Basketball Champions League

Basketball Champions League
Upcoming season or competition:
Current sports event 2016–17 Basketball Champions League
Sport Basketball
Founded 21 March 2016 (2016-03-21)
Inaugural season 2016–17
CEO Patrick Comninos
COO Marcus Studer
Motto Basketball's new horizon
No. of teams 40 (regular season)
52 (total)
Confederation FIBA Europe
Level on pyramid 3rd tier[Note FIBA]
Related
competitions		 FIBA Europe Cup
Official website Official website

The Basketball Champions League (BCL) is an international professional basketball competition launched by FIBA, to be contested by European basketball clubs. The competition's first tournament began on 27 September 2016, with the aim to be a direct rival with Euroleague Basketball's top-tier level EuroLeague competition.

Creation and adoption

In October 2015, FIBA attempted to take back control of Europe's 1st tier club competition,[1][2] by proposing a new competition, featuring 16 teams playing in a round-robin format, granting eight guaranteed spots to different clubs. When the top European clubs decided to abide with the same competition format, but keeping the organization within Euroleague Basketball,[3] FIBA announced the launching of the new European basketball club competition[4] with a qualification based on sporting merits.[5]

Format

Tournament

The tournament proper begins with a regular season of 40 teams, divided into five groups. Seeding is used whilst making the draw for this stage, whilst teams from the same country may not be drawn into groups together. Each team meets the others in its group home and away in a round-robin format. The winning team, runner-up, third-placed team, fourth-placed team from each group and the four best fifth-placed teams then progress to the play-offs. The remaining fifth-placed team, sixth-placed team and the two best seventh-placed teams enters the FIBA Europe Cup.[6]

The round of 16 will include two phases. For this stage, the winning team from each group and the three best runners-up will qualify directly to the second phase. For the first phase, the remaining sixteen teams from the same country may not be drawn against each other. For the second phase, the draw is entirely random, without country protection, and the winners of the first phase will play against the teams that have directly qualified to the second phase. From the quarter-finals onwards, the draw is entirely random, without country protection.[6]

The regular season is played from October to January, whilst the play-offs starts in February. The play-off ties are played in a two-legged format, with the exception of the final four. This is typically held in the final week of April.[6]

Default distribution (from 2016–17)

Teams entering in this round Teams advancing from previous round
First qualifying round
(8 teams)
  • 5 best-placed teams from 5 leagues
  • 1 second-placed teams from 1 leagues
  • 1 third-placed teams from 1 leagues
  • 1 fourth-placed team from 1 league
Second qualifying round
(16 teams)
  • 4 best-placed teams from 4 leagues
  • 3 second-placed teams from 3 leagues
  • 1 third-placed teams from 1 leagues
  • 4 fourth-placed team from 4 league
  • 4 winners from the first qualifying round
Regular season
(40 teams)
  • 18 best-placed teams from 18 leagues
  • 8 second-placed teams from 8 leagues
  • 4 third-placed team from 4 leagues
  • 1 fourth-placed team from 1 league
  • 1 domestic cup winner from 1 league
  • 8 winners from the second qualifying round
Play-offs
(24 teams)
  • 5 group winners from the regular season
  • 5 group runners-up from the regular season
  • 5 group third-placed teams from the regular season
  • 5 group fourth-placed teams from the regular season
  • 4 best fifth-placed teams from the regular season
Final Four
(4 teams)
  • 4 winners from the play-offs

Prizes

Prize money

As of 2016–17, FIBA awards a base fee of €100,000 for reaching the regular season. In addition, FIBA pays teams reaching the second phase of the round of 16 €20,000, each quarter-finalist €40,000, €60,000 for the fourth-placed team, €80,000 for the fourth-placed team, €100,000 for the runners-up and €340,000 for the winners.[6]

Final Four

Season Final Third and fourth place
Winner Score Runner-up Third place Fourth place
2016–17
Details

Notes

  1. ^ Note (FIBA): FIBA considers the BCL a dual 2nd-tier level of basketball in Europe, along with the EuroCup, but the competition is mainly regarded as the 3rd-tier level, ranking below the EuroLeague and EuroCup, which are organised by Euroleague Basketball.

References

  1. ↑ "FIBA to welcome top European clubs for talks on new competition". FIBA. 27 October 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  2. ↑ "FIBA offers innovative partnership to top European clubs". FIBA. 3 November 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  3. ↑ "Euroleague Basketball A-licence clubs and IMG agree on 10-year joint venture". Euroleague Basketball. 10 November 2015. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  4. ↑ "FIBA confirms launch of Basketball Champions League for 2016-17 season". BasketballCL.com. 26 November 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  5. ↑ "Basketball Champions League Working Groups make significant headway". BasketballCL.com. 28 January 2016. Archived from the original on 21 March 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Basketball Champions League regulations" (PDF). BasketballCL.com. 16 September 2016. Retrieved 7 October 2016.

External links

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