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Basketball Champions League 2016–17

Basketball Champions League
Season 2016–17
Champions Spain Iberostar Tenerife (1st title)
Runners-up Turkey Banvit
Third place France Monaco
Fourth place Italy Umana Reyer Venezia
Teams 40 (regular season)
52 from 31 countries (total)
Games played 324
Dates 27 September – 6 October 2016 (qualifying)
20 October 2016 – 30 April 2017
(competition proper)
Major awards
MVP Republic of Macedonia Jordan Theodore
Final Four MVP Lithuania Marius Grigonis
Statistical leaders
Index Rating Serbia Vladimir Štimac
19.9
Points United States Nick Minnerath
20.3
Rebounds United States Keith Clanton
10.7
Assists Republic of Macedonia Jordan Theodore
7.5

The 2016–17 Basketball Champions League was the inaugural season of the Basketball Champions League (BCL), a European professional basketball competition for clubs that was launched by FIBA. The competition began on 27 September 2016, with the qualifying rounds, and concluded on 30 April 2017, at the Final Four.

The competition format suffered multiple adjustments since its official presentation on 21 March 2016, in Paris. Initially, the tournament would feature a total of 56 teams from 30 national leagues. Thirty-two teams would compete in the regular season, which included 24 teams qualified directly through sporting criteria, and eight teams advancing from a two-round qualifying phase comprising the remaining 32 teams. The 24 qualifying round losers would be transferred to the regular season of the 2016–17 FIBA Europe Cup. The 32 regular season teams would be drawn into four groups of eight, playing home-and-away matches against the other group teams in a round-robin system. The four best-placed teams of each group would qualify for the play-offs, while the eight 5th- and 6th-placed teams would transfer to the FIBA Europe Cup play-offs. In the play-offs, the round of 16 and the quarter-finals were played as two-legged home-and-away ties. The four quarterfinal winners would play in the Final Four of the competition.

On 29 June 2016, the competition board confirmed the participation of 48 teams from 31 countries. The qualifying rounds would be contested by 24 teams, with 16 entering the first round, and the remaining eight given a bye to the second round. Ahead of the official draw ceremony on 21 July 2016, in Munich, the number of participating teams was increased to 49 and the qualifying rounds were again revised to accommodate 25 teams. The first qualifying round would include 18 teams divided into two pots according to geographical criteria. The nine winners would join the remaining seven teams directly placed in the second round.


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