FIBA Basketball Champions League CEO Patrick Comninos discussed the 2021-22 season in a podcast titled BCL Coast To Coast.
“The process is pretty clear. We have contacted all national federations and national leagues that organize competitions in their country of origin. Each federation has been informed of the number of teams it can enter in our competition and the stage of the competition in which these teams will participate. This is the result of the process that we have put in place since the first day of the competition, valuing the results on the ground (…) We have an overwhelming majority of teams that have played in the Basketball Champions League in the past. This tells us two things. These teams regularly finish among the first places in their national competition. Second, they appreciate the collaboration, level of service and competitiveness brought by the Basketball Champions League. We will conclude this process at the end of the month when the Board of Directors validates participation for next season. And then we’ll start the usual preparations with the draw in early July and all the proper planning for the next season.“
There will be 32 regular season teams again in 2021-22, split into eight groups. The best team from each group will advance directly to the round of 16, while the second and third teams in each group will battle for the remaining eight places in a best-of-three play-in series. The round of 16 will be played with a group stage for the second year in a row, but the quarter-final playoffs and the Final Four will be staged in place of the Final Eight, which concluded the last two seasons. The BCL now intends to play this Final Four on neutral ground.
Photo: FIBA
