2019–20 Basketball Champions League
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The 2019–20 Basketball Champions League is the fourth season of the
Basketball Champions League The Basketball Champions League (BCL), also commonly known as the FIBA Champions League, is an annual professional basketball competition for European sports club, clubs, organised by FIBA. It is the European professional club basketball system ...
(BCL), a European-wide
professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
competition for
clubs Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Club (magazine), ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands a ...
, that was launched by
FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French language, French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. FIBA defines the rules of basketball, specifies the Basketball equipment ...
. The competition began in September 2019, with the qualifying rounds, and was supposed to conclude in May 2020. It featured 16 domestic champion teams. On 12 March 2020, the competition was suspended because of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. San Pablo Burgos won its first Champions League title after defeating AEK.


Format changes

For this season, eight teams will come from two qualifying rounds. The round of 16 and quarter-finals changed to best-of-three playoff series instead of two legs. From this season no teams were sent from the regular season to the
FIBA Europe Cup The FIBA Europe Cup (FEC) is an annual professional club basketball competition organised by FIBA for eligible European clubs. It is FIBA Europe's second level competition. Clubs mainly qualify based on their performance in national leagues an ...
, which was the case in each previous BCL season.


Changes due to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic

On 12 March 2020,
FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French language, French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. FIBA defines the rules of basketball, specifies the Basketball equipment ...
suspended all its competitions, including the BCL, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. On 31 March, the BCL decided the season will have to be finished with a "Final Eight" tournament planned for 30 September until 4 October. The tournament was to be held in a single venue and would be a single-elimination tournament. Two games which were still not played in the
Round of 16 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...
took place beforehand.


Eligibility of players

In 2017, FIBA agreed to adopt eligibility rules, forcing the clubs to have at least 5 home-grown players in rosters of 11 or 12 players, or at least four, if the team has got fewer players.


Team allocation

A total of 48 teams from 29 countries will participate in the 2019–20 Basketball Champions League. On June 24, 2019, Benfica entered in the first qualifying round and Mornar were upgraded to the
second qualifying round The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...
after the Openjobmetis Varese's withdrawal.


Teams

League positions after eventual playoffs of the previous season shown in parentheses (FEC: FIBA Europe Cup title holders. WC: Wild card).


Round and draw dates

The schedule of the competition is as follows.


Qualifying rounds


Draw

The 16 teams that entered in the first round were divided into two pots. Seeded teams would play the second leg at home.


First qualifying round

A total of 16 teams will play in the first qualifying round. The first legs will be played on 17 September, while the second legs on 20 September 2019.


Second qualifying round

A total of 16 teams will play in the second qualifying round: eight teams which enter in this round, and the eight winners of the first qualifying round. The first legs will be played on 26 September, while the second legs on 29 September 2019.


Regular season

The 32 teams are drawn into four groups of eight, with the restriction that teams from the same country cannot be drawn against each other. In each group, teams play against each other home-and-away, in a round-robin format. The group winners, runners-up, third-placed teams and fourth-placed teams, advance to the
round of 16 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...
, while the remaining four teams in each group of the Regular Season will be eliminated. A total of 32 teams play in the regular season: 24 teams which enter in this stage, and the eight winners of the second qualifying round. The regular season will start on 8 October 2019 and end on 5 February 2020.


Draw

Teams were divided into two pots according to the club ranking published by the organization. Twelve teams were named seeded teams while the rest would be unseeded teams. The seeded teams will be split, allocating three per group. Firstly, the eight teams from qualifying round will be split in the four groups, with a maximum of two teams per group.


Group A


Group B


Group C


Group D


Playoffs

The playoffs started on 3 March 2020. In the
playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...
, teams play against each other over two legs on a best-of-three basis, except for the Final Four. In the playoffs draw, the group winners and the runners-up are seeded, and the third-placed teams and the fourth-placed teams are unseeded. The seeded teams are drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. Teams from the same group cannot be drawn against each other.


Bracket


Round of 16

The first legs were played on 3–4 March, the second legs on 10–11 March. Third legs will be played on 16 September 2020.


Final Eight

The concluding Final Eight tournament will be played in
Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
,
Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
, between 30 September and 4 October 2020.


Quarterfinals

The quarterfinals were played on 30 September and 1 October 2020.


Semifinals

The semifinals were played on 2 October 2020.


Third place game

The third place game was played on 4 October 2020.


Final

The final was played on 4 October 2020.


Awards


Season awards

The annual season awards were announced on 28 and 29 September.


Star Lineup


All Defensive Team


Game Day MVP

After each gameday a selection of five players with the highest
efficiency Efficiency is the often measurable ability to avoid making mistakes or wasting materials, energy, efforts, money, and time while performing a task. In a more general sense, it is the ability to do things well, successfully, and without waste. ...
ratings is made by the Basketball Champions League. Afterwards, the official website decides which player is crowned Game Day MVP.


Regular season


See also

* 2019–20 EuroLeague * 2019–20 EuroCup Basketball * 2019–20 FIBA Europe Cup


References


External links


Basketball Champions League
(official website)
FIBA
(official website) {{DEFAULTSORT:2019-20 Basketball Champions League Basketball Champions League seasons
Basketball Champions League The Basketball Champions League (BCL), also commonly known as the FIBA Champions League, is an annual professional basketball competition for European sports club, clubs, organised by FIBA. It is the European professional club basketball system ...