The 2025–26 Basketball Champions League was the 10th season of the Basketball Champions League (BCL), a European professional basketball competition for clubs launched by FIBA.
Unicaja were the defending champions, but were eliminated by AEK in the semi-finals. BC Rytas won its first Champions League title following their win over AEK, winning their first European title since 2009.
Team allocation A total of 53 teams from 30 of the 50 FIBA Europe member associations are set to participate in the 2025–26 Basketball Champions League. The country ranking based on the country coefficients is used to determine the number of participating teams for each country: All countries, if they entered, each have at least one team qualify. The winners of the 2024–25 Basketball Champions League are given an additional entry if they do not qualify for the 2025–26 Basketball Champions League through their domestic league. The organizer may grant access to the League through the attribution of up to 4 invitations (wild cards) to the Regular Season or to the Qualification Rounds. If one or more clubs do not use their right to participate in the Basketball Champions League, the organiser may decide to allocate the respective place(s) to other clubs of the same or other country.
Country ranking It takes into account their performance from 2022–23 to 2024–25. +Country ranking for 2025–26 Basketball Champions League Rank Country Coeff. Teams 1 97.70 4+1 2 65.95 3+1 3 65.58 2+1 4 65.33 2+0 5 65.00 3+1 6 54.75 3+1 7 49.50 1+0 8 43.92 2+1 9 38.00 1+1 10 36.00 1+1 11 34.00 1+1 12 33.50 1+1 13 31.00 1+0 14 27.00 1+0 15 21.00 1+1 16 9.50 1+0 17 9.00 0+1 Rank Country Coeff. Teams 18 7.00 0+1 19 7.00 0+1 20 6.00 0+1 21 5.00 0+1 22 5.00 0+1 23 5.00 0+0 24 4.00 0+1 25 4.00 0+1 26 4.00 0+1 27 3.00 0+0 28 2.00 0+0 29 2.00 0+0 30 2.00 0+1 31 2.00 0+1 32 1.00 0+1 33 1.00 0+1 34 1.00 1+0
Teams The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round: TH: Title holders 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc.: League positions of the previous season
+ Qualified teams for 2025–26 Basketball Champions League (by entry round) Regular season La Laguna Tenerife Promitheas Vikos Cola Bnei Penlink Herzliya VEF Rīga Unicaja TH Karditsa Iaponiki Trapani Shark Rytas Joventut Badalona Tofaş Pallacanestro Trieste Legia Warszawa Dreamland Gran Canaria Mersin Sabah Benfica MLP Academics Heidelberg Galatasaray Filou Oostende Spartak Office Shoes Fitness First Würzburg Baskets Cholet Igokea m:tel Alba Berlin Le Mans ERA Nymburk AEK Hapoel Netanel Holon NHSZ-Szolnoki Olajbányász Qualifying rounds Windrose Giants Antwerp Élan Chalon Trepça Porto Rilski Sportist Kutaisi 2010 Juventus CSM CSU Oradea Petrolina AEK Larnaca Löwen Braunschweig SC Derby Patrioti Levice Bakken Bears PAOK mateco Heroes Den Bosch UCAM Murcia Kalev/Cramo Falco Szombathely Pelister Fribourg Olympic Karhu Kauhajoki Pallacanestro Reggiana Start Lublin Bursaspor Notes
Referees A total of 54 officials are set to work on the 2025–26 season in Basketball Champions League: After the 2024–25 season, twelve referees were replaced by new ones. Newcomers are marked by *. Referees of the 2025−26 season Geert Jacobs Ademir Zurapović Martin Horozov Ventsislav Velikov Josip Jurčević Martin Vulić Ilias Kounelles Ivor Matějek Mihkel Männiste Edgard Ceccarelli * Yann Vezo Davidson * Valentin Oliot Yohan Rosso Carsten Straube Ioannis Agrafiotis * Georgios Poursanidis Ioannis Tsimpouris * Péter Praksch Ofer Manheim Lorenzo Baldini Andrea Bongiorni * Valerio Grigioni * Silvia Marziali * Andris Aunkrogers Elvis Binders-Coders * Ritvars Helmsteins * Mārtiņš Kozlovskis Gatis Saliņš Juozas Barkauskas Gvidas Gedvilas Gintaras Mačiulis Gizella Viola Györgyi Julio Anaya Wojciech Liszka Michał Proc Dariusz Zapolski Paulo Marques Marius Ciulin Petar Pesic Siniša Prpa Zdenko Tomašovič Boris Krejić Blaž Zupančič Fernando Calatrava Luis Castillo Antonio Conde Ariadna Chueca Alberto Sánchez Tolga Edis * Cisil Güngör * Orhan Cagri Hekimoglu Mehmet Sahin * Yener Yılmaz Zafer Yılmaz
Round and draw dates The schedule of the competition will be as follows. + Schedule for 2025–26 Basketball Champions League Phase Round Draw date First leg Second leg Third leg Qualifying rounds 2 July 2025 19–25 September 2025 Regular season Round 1 7–8 October 2025 Round 2 14–15 October 2025 Round 3 21–22 October 2025 28–29 October 2025 Round 4 4–5 November 2025 11–12 November 2025 Round 5 18–19 November 2025 9–10 December 2025 Round 6 16–17 December 2025 Play-ins 6 January 2026 8 January 2026 13–14 January 2026 Round of 16 Round 1 20–21 January 2026 Round 2 27–28 January 2026 Round 3 3–4 February 2026 Round 4 10–11 February 2026 Round 5 10–11 March 2026 Round 6 17–18 March 2026 Play-offs Quarter-finals 20 March 2026 31 March–1 April 2026 7–8 April 2026 14–15 April 2026 Final Four Semi-finals 7 May 2026 Final 9 May 2026
Qualifying rounds The 24 teams will face in three qualifying round tournaments, one of which belong to the Champions Path, which contains the domestic league champions, and the other two to the League Path, which contains the rest of the teams that vie for qualify to the regular season. In each path, teams will be seeded ordered by the club ranking and by the country ranking for clubs that have not yet participated in the competition. The three winners of the finals will then qualify for the regular season and will join the 29 directly qualified teams in the main draw. The rest of the teams will qualify, if they apply, to the FIBA Europe Cup.
Draw The draw for the qualifying rounds was held on 2 July 2025 at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Champions path +Pot 1 Team Bakken Bears 9 Patrioti Levice 7+Pot 2 Team Heroes Den Bosch 5 Kalev/Cramo 5 +Pot 3 Team Trepça 2 Rilski Sportist 2+Pot 4 Team Kutaisi 2010 1 Petrolina AEK Larnaca 1
League path +Pot 1 Team UCAM Murcia 111 Falco Szombathely 41 Pallacanestro Reggiana 39 PAOK mateco 35+Pot 2 Team Bursaspor 14 Fribourg Olympic 7 Karhu Kauhajoki 3 CSM CSU Oradea 3 +Pot 3 Team Juventus 2 Windrose Giants Antwerp 2 Élan Chalon 65.58 Löwen Braunschweig 54.75+Pot 4 Team Porto 34.00 Start Lublin 21.00 Pelister 1.00 SC Derby 1.00
Tournament 1 The tournament 1 will be played on September 21–25, 2025.
Source: FIBA
Tournament 2 The tournament 2 will be played on September 19–23, 2025.
Source: FIBA
Tournament 3 The tournament 3 will be played on September 20–24, 2025.
Source: FIBA
Regular season
The regular season will be played by 32 teams divided into eight groups of four in which 29 teams receive direct spots plus the three qualifying round tournaments winners. The regular season will begin on 7 October and will conclude on 17 December 2025. In each group, teams will play against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format where the eight group winners from each regular season group will qualify directly to the round of 16. Moreover, the second-placed and third-placed will qualify to the play-ins, where the series winners will qualify for the round of 16, while the remaining last-placed teams will be eliminated after the regular season.
A minimum of 18 countries will be represented in the regular season which will involve up to nine domestic league champions. Continental powerhouses like Alba Berlin, Joventut Badalona and Dreamland Gran Canaria will join the league after their previous stage in Euroleague Basketball competitions, others like Karditsa Iaponiki, Mersin and Trapani Shark will make their debut appearance in international competitions.
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Group G
Group H
Play-ins The Play-ins will take place from 6 to 14 January 2026. The teams classified in second and third place in their respective groups of Basketball Champions League, went to the Play-ins. The winners will advance to the round of 16. First legs will be played on 6 January, second legs on 8 January and if required, third legs will be played on 13–14 January.
Notes: According to Article 14.5.4 of the Basketball Champions League Competition Regulations, a club that loses any game by forfeit or by default in the Play-Ins and the Play-Offs shall lose the series.
Round of 16 The Round of 16 will take place from January 20 until March 18, 2026. The groups will be formed by the winners of each Regular Season Group and by eight Play-Ins winners. The 16 teams will be divided in 4 groups, 4 teams each. The first two of each groups advance to the quarter-finals.
Group I
Group J
Group K
Group L
Playoffs The playoffs will begin on 1 April 2026 and ends with the 2026 Basketball Champions League Final Four. The 8 qualified clubs have been ranked according to their final position within their respective group during the Round of 16 and their place in the Draw was based on this ranking. The teams having finished 1st of their Round of 16 group was placed in Pot 1, the teams having finished 2nd of their Round of 16 group was placed in Pot 2.
Qualified teams + Key to colors Seeded teams Unseeded teams GroupWinnersRunners-upI Rytas Galatasaray MCT TechnicJ AEK Betsson Alba BerlinK Unicaja Joventut BadalonaL La Laguna Tenerife ERA Nymburk
Bracket
Quarterfinals The quarterfinals will be played in a best-of-3 series and start on April 1. The seeded teams will play the first games of the Quarter-Finals at home and these games are scheduled on April 1; reverse fixtures are to be played on April 7 and 8; potential third games of the series would happen on April 15.
Individual awards
Season awards The annual season awards was announced during the Final Four weekend. Award Player Club Most Valuable Player Frank Bartley AEK Betsson Final Four MVP Simonas Lukošius Rytas Defensive Player of the Year Kendrick Perry Unicaja Best Young Player Jack Kayil Alba Berlin Best Coach Dragan Šakota AEK Betsson
Star Lineup First TeamSecond Team Player TeamPlayerTeam Ricky Rubio Joventut Badalona Marcelo Huertas Lenovo Tenerife Jerrick Harding Rytas Errick McCollum Galatasaray MCT Technic Frank Bartley AEK Betsson Jack Kayil Alba Berlin RaiQuan Gray AEK Betsson Chris Duarte Unicaja Giorgi Shermadini Canarias Artūras Gudaitis Rytas
MVP of the Group Phase Player Club Chris Silva AEK Betsson
Team of the Group Phase Player Team Ricky Rubio Joventut Badalona Jeremiah Hill Élan Chalon Will Cummings Galatasaray MCT Technic Jack White Mersin Chris Silva AEK Betsson
MVP of the Play-ins Player Club Brandon Jefferson Karditsa Iaponiki
Team of the Play-ins Player Team Brandon Jefferson Karditsa Iaponiki Nate Darling Élan Chalon Charles Thompson Fitness First Würzburg Baskets Jahmi'us Ramsey Pallacanestro Trieste Marek Blaževič Tofaş
MVP of the Round of 16 Player Club RaiQuan Gray AEK Betsson
Team of the Round of 16 Player Team Ignas Sargiūnas Rytas Errick McCollum Galatasaray MCT Technic RaiQuan Gray AEK Betsson Frank Bartley AEK Betsson Ante Tomić Joventut Badalona
MVP of the Quarterfinals Player Club Giorgi Shermadini La Laguna Tenerife
Team of the Quarterfinals Player Team Ricky Rubio Joventut Badalona Jerrick Harding Rytas Frank Bartley AEK Betsson James Nunnally AEK Betsson Giorgi Shermadini La Laguna Tenerife
References
External links Official website