The 2019–20 Basketball Champions League is the fourth season of the Basketball Champions League (BCL), a European-wide professional basketball competition for clubs, that was launched by FIBA. The competition began in September 2019, with the qualifying rounds, and was supposed to conclude in May 2020. It featured 16 domestic champion teams. On 12 March 2020, the competition was suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

San Pablo Burgos won its first Champions League title after defeating AEK.

Format changes For this season, eight teams will come from two qualifying rounds. The round of 16 and quarter-finals changed to best-of-three playoff series instead of two legs. From this season no teams were sent from the regular season to the FIBA Europe Cup, which was the case in each previous BCL season.

Changes due to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic On 12 March 2020, FIBA suspended all its competitions, including the BCL, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 31 March, the BCL decided the season will have to be finished with a "Final Eight" tournament planned for 30 September until 4 October. The tournament was to be held in a single venue and would be a single-elimination tournament. Two games which were still not played in the Round of 16 took place beforehand.

Eligibility of players In 2017, FIBA agreed to adopt eligibility rules, forcing the clubs to have at least 5 home-grown players in rosters of 11 or 12 players, or at least four, if the team has got fewer players.

Team allocation A total of 48 teams from 29 countries will participate in the 2019–20 Basketball Champions League. On June 24, 2019, Benfica entered in the first qualifying round and Mornar were upgraded to the second qualifying round after the Openjobmetis Varese's withdrawal.

Teams League positions after eventual playoffs of the previous season shown in parentheses (FEC: FIBA Europe Cup title holders. WC: Wild card).

+Qualified teams for 2019–20 Basketball Champions League (by entry round)Regular season Gaziantep SIG Strasbourg Iberostar Tenerife Happy Casa Brindisi Beşiktaş Sompo Sigorta AEK Rasta Vechta Filou Oostende Türk Telekom WC Peristeri Winmasters Brose Bamberg ERA Nymburk Teksüt Bandırma WC PAOK WC VEF Rīga JDA Dijon Casademont Zaragoza Hapoel Holon WC Neptūnas Pau-Lacq-Orthez Baxi Manresa Anwil Włocławek +Second qualifying round Telenet Giants Antwerp Telekom Baskets Bonn Lietkabelis Polski Cukier Toruń San Pablo Burgos Ventspils Mornar Nizhny Novgorod +First qualifying round Kapfenberg Bulls Bakken Bears Donar Inter Bratislava Tsmoki Minsk Karhu Legia Södertälje Kings Balkan Falco Szombathely Benfica Fribourg Olympic Keravnos Sigal Prishtina Oradea Kyiv Basket

Round and draw dates The schedule of the competition is as follows.

PhaseRoundDraw dateFirst legSecond legThird legQualifying roundsFirst qualifying round4 July 201917 September 201920 September 2019-Second qualifying round26 September 201929 September 2019Regular seasonMatchday 115–16 October 2019Matchday 222–23 October 2019Matchday 329–30 October 2019Matchday 45–6 November 2019Matchday 512–13 November 2019Matchday 619–20 November 2019Matchday 73–4 December 2019Matchday 810–11 December 2019Matchday 917–18 December 2019Matchday 107–8 January 2020Matchday 1114–15 January 2020Matchday 1221–22 January 2020Matchday 1328–29 January 2020Matchday 144–5 February 2020Play-offsRound of 1618 February 20203–4 March 202010–11 March 202017–18 March 2020Quarter-finals30 September–1 OctoberFinal FourSemi-finals2 October 2020Final4 October 2020

Qualifying rounds Draw The 16 teams that entered in the first round were divided into two pots. Seeded teams would play the second leg at home.

Teams from the same country cannot be drawn against each other.

+Seeded teams Bakken Bears Balkan Donar Fribourg Olympic Kyiv Basket Legia Oradea Tsmoki Minsk+Non-seeded teams Benfica Kapfenberg Bulls Falco Szombathely Inter Bratislava Karhu Keravnos Södertälje Kings Sigal Prishtina

First qualifying round A total of 16 teams will play in the first qualifying round. The first legs will be played on 17 September, while the second legs on 20 September 2019.

Second qualifying round A total of 16 teams will play in the second qualifying round: eight teams which enter in this round, and the eight winners of the first qualifying round. The first legs will be played on 26 September, while the second legs on 29 September 2019.

Regular season The 32 teams are drawn into four groups of eight, with the restriction that teams from the same country cannot be drawn against each other. In each group, teams play against each other home-and-away, in a round-robin format. The group winners, runners-up, third-placed teams and fourth-placed teams, advance to the round of 16, while the remaining four teams in each group of the Regular Season will be eliminated.

A total of 32 teams play in the regular season: 24 teams which enter in this stage, and the eight winners of the second qualifying round. The regular season will start on 8 October 2019 and end on 5 February 2020.

Draw Teams were divided into two pots according to the club ranking published by the organization. Twelve teams were named seeded teams while the rest would be unseeded teams. The seeded teams will be split, allocating three per group.

Firstly, the eight teams from qualifying round will be split in the four groups, with a maximum of two teams per group. +Seeded teams AEK Hapoel Jerusalem Beşiktaş Sompo Sigorta Iberostar Tenerife Brose Bamberg Neptūnas ERA Nymburk PAOK Dinamo Sassari SIG Strasbourg Filou Oostende Teksüt Bandırma

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Playoffs

The playoffs started on 3 March 2020.

In the playoffs, teams play against each other over two legs on a best-of-three basis, except for the Final Four. In the playoffs draw, the group winners and the runners-up are seeded, and the third-placed teams and the fourth-placed teams are unseeded. The seeded teams are drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. Teams from the same group cannot be drawn against each other.

Bracket

Round of 16 The first legs were played on 3–4 March, the second legs on 10–11 March. Third legs will be played on 16 September 2020.

Final Eight

The concluding Final Eight tournament will be played in Athens, Greece, between 30 September and 4 October 2020.

Quarterfinals The quarterfinals were played on 30 September and 1 October 2020.

Semifinals The semifinals were played on 2 October 2020.

Third place game The third place game was played on 4 October 2020.

Final

The final was played on 4 October 2020.

Awards Season awards The annual season awards were announced on 28 and 29 September. Award Player Club Most Valuable Player Keith Langford AEK Final Eight MVP Thad McFadden San Pablo Burgos Best Young Player Carlos Alocén Casademont Zaragoza Best Coach Oren Amiel ERA Nymburk

Star Lineup First TeamSecond Team Player Team Player Team Marcelo Huertas Canarias Dylan Ennis Zaragoza Keith Langford AEK Athens Vítor Benite Burgos Vojtěch Hruban Nymburk Dyshawn Pierre Dinamo Sassari TaShawn Thomas Hapoel Jerusalem Kyle Wiltjer Türk Telekom Giorgi Shermadini Canarias Moustapha Fall Türk Telekom All Defensive Team Player Team Lamonte Ulmer Dijon Lahaou Konaté Canarias Yorman Polas Bartolo Türk Telekom Marcus Slaughter AEK Moustapha Fall Türk Telekom

Game Day MVP

After each gameday a selection of five players with the highest efficiency ratings is made by the Basketball Champions League. Afterwards, the official website decides which player is crowned Game Day MVP.

Regular season GamedayPlayerTeam EFF 1 Dyshawn Pierre Dinamo Sassari 35 2 Adrian Banks Happy Casa Brindisi 34 3 James Feldeine Hapoel Jerusalem 27 4 Nicolas de Jong Pau-Lacq-Orthez 30 5 Kyle Wiltjer Türk Telekom 33 6 Adam Smith PAOK 28 7 Zoltán Perl Falco Szombathely 26 8 Brandon Brown Nizhny Novgorod 28 9 Howard Sant-Roos AEK 25 10 TaShawn Thomas Hapoel Jerusalem 32 11 J'Covan Brown Hapoel Jerusalem 31 12 Robin Benzing Casademont Zaragoza 30 13 TaShawn Thomas Hapoel Jerusalem 38 14 Earl Clark San Pablo Burgos 28

See also 2019–20 EuroLeague 2019–20 EuroCup Basketball 2019–20 FIBA Europe Cup

References

External links Basketball Champions League (official website) FIBA (official website)