2025–26 Basketball Champions League

Basketball Champions League
Pavelló Olímpic in Badalona hosted the Final Four
Season	2025–26
Dates	Qualifying: 23–28 September 2025 Competition proper: 7 October 2025 – 9 May 2026
Teams	Competition proper: 32 Total: 53 (from 30 countries)
Regular season
Season MVP	Frank Bartley (AEK Betsson)
Finals
Champions	Rytas (1st title)
Runners-up	AEK Betsson
Third place	Unicaja
Fourth place	La Laguna Tenerife
Final Four MVP	Simonas Lukošius (Rytas)
Awards
Best Coach	Dragan Šakota
Best Young Player	Jack Kayil
Best Defender	Kendrick Perry
Statistical leaders
Points Jerrick Harding (Rytas) 19.4 Rebounds Brady Skeens (Szolnoki Olajbányász) 11.3 Assists Marcus Carr (Würzburg Baskets) 6.7
← 2024–25 2026–27 →

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.^[1]

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.^[2] The country ranking based on the country coefficients is used to determine the number of participating teams for each country:^[3]

• All countries, if they entered, each have at least one team qualify.^[4]
• 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.^[5]
• 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.^[5]
• 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.^[5]

Country ranking

It takes into account their performance from 2022–23 to 2024–25.^[6]

Country ranking for 2025–26 Basketball Champions League

Rank Country Coeff. Teams 1  Spain 97.70 4+1 2  Turkey 65.95 3+1 3  France 65.58 2+1 4  Israel 65.33 2+0 5  Greece 65.00 3+1 6  Germany 54.75 3+1 7  Czech Republic 49.50 1+0 8  Italy 43.92 2+1 9  Lithuania 38.00 1+1 10  Hungary 36.00 1+1 11  Portugal 34.00 1+1 12  Belgium 33.50 1+1 13  Bosnia and Herzegovina 31.00 1+0 14  Latvia 27.00 1+0 15  Poland 21.00 1+1 16  Serbia 9.50 1+0 17  Denmark 9.00 0+1

Rank Country Coeff. Teams 18  Slovakia 7.00 0+1 19  Switzerland 7.00 0+1 20  Estonia 6.00 0+1 21  Netherlands 5.00 0+1 22  Romania 5.00 0+1 23  Sweden 5.00 0+0 24  Cyprus 4.00 0+1 25  Finland 4.00 0+1 26  Kosovo 4.00 0+1 27  Great Britain 3.00 0+0 28  Austria 2.00 0+0 29  Ukraine 2.00 0+0 30  Georgia 2.00 0+1 31  Bulgaria 2.00 0+1 32  North Macedonia 1.00 0+1 33  Montenegro 1.00 0+1 34  Azerbaijan 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)^[2]

Regular season
La Laguna Tenerife (3rd)	Promitheas Vikos Cola (4th)	Bnei Penlink Herzliya (5th)	VEF Rīga (1st)
Unicaja (4th)TH	Karditsa Iaponiki (5th)	Trapani Shark (3rd)	Rytas (2nd)
Joventut Badalona (6th)	Tofaş (5th)	Pallacanestro Trieste (6th)	Legia Warszawa (1st)
Dreamland Gran Canaria (7th)	Mersin (6th)	Sabah (1st)	Benfica (1st)
MLP Academics Heidelberg (3rd)	Galatasaray (7th)	Filou Oostende (1st)	Spartak Office Shoes (2nd)
Fitness First Würzburg Baskets (4th)	Cholet (5th)	Igokea m:tel (1st)
Alba Berlin (7th)[Note GER]	Le Mans (6th)	ERA Nymburk (1st)
AEK (3rd)	Hapoel Netanel Holon (4th)	NHSZ-Szolnoki Olajbányász (1st)
Qualifying rounds
Windrose Giants Antwerp (6th)	Élan Chalon (7th)	Trepça (1st)	Porto (2nd)
Rilski Sportist (1st)	Kutaisi 2010 (1st)	Juventus (6th)	CSM CSU Oradea (2nd)
Petrolina AEK Larnaca (1st)	Löwen Braunschweig (5th)	SC Derby (2nd)	Patrioti Levice (1st)
Bakken Bears (1st)	PAOK mateco (6th)	Heroes Den Bosch (1st)	UCAM Murcia (9th)
Kalev/Cramo (1st)	Falco Szombathely (2nd)	Pelister (6th)	Fribourg Olympic (2nd)
Karhu Kauhajoki (2nd)	Pallacanestro Reggiana (7th)	Start Lublin (2nd)	Bursaspor (10th)

Notes

1. Germany (GER): Alba Berlin got a wild card.^[7]

Referees

A total of 54 officials are set to work on the 2025–26 season in Basketball Champions League:^[8] After the 2024–25 season, twelve referees were replaced by new ones. Newcomers are marked by *.

Round and draw dates

The schedule of the competition will be as follows.^[9][10]

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.^[11]

Champions path

Pot 1 Team Pts Bakken Bears 9 Patrioti Levice 7

Pot 2 Team Pts Heroes Den Bosch 5 Kalev/Cramo 5

Pot 3 Team Pts Trepça 2 Rilski Sportist 2

Pot 4 Team Pts Kutaisi 2010 1 Petrolina AEK Larnaca 1

League path

Pot 1 Team Pts UCAM Murcia 111 Falco Szombathely 41 Pallacanestro Reggiana 39 PAOK mateco 35

Pot 2 Team Pts Bursaspor 14 Fribourg Olympic 7 Karhu Kauhajoki 3 CSM CSU Oradea 3

Pot 3 Team Pts Juventus 2 Windrose Giants Antwerp 2 Élan Chalon 65.58† Löwen Braunschweig 54.75†

Pot 4 Team Pts 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.

	Quarter-finals September 21–22				Semi-finals September 23				Final September 25
	Patrioti Levice	90
	Petrolina AEK Larnaca	69
					Patrioti Levice	81
					Kalev/Cramo	69
	Kalev/Cramo	93
	Rilski Sportist	84
									Patrioti Levice (2OT)	100
									Bakken Bears	98
	Bakken Bears	84
	Kutaisi 2010	81
					Bakken Bears	82
					Heroes Den Bosch	77
	Heroes Den Bosch	80
	Trepça	68

Source: FIBA

Tournament 2

The tournament 2 will be played on September 19–23, 2025.

	Quarter-finals September 19				Semi-finals September 21				Final September 23
	PAOK mateco	79
	SC Derby	67
					PAOK mateco	73
					Bursaspor	92
	Bursaspor	81
	Löwen Braunschweig	74
									Bursaspor	77
									Windrose Giants Antwerp	58
	Pallacanestro Reggiana	99
	Pelister	87
					Pallacanestro Reggiana	78
					Windrose Giants Antwerp	81
	CSM CSU Oradea	71
	Windrose Giants Antwerp	79

Source: FIBA

Tournament 3

The tournament 3 will be played on September 20–24, 2025.

	Quarter-finals September 20				Semi-finals September 22				Final September 24
	UCAM Murcia	100
	Start Lublin	84
					UCAM Murcia	81
					Juventus	71
	Karhu Kauhajoki	89
	Juventus	103
									UCAM Murcia	88
									Élan Chalon	96
	Falco Szombathely	79
	Porto	83
					Porto	79
					Élan Chalon	100
	Fribourg Olympic	80
	Élan Chalon	107

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,^[12][13][14] others like Karditsa Iaponiki, Mersin and Trapani Shark will make their debut appearance in international competitions.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		VIL	HDB	PRO	WAR
1	Rytas	6	4	2	564	534	+30	10	Advance to round of 16		—	116–90	98–79	93–85
2	MLP Academics Heidelberg	6	3	3	502	507	−5	9	Advance to play-ins		92–83	—	82–62	67–74
3	Promitheas Vikos Cola	6	3	3	481	507	−26	9			111–95	89–83	—	72–85
4	Legia Warszawa	6	2	4	468	467	+1	8			77–79	83–88	64–68	—

Source: FIBA
Legend: Blue = home team win; Red = away team win.

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		ALB	CHA	NYM	SAB
1	Alba Berlin	6	5	1	549	483	+66	11	Advance to round of 16		—	76–81	94–78	106–82
2	Élan Chalon	6	5	1	539	513	+26	11	Advance to play-ins		91–100	—	97–84	84–71
3	ERA Nymburk	6	1	5	512	546	−34	7			75–88	95–97	—	93–65
4	Sabah	6	1	5	486	544	−58	7			76–85	87–89	105–87	—

Source: FIBA
Legend: Blue = home team win; Red = away team win.

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		CJB	CHO	HOL	BUR
1	Joventut Badalona	6	6	0	531	455	+76	12	Advance to round of 16		—	91–73	97–95	94–67
2	Cholet	6	3	3	539	524	+15	9	Advance to play-ins		87–89	—	92–103	109–77
3	Hapoel Netanel Holon	6	3	3	531	521	+10	9			65–81	92–94	—	84–74
4	Bursaspor	6	0	6	441	542	−101	6			68–79	72–84	83–92	—

Source: FIBA
Legend: Blue = home team win; Red = away team win.

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		LLT	TOF	TPS	HER
1	La Laguna Tenerife	6	4	2	519	474	+45	10	Advance to round of 16		—	80–70	80–83	108–85
2	Tofaş	6	3	3	495	511	−16	9	Advance to play-ins		64–81	—	99–93	90–86
3	Trapani Shark	6	3	3	521	516	+5	9			78–84	89–91	—	101–88
4	Bnei Penlink Herzliya	6	2	4	509	543	−34	8			94–86	82–81	74–77	—

Source: FIBA
Legend: Blue = home team win; Red = away team win.

Group E

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		GSM	WUE	TS	IGO
1	Galatasaray MCT Technic	6	5	1	534	474	+60	11	Advance to round of 16		—	89–83	79–80	94–82
2	Fitness First Würzburg Baskets	6	4	2	480	452	+28	10	Advance to play-ins		74–99	—	78–63	70–68
3	Pallacanestro Trieste	6	2	4	501	519	−18	8			90–91	77–90	—	115–90
4	Igokea m:tel	6	1	5	452	522	−70	7			65–82	56–85	91–76	—

Source: FIBA
Legend: Blue = home team win; Red = away team win.

Group F

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		AEK	OLA	PAT	VEF
1	AEK Betsson	6	5	1	494	431	+63	11	Advance to round of 16		—	91–77	99–88	95–64
2	NHSZ-Szolnoki Olajbányász	6	3	3	451	439	+12	9	Advance to play-ins		80–69	—	84–54	77–76
3	Patrioti Levice	6	3	3	461	467	−6	9			69–71	73–71	—	85–69
4	VEF Rīga	6	1	5	411	480	−69	7			53–69	76–62	73–92	—

Source: FIBA
Legend: Blue = home team win; Red = away team win.

Group G

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		UNI	MSK	KAR	OOS
1	Unicaja	6	6	0	575	435	+140	12	Advance to round of 16		—	97–66	115–84	102–80
2	Mersin	6	4	2	415	404	+11	10	Advance to play-ins		77–100	—	81–73	84–76
3	Karditsa Iaponiki	6	2	4	461	519	−58	8			55–72	72–80	—	82–78
4	Filou Oostende	6	0	6	563	656	−93	6			73–89	86–104	93–95	—

Source: FIBA
Legend: Blue = home team win; Red = away team win.

Group H

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		DGC	SPA	MSB	SLB
1	Dreamland Gran Canaria	6	6	0	518	425	+93	12	Advance to round of 16		—	77–62	73–68	87–63
2	Spartak Office Shoes	6	3	3	469	462	+7	9	Advance to play-ins		83–93	—	74–73	99–69
3	Le Mans	6	2	4	484	460	+24	8			88–90	76–61	—	89–69
4	Benfica	6	1	5	429	553	−124	7			61–98	74–90	93–90	—

Source: FIBA
Legend: Blue = home team win; Red = away team win.

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.

Team 1	Series	Team 2	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3
MLP Academics Heidelberg	0–2	ERA Nymburk	63–72	71–78	—
Tofaş	2–1	Cholet	89–75	86–105	84–82
Hapoel Netanel Holon	—1	Trapani Shark	38–51	—	—
Élan Chalon	2–0	Promitheas Vikos Cola	93–78	92–82	—
Fitness First Würzburg Baskets	2–1	Patrioti Levice	89–92	74–56	92–71
NHSZ-Szolnoki Olajbányász	1–2	Pallacanestro Trieste	62–82	89–80	86–87
Mersin	0–2	Le Mans	65–92	83–113	—
Spartak Office Shoes	0–2	Karditsa Iaponiki	82–89	75–84	—

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

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		VIL	GSM	MSB	HOL
1	Rytas	6	4	2	560	508	+52	10	Advance to quarter-finals		—	85–89	101–81	106–81
2	Galatasaray MCT Technic	6	4	2	520	501	+19	10			81–90	—	83–90	86–81
3	Le Mans	6	4	2	538	527	+11	10			78–72	81–94	—	102–92
4	Hapoel Netanel Holon	6	0	6	511	593	−82	6			98–106	74–87	85–106	—

Source: Round of 16 Standings
Legend: Blue = home team win; Red = away team win.

Group J

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		AEK	ALB	TOF	KAR
1	AEK Betsson	6	6	0	548	481	+67	12	Advance to quarter-finals		—	88–80	96–88	88–73
2	Alba Berlin	6	4	2	491	482	+9	10			88–93	—	69–60	84–80
3	Tofaş	6	1	5	511	529	−18	7			90–93	90–94	—	90–98
4	Karditsa Iaponiki	6	1	5	463	521	−58	7			62–90	71–76	79–93	—

Source: Round of 16 Standings
Legend: Blue = home team win; Red = away team win.

Group K

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		UNI	CJB	CHA	WUE
1	Unicaja	6	4	2	504	462	+42	10	Advance to quarter-finals		—	86–74	111–82	90–85
2	Joventut Badalona	6	4	2	505	479	+26	10			71–66	—	107–75	91–84
3	Élan Chalon	6	2	4	479	534	−55	8			70–80	85–77	—	86–75
4	Fitness First Würzburg Baskets	6	2	4	491	504	−13	8			80–71	83–85	84–81	—

Source: Round of 16 Standings
Legend: Blue = home team win; Red = away team win.

Group L

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		LLT	NYM	DGC	TS
1	La Laguna Tenerife	6	4	2	482	447	+35	10	Advance to quarter-finals		—	104–80	79–76	84–82
2	ERA Nymburk	6	3	3	464	483	−19	9			55–69	—	64–67	82–76
3	Dreamland Gran Canaria	6	3	3	462	452	+10	9			72–70	82–92	—	71–77
4	Pallacanestro Trieste	6	2	4	472	498	−26	8			82–76	85–91	70–94	—

Source: Round of 16 Standings
Legend: Blue = home team win; Red = away team win.

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

Group	Winners	Runners-up
I	Rytas	Galatasaray MCT Technic
J	AEK Betsson	Alba Berlin
K	Unicaja	Joventut Badalona
L	La Laguna Tenerife	ERA Nymburk

Bracket

	Quarterfinals						Semifinals						Final
	1 April–15 April
	Unicaja	72	88	–
							7 May
	Alba Berlin	69	85	–
							Unicaja			65
	1 April–15 April
							AEK Betsson			78
	AEK Betsson	87	66	72
													9 May
	Joventut Badalona	84	88	67
													AEK Betsson			86
	1 April–15 April
													Rytas			92
	Rytas	77	70	–
							7 May
	ERA Nymburk	70	69	–
							Rytas			87
	1 April–15 April
							La Laguna Tenerife			69			Third place
	La Laguna Tenerife	84	62	99
													9 May
	Galatasaray MCT Technic	83	64	59
													Unicaja			85
													La Laguna Tenerife			80

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.^[16]

Team 1	Series	Team 2	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3
Unicaja	2–0	Alba Berlin	72–69	88–85	—
AEK Betsson	2–1	Joventut Badalona	87–84	66–88	72–67
Rytas	2–0	ERA Nymburk	77–70	70–69	—
La Laguna Tenerife	2–1	Galatasaray MCT Technic	84–83	62–64	99–59

Individual awards

Season awards

The annual season awards was announced during the Final Four weekend.^[17]

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 Team		Second Team
Player	Team	Player	Team
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	Ref.
Chris Silva	AEK Betsson	[18]

Team of the Group Phase

Player	Team	Ref.
Ricky Rubio	Joventut Badalona	[19]
Jeremiah Hill	Élan Chalon
Will Cummings	Galatasaray MCT Technic
Jack White	Mersin
Chris Silva	AEK Betsson

MVP of the Play-ins

Player	Club	Ref.
Brandon Jefferson	Karditsa Iaponiki	[20]

Team of the Play-ins

Player	Team	Ref.
Brandon Jefferson	Karditsa Iaponiki	[21]
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	Ref.
RaiQuan Gray	AEK Betsson	[22]

Team of the Round of 16

Player	Team	Ref.
Ignas Sargiūnas	Rytas	[23]
Errick McCollum	Galatasaray MCT Technic
RaiQuan Gray	AEK Betsson
Frank Bartley	AEK Betsson
Ante Tomić	Joventut Badalona

MVP of the Quarterfinals

Player	Club	Ref.
Giorgi Shermadini	La Laguna Tenerife	[24]

Team of the Quarterfinals

Player	Team	Ref.
Ricky Rubio	Joventut Badalona	[25]
Jerrick Harding	Rytas
Frank Bartley	AEK Betsson
James Nunnally	AEK Betsson
Giorgi Shermadini	La Laguna Tenerife

References

External links

• Official website