Basketball Champions League draw explained

The Official Draw Ceremony for the 2017-18 Basketball Champions League Qualification Rounds and Regular Season will take place on Tuesday 11 July at 14:00 CET at the House of Basketball in Mies, Switzerland.

Here are the procedures for the Draw: 

The 2017-2018 Basketball Champions League competition will consist of 32 teams. Twenty-four (24) teams are directly qualified for the Regular Season, with the last eight (8) teams set to qualify through three Qualification Rounds. 


The competition starts on 19 September 2017 with the first of the three Qualification Rounds.


Qualification Round 1 (QR1)
Sixteen (16) teams will be drawn into pairs and play home and away games (19-21 September). The 8 winners will then qualify for the 2nd Qualification Round (QR2).


The following eight (8) clubs (presented in alphabetical order), will be unseeded in this stage of the Draw and will play the first leg at home.



The following eight (8) clubs (presented in alphabetical order) will be seeded in this stage of the Draw and will play the return leg at home.



Draw procedure:
An unseeded team will be drawn first and a seeded club will be drawn second, in order to form Game 1. The process will be followed until all eight (8) Games of the QR1 have been drawn.


Qualification Round 2 (QR2)
The following eight (8) clubs (presented in alphabetical order) are directly qualified for the second Qualification Round (24-26 September) and will face home and away the eight (8) winners of the QR1. These directly qualified teams will play the return leg at home. The 8 QR2 winners will then qualify for the 3rd Qualification Round (QR3).

Draw restrictions:
Clubs cannot be drawn against clubs from the same country.

Qualification Round 3 (QR3)
The following eight (8) clubs (presented in alphabetical order) are directly qualified for the third and last Qualification Round (29 September-2 October) and will face home and away the eight (8) winners of the QR2. These directly qualified teams will play the return leg at home. The 8 QR3 winners will then qualify for the Regular Season.



Draw restrictions:
Clubs cannot be drawn against clubs from the same country.

The eight (8) winners of Qualification Round 3 will qualify for the 2017-18 Basketball Champions League competition and join the 24 directly qualified teams in the main draw. No teams from the same country will be drawn into the same group.


Regular Season
The following twenty-four (24) clubs (presented in alphabetical order), have directly qualified for the 2017-18 Basketball Champions League Groups. The Regular Season will tip off on 10 October. They will be joined by the eight (8) winners of QR3. The thirty-two (32) teams will be placed into four groups of eight (8) teams.

Draw procedure:
The eight (8) winners of Qualification Round 3 will be drawn first and spread in the four groups (2 teams in each group) respecting country protection. The 24 directly qualified teams will then be drawn and spread in the four groups respecting country protection.


Draw restrictions: 
Clubs cannot be drawn in groups from the same country.

The draw for the 2017-2018 Basketball Champions League Regular Season will be completed once all teams have been drawn.

The Official Draw Ceremony will be streamed live on basketballCL.com from 14.00 CET.