Basketball Champions League
Upcoming season or competition: 2016–17 Basketball Champions League
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| Sport | Basketball |
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| Founded | 21 March 2016 |
| Inaugural season | 2016–17 |
| CEO | Patrick Comninos |
| COO | Marcus Studer |
| Motto | Basketball's new horizon |
| No. of teams | 40 (regular season) 52 (total) |
| Confederation | FIBA Europe |
| Level on pyramid | 3rd tier |
| Related competitions |
FIBA Europe Cup |
| Official website | Official website |
The Basketball Champions League (BCL) is an international professional basketball competition launched by FIBA, to be contested by European basketball clubs. The competition's first tournament began on 27 September 2016, with the aim to be a direct rival with Euroleague Basketball's top-tier level EuroLeague competition.
In October 2015, FIBA attempted to take back control of Europe's 1st tier club competition, by proposing a new competition, featuring 16 teams playing in a round-robin format, and granting eight guaranteed spots to different clubs. When the top European clubs decided to abide with the same competition format, but keeping the organization within Euroleague Basketball, FIBA announced the launching of the new European basketball club competition, with a qualification based on sporting merits.
The tournament proper begins with a regular season of 40 teams, divided into five groups. Seeding is used whilst making the draw for this stage, whilst teams from the same country may not be drawn into groups together. Each team meets the others in its group in home and away games, in a round-robin format. The winning team, runner-up, third-placed team, and fourth-placed team from each group, and the four best fifth-placed teams, then progress to the play-offs. The remaining fifth-placed team, sixth-placed team, and the two best seventh-placed teams enter the FIBA Europe Cup.
The round of 16 will include two phases. For this stage, the winning team from each group, and the three best runners-up will qualify directly to the second phase. For the first phase, the remaining sixteen teams from the same country may not be drawn against each other. For the second phase, the draw is entirely random, without country protection, and the winners of the first phase will play against the teams that have directly qualified to the second phase. From the quarter-finals onward, the draw is entirely random, without country protection.
The regular season is played from October to January, whilst the play-offs start in February. The play-off ties are played in a two-legged format, with the exception of the final four. This is typically held in the final week of April.
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