44 teams will play in the 2020–21 Basketball Champions League (28 teams directly qualify for the group competition, while 16 teams play 2 qualifying rounds for the remaining 4 places in the group stage).[1]
The schedule of the competition will be as follows.[4] On December 3, the Basketball Champions League Board has approved a change of format for the 2020-21 Play-Offs and Finals.[5]
Schedule for 2020–21 Basketball Champions League
Phase
Round
Draw date
First leg
Qualifying rounds
First qualifying round (Semi-finals)
15 July 2020
22–23 September 2020
Second qualifying round (Finals)
24–25 September 2020
Regular season
Round 1-A,B,C,D
20-21 October 2020
Round 1-E,F,G,H
27–28 October 2020
Round 2-A,B,C,D
3-4 November 2020
Round 2-E,F,G,H
10-11 November 2020
Round 3-A,B,C,D
17-18 November 2020
Round 3-E,F,G,H
8-9 December 2020
Round 4-A,B,C,D
15-16 December 2020
Round 4-E,F,G,H
22-23 December 2020
Round 5-A,B,C,D
5-6 January 2021
Round 5-E,F,G,H
12-13 January 2021
Round 6-A,B,C,D
19-20 January 2021
Round 6-E,F,G,H
26-27 January 2021
Play-offs
Round 1-I,J,K,L
2 February 2021
2–3 March 2021
Round 2-I,J,K,L
9-10 March 2021
Round 3-I,J,K,L
16-17 March 2021
Round 4-I,J,K,L
23-24 March 2021
Round 5-I,J,K,L
30-31 March 2021
Round 6-I,J,K,L
6-7 April 2021
Final Eight
Quarter-finals
TBD
6-7 May 2021
Semifinals
8 May 2021
Final
9 May 2021
Qualifying rounds
Draw
The 16 teams that entered in the first round will be divided into 4 pots based firstly on the competition's club ranking and, for clubs that have not yet participated in the competition, on the country ranking.
For the first round of Qualifications (QR1), teams from Pot 3 will be drawn against teams from Pot 2, and teams from Pot 4 will face teams from Pot 1. Clubs from Pot 1 and 2 will be seeded, and will play the second leg at home. Games will be played on September 15 and 18. The eight (8) winners will then qualify for the second Qualification Round (QR2).
For the second round (QR2), the winners of Pot 3 vs Pot 2 will face the winners of Pot 4 vs Pot 1. The winners from Pot 4 vs Pot 1 will be seeded, and will play the second leg at home. Games will be played on September 22 and 25. The four (4) winners will then qualify for the 2020-21 Basketball Champions League Regular Season and join the twenty-eight (28) directly qualified teams in the main draw.
Change of Qualifying format
On August 25, 2020, it was announced, in order to protect the health and guarantee the safety of players, coaches and officials, but also to safeguard a fair competition, and to properly organize game operations, the decision has been taken to modify the competition system from home-away games, to a tournament format, with single games for each Qualification Round.[6]
Four (4) tournaments will take place, each consisting of two (2) Semi-Final games and of one (1) Final game, where the Semi-Finals will be played as the BCL Qualification Round 1 and the Final as the BCL Qualification Round 2. These Qualification tournaments will take place in two different locations:
* Example of 1 point for Igokea from 2016-2017 season means that the FIBA's "last three season points" rule applies to the last (three) BCL seasons of the particular club, not the last three BCL seasons in general.
The 28 teams that entered in the Regular Season directly were divided into 7 pots based firstly on the club ranking and, for clubs that have not yet participated in the competition, on the country ranking. Eighth pot is reserved for winners of qualifying rounds.
Initially, teams were divided into groups of eight teams. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, group were splitten with the aim to the reduce the number of games and to make easier to play possible postponed matches.
Sixteen teams advance to the Play-off phase, consisting of a new group format of four groups with four teams each.
A draw will determine the new four groups (each group will have respectively 2 teams having finished 1st and 2 teams having finished 2nd of their Regular Season group) that will play home and away games over the month of March. No country protection, only group protection will apply during the draw.
Clubs will play six games each in a round robin system (three games home, three away), with the first two teams in each group qualifying for a Final 8 tournament that will conclude the 2020-21 season. The Play-Offs will start on March 2-3, 2021.[8]
The draw of this second phase of the competition will be conducted on Tuesday February 2, at 16:00 CET, at the Patrick Baumann House of Basketball.[9]