56 teams from 30 countries to compete in the Basketball Champions League

The Basketball Champions League 2016-17 season will involve 56 teams, including national champions, from 30 European leagues.

A total of 300 games will be played over the course of eight months of competition in this first season of the Basketball Champions League.

Games will be played on Wednesdays and Thursdays in order to protect national leagues’ schedules.

Thirty-two (32) teams will play in the Regular Season of the Basketball Champions League. Twenty-four (24) teams of those 32 teams will be given a direct Regular Season spot based on sporting criteria.



Qualification Round

The competition will start on 27 September 2016.

Eight (8) teams will qualify for the Regular Season from a Qualification Round that will involve 32 teams.

The 32 teams involved in the Qualification Round will face each other in two elimination rounds played in a home-and-away format. The 28 teams eliminated will play in the FIBA Europe Cup.

The following countries will have direct qualification in the regular season: Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Spain and Turkey. The exact allocation of spots will be decided by the Board of the Basketball Champions League.


Regular Season

The Regular Season will tip off in October 2016 and conclude in February 2017.

The 32 teams competing in the Regular Season will be divided into four (4) groups of eight (8) teams. Each team in the group will play all others home and away.

The four (4) best ranked teams will progress to the Play-offs for a total of 16 teams. The teams ranked 5th and 6th in each group will join the FIBA Europe Cup Play-offs. The teams ranked 7th and 8th will be eliminated.

Play-offs

In the Round of 16 Play-offs, the teams will square off over two legs, home and away, with the eight (8) winners advancing to the Quarter-Final Play-offs.

In the Quarter-Final Play-offs, the eight (8) teams will face each other over two legs, home and away, with the four (4) winners qualifying for the Final Four.

In every Play-offs pairing, the best-ranked teams from the Regular Season will always play the return leg at home.

Final Four

The Final Four will take place from 28-30 April.