All you need to know ahead of BCL Season 11 draw
The Basketball Champions League is headed into its 11th season, starting with the Qualification Round Tournaments and Regular Season draw on Wednesday. Unicaja is included in Pot 1 and country protection applies to the Regular Season stage of the Draw, meaning that clubs cannot be drawn in the same group with another club from their country.
A total of 54 teams will turn their attention to the Patrick Baumann House of Basketball on Wednesday, all set for the draw for the 11th season of the Basketball Champions League, powered by Ameresco SUNEL.
Thirty (30) of those teams are directly qualified for the Regular Season (based on sporting criteria), and two (2) teams will be joining through the Qualification Round Tournaments, where twenty-four (24) teams are fighting for their chance to advance.
The draw ceremony for the Regular Season groups and the Qualification Round tournaments will be livestreamed on the official BCL YouTube channel.
Regular Season
The Regular Season will feature eight groups of four teams. For the purpose of the draw, the thirty (30) directly qualified teams and the two (2) Qualification Round tournaments winners will be divided into four (4) pots of eight (8) teams each.
The pots are based on the BCL Club Rankings and the BCL Country Rankings.
The Regular Season teams are seeded as follows:
Pot 1: AEK BC (GRE), Galatasaray MCT Technic (TUR), Hapoel Holon (ISR), Rytas Vilnius (LTU), Slavia Praha ERA NBK (CZE), Telekom Baskets Bonn (GER), UCAM Murcia (ESP), Unicaja (ESP)
Pot 2: ALBA BERLIN (GER), Asisa Joventut (ESP), Cholet Basket (FRA), Falco KC Szombathely (HUN), Nanterre 92 (FRA), Pallacanestro Reggiana (ITA), Peristeri Betsson (GRE), SIG Strasbourg (FRA)
Pot 3: BC Juventus Utena (LTU), Bnei Penlink Herzliya (ISR), Igokea m:tel (BIH), Legia Warszawa (POL), Pallacanestro Varese (ITA), Sabah BC (AZE), Spartak Office Shoes (SRB), Windrose Giants Antwerp (BEL)
Pot 4: BK KVIS Pardubice (CZE), BMA365 Bamberg Baskets (GER), Cibona (CRO), FC Porto (POR), Surne Bilbao (ESP), Trabzonspor (TUR), Winner QRT1, Winner QRT2
Play-In series and Round of 16 groups
There will be no additional draw for the Play-Ins and the Round of 16.
The second- and third-placed teams in adjacent Regular Season groups will face each other in best-of-three Play-In series (A2 v B3, B2 v A3; C2 v D3, D2 v C3; E2 v F3, F2 v E3; G2 v H3, H2 v G3), and the winners of each pairing will feed into a predetermined Round of 16 group:
Group I: A1, E1, C2/D3, G2/H3
Group J: B1, F1, D2/C3, H2/G3
Group K: C1, G1, B2/A3, E2/F3
Group L: D1, H1, A2/B3, F2/E3
Draw restrictions: Country protection applies to the Regular Season stage of the Draw, meaning that clubs cannot be drawn in the same group with another club from their country.
The 2026-27 Regular Season will get underway on October 6, 2026.