With 41 clubs having finished in the top 8 of their national league, the lineup of the 44 clubs that will participate in the fifth season of the Basketball Champions League is the strongest ever in the history of the competition, with a total of 14 current national champions among the 25 different European countries represented.
The final lineup was validated and confirmed by the Board of Basketball Champions League meeting held via videoconference yesterday evening.
Due to the exceptional circumstances related to the COVID-19 crisis, the BCL Board has decided to grant a Regular Season spot to all teams still competing for the 2019-20 Basketball Champions League title, confirming therefore 28 teams to enter directly in the Regular Season.
The 2020-21 Basketball Champions League will get under way on September 15, with the first of two qualifying rounds, ahead of the Regular Season tip off scheduled for October 13. A total of 32 teams will contest the Regular Season with four qualifiers joining the 28 clubs directly qualified. They will play in four groups of 8 teams each, with the top four in each group going through to best-of-3 Round of 16 and Quarter-Finals that will determine the Final Four. The overall winner will earn the coveted €1 million prize money.
The full line-up is as follows (alphabetically, per country):
Regular Season (alphabetically)
AEK (GRE), Brose Bamberg (GER), Casademont Zaragoza (ESP), Cholet (FRA), Darussafaka Tekfen (TUR), Dinamo Banco di Sardegna Sassari (ITA), ERA Nymburk (CZE), Falco Vulcano Szombathely (HUN), Filou Oostende (BEL), Fortitudo Bologna (ITA), Galatasaray Doga Sigorta (TUR), Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem (ISR), Hapoel Holon (ISR), Happy Casa Brindisi (ITA), Iberostar Tenerife (ESP), JDA Dijon (FRA), Limoges CSP (FRA), Nizhny Novgorod (RUS), Peristeri (GRE), Pinar Karsiyaka (TUR), RETAbet Bilbao (ESP), Rytas Vilnius (LTU), San Pablo Burgos (ESP), SIG Strasbourg (FRA), Start Lublin (POL), Tofas Bursa (TUR), Turk Telekom (TUR), VEF Riga (LAT).
Qualification Rounds (alphabetically)
Anwil Wloclawek (POL), Bakken Bears Aarhus (DEN), Balkan Botevgrad (BUL), Belfius Mons-Hainaut (BEL), Dnipro (UKR), Donar Groningen (NED), Fribourg Olympic (SUI), Hapoel Tel Aviv (ISR), Igokea (BIH), Iraklis (GRE), Keravnos (CYP), London Lions (GBR), Neptunas Klaipeda (LTU), Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR), Tsmoki-Minsk (BLR), U-Banca Transilvania Cluj Napoca (ROU).
"The 2020-21 lineup is evidence that the BCL is continuously growing. It remains true to its mission of delivering a competitive European competition which showcases basketball across the continent and is open to all clubs which qualify on merit through their domestic league performances," said Basketball Champions League CEO, Patrick Comninos.
An initial draw sorting the Qualification Rounds and the Regular Season phase will take place at the House of Basketball on Wednesday July 15. The ceremony can be followed live on championsleague.basketball from 11:00 (GMT+2).
25 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is www.aroundtherings.com, for subscribers only
Recent Articles
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
