BCL Season 9 draw seedings announced

The team seedings for the Basketball Champions League Season 9 official draw, which will take place at 11:00 CEST on Wednesday, June 26, have been unveiled.

The draw ceremony will be livestreamed on the BCL YouTube channel. The Qualification Round tournaments will be drawn first, followed right after by the Regular Season draw.

All 52 teams that will be involved in Wednesday’s draw, between the Qualification Round tournaments and the Regular Season, will be placed in pots according to their seedings, based firstly on the BCL Club Ranking and, for clubs that have not yet participated in the competition, on the BCL Country Ranking.

Qualification Round Tournaments

Twenty-four (24) teams will compete in four (4) Qualification Round tournaments, two of which belong to the Champions Path and the other two to the rest of the teams that are vying for qualification.

The four Qualification Round tournaments will take place between September 15 and September 22. The detailed game schedule, as well as the venue, will be announced in July.

The teams in the Qualification Round tournaments are seeded as follows:

Champions Path (Qualification Round Tournaments 1 and 2)
Pot 1: SL Benfica (POR), ERA Nymburk (CZE)
Pot 2: Kalev/Cramo (EST), Fribourg Olympic (SUI)
Pot 3: Patrioti Levice (SVK), Norrkoping Dolphins (SWE)
Pot 4: Keravnos BC (CYP), BC Nokia (FIN)
Pot 5: Trepca (KOS), Rilski Sportist (BUL)
Pot 6: BC Kutaisi 2010 (GEO), Sabah (AZE)

Qualification Round Tournaments 3 and 4
Pot 1: Telekom Baskets Bonn (GER), PAOK mateco (GRE)
Pot 2: Dinamo Banco di Sardegna Sassari (ITA), Cholet Basket (FRA)
Pot 3: Heroes den Bosch (NED), Juventus Utena (LTU)
Pot 4: CSM CSU Oradea (ROU), Windrose Giants Antwerp (BEL)
Pot 5: Caledonia Gladiators (GBR), MoraBanc Andorra (ESP)
Pot 6: Aliaga Petkimspor (TUR), Spartak Office Shoes (SRB)

The first two of the Qualification Round tournaments will feature 12 in total (six in each) domestic league champions from countries not represented yet in the Regular Season. This segment of the Qualification Rounds is called the Champions Path.

The 12 teams will be split into six pots according to their seeding. Teams from pot 1 and pot 2 will be drawn directly into the Semi-Finals of the tournament, while the teams in the other four pots will enter the tournament from the Quarter-Finals.

The winners of the two Champions Path tournaments will earn a spot in the Regular Season.

The other two Qualification Round tournaments will also involve 12 in total (six in each) teams, but from countries already represented in the BCL Regular Season, as well as domestic league play-off finalists and semi-finalists from countries not yet represented.

Just like in the Champions Path, the 12 teams will be split into six pots according to their seeding, and teams from pots 1 and 2 will be drawn directly into the Semi-Finals of the tournament.

The winners of these two Qualification Round tournaments will enter the Regular Season draw with country protection – meaning they cannot be drawn into the same group as another team from their country.

Regular Season

Twenty-eight (28) clubs have qualified directly for the 2024-25 Basketball Champions League Regular Season, where they will be joined by the four winners of the Qualification Round tournaments.

For the purpose of the draw, the twenty-eight (28) directly qualified teams and the four (4) Qualification Round tournaments winners will be divided into four (4) pots of eight (8) teams each. The pots are based on the above mentioned BCL Club and Country Rankings.

The Regular Season teams are seeded as follows:

Play-In series and Round of 16 groups
There will be no additional draw for the Play-Ins and the Round of 16. The second- and third-placed teams in adjacent Regular Season groups will face each other in best-of-three Play-In series (A2 v B3, B2 v A3; C2 v D3, D2 v C3; E2 v F3, F2 v E3; G2 v H3, H2 v G3), and the winners of each pairing will feed into a predetermined Round of 16 group:

Group I: A1, E1, C2/D3, G2/H3
Group J: B1, F1, D2/C3, H2/G3
Group K: C1, G1, B2/A3, E2/F3
Group L: D1, H1, A2/B3, F2/E3

Draw restrictions:
Country protection applies to the Regular Season stage of the Draw, meaning that clubs cannot be drawn in the same group with another club from their country.

The 2024-25 Regular Season will get underway on October 1, 2024.