Basketball Champions League 2025: the ultimate guide by Courtside 1891.
The Basketball Champions League (BCL) is the highest-level domestic European competition organized by FIBA.
For basketball fans looking to stream the Basketball Champions League, Courtside 1891 will be streaming every BCL game, live and on-demand. As the home of FIBA live streaming for the 20234/25 domestic basketball season, register with Courtside 1891 by signing up via the Courtside 1891 website. To watch on the go, download the Courtside 1891 app, available on the App Store and Google Play.
What is the Basketball Champions League?
The Basketball Champions League (BCL) is the top-level professional basketball competitions for European clubs, organized by FIBA.
Teams qualify to the Basketball Champions League based on their domestic performance and cup competitions. Lower-seeded teams have to go through the Basketball Champions League qualification tournaments, held every year before the start of regular season.
32 teams of the total 56 qualify for the regular season, and a winner is typically crowned in late April or May.
- → The top placed teams from every national league (and domestic cup) within the FIBA code of competitions qualify based on domestic performance.
- → The 2024/25 season tipped with qualifying rounds, with 25 Clubs battling it out for 4 Basketball Champions League regular season spots in Antalya, Türkiye.
- → SL Benfica (Portugal), ERA Nymburg (Czech Republic), Aliaga Petkimsport (Türkiye), and 2023 Champs Telekom Baskets Bonn (Germany) secured spots by winning their respective qualification tournaments.
- → The competition features a group phased regular season involving 32 teams, comprising the best performing national league Club sides and wild card invitees.
- → The regular season stage has eight groups of four teams. Each team plays six times during the Group Phase. The top ranked teams play a second Group Phase in the Round of 16.
- → The top performing teams advance to a best-of-three Quarter-Final knockout round, followed by a Final Four weekend to crown the BCL champion.
When is the Basketball Champions League held?
The BCL will take place between October 1 2024 and May 2025.
When does the Basketball Champions League regular season start?
The BCL regular season takes place between 17 October and 20 December 2024.
The dates of the Basketball Champions League Knockout Rounds are still to be confirmed, but expect them to start in early January 2024 and build towards a Final Four weekend in May 2024.
What times are the Basketball Champions League games on?
Games take place in the evenings, between 6pm and 9pm locally. Regular season games take place on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
How to watch the Basketball Champions League
As the home of FIBA live streaming, Courtside 1891 has end-to-end coverage of the FIBA Basketball Champions League games, live and on-demand. Each competing Club is subject to local market rights restrictions where official FIBA broadcast partners have exclusivity. Check out our where to watch page for the latest information.
As well as the European BCL live streams, fans of South American basketball can look forward to the return of the Basketball Champions League Americas on Courtside 1891. The continent’s premier Club tournament sees 12 teams from seven nations compete from 13 December 2023 through to the Final in April 2024.
Fans can watch all this high-level action across multiple devices. So don’t forget to download the app for free via the App Store for Apple devices and Google Play for Android smartphones.
Who competed in the BCL Final Four last season?
Last year’s top-four rated teams, Unicaja, Lenovo Tenerife, UCAM Murcia, and Peristeri bwin competed in the Belgrade Arena, Belgrade, from 26 to 28 April 2024.
Andalusians Unicaja secured their first BCL Title after missing out on their homecourt in 2023 with a 75-80 win over Liga ACB rivals Lenovo Tenerife.
Kendrick Perry secured the Final Four MVP award, redeeming himself from just missing out in 2022-23.
Rewatch the full games from the 2022/23 Final Four action for FREE here:
Who won the 2023-24 Basketball Champions League?
Unicaja won the competition in dominant fashion, going 4W and 2L in Group A to punch a ticket for the Round of 16.
They defeated Tofas, SIG Strasbourg, and Tidjane Salaun’s Cholet ending Group I with a 6W 0L record, best defense of the competition by far, and 4th best offense.
Ibon Navarro’s team did not drop a single game after the regular season, making light work of Promitheas Patras before going past Liga ACB rivals UCAM Murcia and Lenovo Tenerife to lift the trophy they went so close to win in 2023.
Which teams are competing in the 2023/24 Basketball Champions Leagues season?
|
Team Name |
Domestic League |
Country of Origin |
|
AEK |
Basket League (7th) [Wild Card] |
Greece |
|
Aliaga Petkimspor |
Basketbol Süper Ligi (7th) |
Türkiye |
|
Baxi Manresa |
ACB Liga Endesa (8th) |
Spain |
|
Bertram Derthona |
Lega Basket Serie A (3rd) |
Italy |
|
ERA Nymburk |
Czech National League (NBL), (1st). |
Czech Republic |
|
Falco Szombathely |
Nemzeti Bajnokság I/A (1st) |
Hungary |
|
Filou Oostende |
BNXT League (1st) |
Belgium |
|
FIT/One Würzburg Baskets |
Basketball Bundesliga (5th) |
Germany |
|
FMP SoccerBet |
Adriatic Basketball Association League (11th ) |
Serbia |
|
Galatasaray Nef |
Basketbol Süper Ligi (5th) |
Türkiye |
|
Hapoel Netanel Holon |
Israeli Basketball Premier League (5th) |
Israel |
|
Igokea m:tel |
Basketball Championship of BIH (1st) |
Bosnia and Herzegovina |
|
King Szczecin |
Polish Basketball League (4th) |
Poland |
|
Kolossos H Hotels |
Basket League (6th) |
Greece |
|
La Laguna Tenerife |
ACB Liga Endesa (6th) |
Spain |
|
Maccabi Ramat Gan |
Israeli Basketball Premier League (3rd) |
Israel |
|
Manisa Basket |
Basketbol Süper Ligi (6th) |
Türkiye |
|
Nanterre 92 |
Pro A (5th) |
France |
|
Niners Chemnitz |
Basketball Bundesliga (3rd) |
Germany |
|
Peristeri Domino’s |
Basket League (3rd) |
Greece |
|
Pınar Karşıyaka |
Basketbol Süper Ligi (4th) |
Türkiye |
|
Promitheas |
Basket League (4th) |
Greece |
|
RASTA Vechta |
Basketball Bundesliga (6th) |
Germany |
|
Rytas |
Lietuvos Krepšinio Lyga Champions |
Lithuania |
|
Saint-Quentin Basket-Ball |
Pro A (6th) |
France |
|
SL Benfica |
Liga Portuguesa de Basquetebol (1st) |
Portugal |
|
Telekom Baskets Bonn |
Basketball Bundesliga (7th) |
Germany |
|
UCAM Murcia |
ACB Liga Endesa (5th) |
Spain |
|
Unicaja |
ACB Liga Endesa (1st) |
Spain |
|
VEF Rīga |
Latvian–Estonian Basketball League (1st) |
Latvia |
|
WKS Slask Wroclaw |
Polish Basketball League (2nd) |
Poland |
History of the Basketball Champions League
The Basketball Champions League, commonly referred to as the BCL, was formed in March 2016 within the FIBA Europe Confederation. 2023/24 will be the eight season of the competition that takes place annually, from September to May alongside each domestic league season.
Spanish teams have dominated the competition to date, winning the title four of our seven times. 11 of the 28 Final Four teams play in the ACB, or Liga Endesa as it is now known for sponsorship purposes.
Both Tenerife (Canarias) and San Pablo Burgos have won the competition twice. Alongside Germany’s Telekom Basket Bonn, AEK from Greece and Virtus Segafredo Bologna from Italy have also won the competition.
A competition based on performance merit at a domestic level, a grand total of 98 teams from 28 national associations have featured in the BCL since it started (not including the 23/24 season qualifiers).
Enjoy short highlights of the 2023/24 BCL Final between Unicaja and Lenovo Tenerife below:
