Press Release from the Basketball Champions League on June 13th, 2017
MIES, Switzerland (Basketball Champions League) – The national champions of Belarus, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Netherlands, Poland and Romania have confirmed they will play in the upcoming Basketball Champions League season with more champions and leading clubs from across the continent due to sign-up as domestic league positions are finalized.
Tsmoki Minsk (Belarus), CEZ Nymburk (Czech Republic), Bakken Bears (Denmark), Donar Groningen (Netherlands), Stelmet Zielona Gora (Poland) and Cluj-Napoca (Romania) are returning after featuring in the highly successful inaugural Basketball Champions League season. Keravnos Nicosia, the newly crowned champions of Cyprus, will make their debut in the competition.
The newly-confirmed clubs will face stiff competition in the Basketball Champions League which features top clubs from across Europe which qualify as a result of their performances in domestic leagues.
Leading clubs from Greece and Italy have already signed up while champions Iberostar Tenerife will be back to defend their crown and will be joined by other top Spanish clubs. The full line-up for the season is due to completed in the coming weeks as domestic business is completed.
“I’m delighted to welcome back those clubs which have already had a taste of the special atmosphere of Basketball Champions League as well as the newcomers,” said Basketball Champions League CEO Patrick Comninos.
“Each has to be congratulated for wining their domestic title and each brings something special to next year’s competition. Their presence underscores the truly pan-European nature of the Basketball Champions League and its focus on providing a great international competition for clubs based on merit.
“The Basketball Champions League is about every country and every league. In the true spirit of sport it is about giving opportunity to those clubs which prove they have what it takes where it really matters…on the court,” he said.
The Basketball Champions League was a major success in its inaugural season and the new Regular season gets under way on October 10. This year 32 teams will contest the Regular Season with eight qualifiers joining 24 directly qualified clubs. They will play in four groups of 8 teams each with the top four in each group going through to a home and away Round of 16 ahead of the Quarter-Finals which will determine the Final Four.
The Final Four weekend will be hosted in the home city of one of the qualifying clubs.
An initial draw sorting the Qualification Rounds and the Regular Season phase will take place on Tuesday 11 July at the House of Basketball in Geneva, Switzerland.
