in Croatian). 19 September 2025. Retrieved 19 September 2025.
- ^ "Iraklis in the European North Basketball League" (in Greek). 31 July 2025. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
- ^ Noviks, Māris (30 May 2025). "ENBL classification 2025, team announcements to start". ENBL. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
- ^ "Via Opatija and the Liburnia Cup to the international ENBL league" (in Croatian). 11 August 2025. Retrieved 12 August 2025.
- ^ "A new format with 27 teams confirmed, schedule to be released on August 18". 17 August 2025. Retrieved 22 September 2025.
- ^ "Season Five to continue with 26 teams, one game added for Pool Three teams". 17 October 2025. Retrieved 22 October 2025.