The 2020–21 Basketball Champions League was the 5th season of the Basketball Champions League (BCL), the premier European-wide professional basketball competition for clubs launched and managed by FIBA. The season began on 15 September 2020 and ended on 9 May 2021. It featured 12 domestic champions while four wild cards were allocated for first time.
San Pablo Burgos won its second consecutive championship, after defeating Pınar Karşıyaka in the final in Nizhny Novgorod. As champions, they qualified for the 2022 FIBA Intercontinental Cup.
Teams Team allocation 44 teams played in the 2020–21 Basketball Champions League (28 teams directly qualify for the group competition, while 16 teams play 2 qualifying rounds for the remaining 4 places in the group stage). Abd: Abandoned season because of the COVID-19 pandemic 1st, 2nd, etc.: Place in the domestic competition CLR: Teams qualified based on their Basketball Champions League rankings WC: Wild card +Qualified teams for 2020–21 Basketball Champions League (by entry round) Regular season Pınar Karşıyaka Cholet Happy Casa Brindisi ERA Nymburk Galatasaray Doga Sigorta Limoges CSP Fortitudo Bologna WC Brose Bamberg Tofaş San Pablo Burgos AEK Falco Vulcano Szombathely Darüşşafaka Tekfen WC Casademont Zaragoza Peristeri VEF Riga Türk Telekom WC Iberostar Tenerife Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem Rytas JDA Dijon RETAbet Bilbao WC Hapoel Holon Start Lublin SIG Strasbourg Dinamo Banco di Sardegna Sassari Filou Oostende Nizhny Novgorod Qualifying rounds Belfius Mons-Hainaut Keravnos Hapoel Tel Aviv Sporting CP Tsmoki-Minsk Bakken Bears Neptūnas U-BT Cluj-Napoca Igokea London Lions Donar Fribourg Olympic Balkan Iraklis Anwil Włocławek Dnipro Notes
Referees Referees of the 2020–21 season Goran Sljivić Andrei Sharapa Geert Jacobs Ademir Zurapović Martin Horozov Ventsislav Velikov Josip Jurčević Martin Vulić Ilias Kounelles Petr Hrůša Ivor Matějek Mihkel Männiste Tanel Suslov Thomas Bissuel Alexandre Deman Nicolas Maestre Valentin Oliot Yohan Rosso Eddie Viator Steve Bittner Carsten Straube Georgios Poursanidis Erez Gurion Beniamino Attard Lorenzo Baldini Valerio Grigioni Saverio Lanzarini Manuel Mazzoni Tolga Şahin Andris Aunkrogers Mārtiņš Kozlovskis Oskars Lucis Gatis Saliņš Gvidas Gedvilas Tomas Jasevičius Vilius Mačiulaitis Gintaras Mačiulis Gintaras Vitkauskas Zdravko Rutešić Radomir Vojinović Igor Mitrovski Janusz Calik Wojciech Liszka Michał Proc Dariusz Zapolski Paulo Marques Marius Ciulin Sergei Beliakov Alexey Davydov Aleksandar Glišić Vladimir Jevtović Siniša Prpa Marek Kúkelčík Zdenko Tomašovič Boris Krejić Blaž Zupančič Fernando Calatrava Luis Castillo Antonio Conde Apostolos Kalpakas Kerem Baki Mehmet Karabilecen Can Mavisu Mehmet Şahin Özlem Yalman Yener Yılmaz Zafer Yılmaz Sergiy Zashchuk
Round and draw dates The schedule of the competition was as follows. On December 3, the Basketball Champions League Board has approved a change of format for the 2020-21 Play-Offs and Finals. +Schedule for 2020–21 Basketball Champions LeaguePhaseRoundDraw dateRound dateQualifying roundsFirst qualifying round (Semifinals)15 July 202022–23 September 2020Second qualifying round (Finals)24–25 September 2020Regular seasonRound 1Groups A–D20–21 October 2020Groups E–H27–28 October 2020Round 2Groups A–D3–4 November 2020Groups E–H10–11 November 2020Round 3Groups A–D17–18 November 2020Groups E–H8–9 December 2020Round 4Groups A–D15–16 December 2020Groups E–H22–23 December 2020Round 5Groups A–D5–6 January 2021Groups E–H12–13 January 2021Round 6Groups A–D19–20 January 2021Groups E–H26–27 January 2021Play-offsRound 12 February 20212–3 March 2021Round 29–10 March 2021Round 316–17 March 2021Round 423–24 March 2021Round 530–31 March 2021Round 66–7 April 2021Final EightQuarterfinals16 April 20216–7 May 2021Semifinals8 May 2021Final9 May 2021
Qualifying rounds Draw The 16 teams that entered in the first round were divided into four pots based firstly on the competition's club ranking and, for clubs that have not yet participated in the competition, on the country ranking.
For the first qualification round (QR1), teams from Pot 3 were drawn against teams from Pot 2, and teams from Pot 4 faced teams from Pot 1. Clubs from Pot 1 and 2 were seeded, and played the second leg at home. Games were played on September 15–18. The eight winners then qualified for the second qualification round (QR2).
For the second round (QR2), the winners of Pot 3 and Pot 2 faced the winners of Pot 4 and Pot 1. The winners from Pot 4 and Pot 1 were seeded, and played the second leg at home. Games were played on September 22–25. The four winners then qualified for the 2020–21 Basketball Champions League regular reason and joined the 28 directly qualified teams in the main draw.
Change of Qualifying format On August 25, 2020, it was announced, in order to protect the health and guarantee the safety of players, coaches and officials, but also to safeguard a fair competition, and to properly organize game operations, the decision has been taken to modify the competition system from home-away games, to a tournament format, with single games for each Qualification Round.
Four tournaments took place, each consisting of two semifinals games and of one final game, where the semifinals were played as the BCL qualification round 1 and the final as the BCL qualification round 2. These Qualification tournaments took place in two different locations: Group A and B: Tassos Papadopoulos Eleftheria Indoor Hall at Nicosia, Cyprus. Group C and D: Arena Botevgrad at Botevgrad, Bulgaria.
Draw pots +Pot 1Team Neptūnas69 Anwil Włocławek28 Fribourg Olympic13 Donar7+Pot 2Team Tsmoki-Minsk6 Bakken Bears5 U-BT Cluj-Napoca4 Keravnos3+Pot 3Team Balkan1 Hapoel Tel Aviv1 Igokea1* Iraklis106.42+Pot 4Team Belfius Mons-Hainaut66.83 Dnipro15.00 Sporting CP6.00 London Lions1.00 * Example of 1 point for Igokea from 2016 to 2017 season means that the FIBA's "last three season points" rule applies to the last (three) BCL seasons of the particular club, not the last three BCL seasons in general.
Results Qualification Group A Semifinals were played on 23 September 2020 and Final took place on 25 September 2020 at Tassos Papadopoulos Eleftheria Indoor Hall in Nicosia, Cyprus.
Qualification Group B Semifinals were played on 22 September 2020 and Final took place on 24 September 2020 at Tassos Papadopoulos Eleftheria Indoor Hall in Nicosia, Cyprus.
Qualification Group C Semifinals were played on 23 September 2020 and Final took place on 25 September 2020 at Arena Botevgrad in Botevgrad, Bulgaria.
Qualification Group D Semifinals were played on 22 September 2020 and Final took place on 24 September 2020 at Arena Botevgrad in Botevgrad, Bulgaria.
Regular season Draw The 28 teams that entered in the regular season directly were divided into seven pots based firstly on the club ranking and, for clubs that have not yet participated in the competition, on the country ranking. Eighth pot is reserved for winners of qualifying rounds.
Initially, teams were divided into groups of eight teams. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, groups were split with the aim to the reduce the number of games and to make easier to play possible postponed matches. +Pot 1Team AEK 119 Iberostar Tenerife 119 ERA Nymburk 83 Hapoel Jerusalem 79+Pot 2Team Strasbourg 68 Filou Oostende 64 Nizhny Novgorod 61 Brose Bamberg 60+Pot 3Team Dinamo Sassari 51 Hapoel Holon 47 JDA Dijon 43 Türk Telekom 36+Pot 4Team Pınar Karşıyaka 35 Casademont Zaragoza 34 San Pablo Burgos 30 Peristeri 26+Pot 5Team Falco Szombathely 17 Happy Casa Brindisi 15 VEF Riga 7 RETAbet Bilbao 131.00+Pot 6Team Cholet 110.58 Limoges CSP 110.58 Galatasaray 107.50 Tofaş 107.50+Pot 7Team Darüşşafaka Tekfen 107.50 Fortitudo Bologna 95.00 Rytas 74.33 Start Lublin 44.67+Pot 8Team Bakken Bears Keravnos Igokea Tsmoki-Minsk Notes
Indicates teams with no club points, therefore using the country points as a tiebreaker.
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Group G
Group H
Playoffs Sixteen teams advance to the Play-off phase, consisting of a new group format of four groups with four teams each.
A draw determined the new four groups (each group had respectively two teams having finished first and two teams having finished second in their regular season group) that played home and away games over the month of March. No country protection, only group protection was applied during the draw.
Clubs played six games each in a round robin system (three games home, three away), with the first two teams in each group qualifying for a Final 8 tournament that concluded the 2020–21 season. The playoffs started on March 2–3, 2021.
The draw of this second phase of the competition was conducted on February 2, at the Patrick Baumann House of Basketball.
Draw +Seeded teams Lenovo Tenerife Tofaş Hapoel Holon Casademont Zaragoza SIG Strasbourg Brose Bamberg Türk Telekom San Pablo Burgos+Non-seeded teams Dinamo Sassari ERA Nymburk AEK Nizhny Novgorod VEF Riga Pınar Karşıyaka Igokea Happy Casa Brindisi
Group I
Group J
Group K
Group L
Final Eight
The concluding Final Eight tournament was played in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, between 5 May and 9 May 2021. Draw +Pot 1 ERA Nymburk Hapoel Holon Lenovo Tenerife Nizhny Novgorod+Pot 2 Casademont Zaragoza San Pablo Burgos Pınar Karşıyaka SIG Strasbourg
Bracket
Quarterfinals The quarterfinals were played on 5–6 May 2021.
Semifinals The semifinals were played on 7 May 2021.
Third place game The third place game was played on 9 May 2021.
Final
The final was played on 9 May 2021.
Individual awards Season awards The annual season awards were announced on 5 May. Award Player Club Most Valuable Player Bonzie Colson SIG Strasbourg Final Eight MVP Vítor Benite San Pablo Burgos Best Young Player Yoan Makoundou Cholet Best Coach Zoran Lukić Nizhny Novgorod
Star Lineup First TeamSecond Team Player Team Player Team C.J. Harris Hapoel Holon Dylan Ennis Zaragoza Kasey Shepherd Nizhny Novgorod Darius Thompson New Basket Brindisi Bonzie Colson SIG Strasbourg Jasiel Rivero San Pablo Burgos Raymar Morgan Karşıyaka Omar Prewitt Nymburk Giorgi Shermadini Canarias Michale Kyser VEF Rīga
MVP of the Month Month Player Club 2020 Steven Gray Peristeri Yanick Moreira AEK Kyle Allman Jr. VEF Rīga 2021 Raymar Morgan Pınar Karşıyaka
Play-Offs MVP PlayerClub Kasey Shepherd Nizhny Novgorod
See also 2020–21 FIBA Europe Cup 2020–21 EuroLeague 2020–21 EuroCup Basketball
References
External links Basketball Champions League (official website) FIBA (official website)