Hanoi Prepares to Host South Conference Group Stage
New Sports—an organization with prior experience managing the Vietnam Pro-Am Basketball Championship, the Vietnam Interuniversity Basketball Championship, and the 2026 PPA Hanoi Cup—will oversee the staging of the South Conference events in Vietnam.
The 2026-2027 AUBL season splits competition into two distinct regional divisions: a 12-team East Conference and a 6-team South Conference. The South Conference schedule runs entirely in Hanoi from April 7 through April 11, 2027. Six universities make up the South Conference field, representing Australia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Macau, and a representative from Vietnam.
Tournament Structure and Regional Breakdowns
Teams in the South Conference will be drawn into two groups of three, playing round-robin fixtures to establish group standings. The top two teams from each group advance to a Four-Finals bracket. Those matches will determine the three regional qualifiers that earn berths in the 2027 Championship Week.
Meanwhile, the East Conference brings together 12 university programs from China, Japan, South Korea, Mongolia, and the Philippines. Those squads are divided into four groups of three and will compete in home-and-away fixtures running from November 2026 through March 2027. The official AUBL season tips off on November 22, 2026, in Seoul, South Korea.
Championship Week Schedule and Broader Impact
Once regional qualifiers conclude across both conferences, the top nine teams from the East Conference and three representatives from the South Conference will advance to the Championship Week. That final tournament stage is scheduled to take place from August 16 to August 22, 2027.
Organizers expect the multi-stage event to create new pathways for international competition and elevate the competitive standards of scholastic basketball within Vietnam. For Hanoi, hosting the regional matches provides an opportunity to showcase its capacity for organizing international sporting events while integrating local university programs into the wider continental basketball landscape.
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