The 2020–21 Basketball Champions League was the 5th 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), the premier 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 ...
launched and managed 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 season began on 15 September 2020 and ended on 9 May 2021. It featured 12 domestic champions while four
wild cards
''Wild Cards'' is a series of science fiction superhero shared universe anthologies, mosaic novels, and solo novels. They are written by a collection of more than forty authors (referred to as the "Wild Cards Trust") and are edited by George R. ...
were allocated for first time.
San Pablo Burgos won its second consecutive championship, after defeating
Pınar Karşıyaka
Pınar is a common feminine Turkish given name
A Turkish name consists of an ''ad'' or an ''isim'' (given name; plural ''adlar'' and ''isimler'') and a ''soyadı'' or ''soyisim'' (surname). Turkish names exist in a "full name" format. While th ...
in the
final
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
*Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training
*Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...
in
Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...
. As champions, they qualified for the
2022 FIBA Intercontinental Cup.
Teams
Team allocation
44 teams played 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).
*Abd: Abandoned season 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 ...
*1st, 2nd, etc.: Place in the domestic competition
*CLR: Teams qualified based on their
Basketball Champions League rankings The Basketball Champions League rankings are the competition's criteria for ordering teams and leagues according to their performance with the aim to give an objective process for determining the participation of clubs each season.
Ranking calculat ...
*WC:
Wild card
;Notes
Referees
Round and draw dates
The schedule of the competition was as follows. On December 3, the Basketball Champions League Board has approved a change of format for the 2020-21 Play-Offs and Finals.
Qualifying rounds
Draw
The 16 teams that entered in the first round were divided into four 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 qualification round (QR1), teams from Pot 3 were drawn against teams from Pot 2, and teams from Pot 4 faced teams from Pot 1. Clubs from Pot 1 and 2 were seeded, and played the second leg at home. Games were played on September 15–18. The eight winners then qualified for the second qualification round (QR2).
For the second round (QR2), the winners of Pot 3 and Pot 2 faced the winners of Pot 4 and Pot 1. The winners from Pot 4 and Pot 1 were seeded, and played the second leg at home. Games were played on September 22–25. The four winners then qualified for the 2020–21 Basketball Champions League regular reason and joined the 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.
Four tournaments took place, each consisting of two semifinals games and of one final game, where the semifinals were played as the BCL qualification round 1 and the final as the BCL qualification round 2. These Qualification tournaments took place in two different locations:
* Group A and B:
Tassos Papadopoulos Eleftheria Indoor Hall at
Nicosia
Nicosia, also known as Lefkosia and Lefkoşa, is the capital and largest city of Cyprus. It is the southeasternmost of all EU member states' capital cities.
Nicosia has been continuously inhabited for over 5,500 years and has been the capi ...
,
Cyprus
Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...
.
* Group C and D:
Arena Botevgrad at
Botevgrad,
Bulgaria
Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
.
Draw pots
* Example of 1 point for Igokea from 2016 to 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.
*
Results
Qualification Group A
Semifinals were played on 23 September 2020 and Final took place on 25 September 2020 at
Tassos Papadopoulos Eleftheria Indoor Hall in
Nicosia
Nicosia, also known as Lefkosia and Lefkoşa, is the capital and largest city of Cyprus. It is the southeasternmost of all EU member states' capital cities.
Nicosia has been continuously inhabited for over 5,500 years and has been the capi ...
,
Cyprus
Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...
.
Qualification Group B
Semifinals were played on 22 September 2020 and Final took place on 24 September 2020 at
Tassos Papadopoulos Eleftheria Indoor Hall in
Nicosia
Nicosia, also known as Lefkosia and Lefkoşa, is the capital and largest city of Cyprus. It is the southeasternmost of all EU member states' capital cities.
Nicosia has been continuously inhabited for over 5,500 years and has been the capi ...
,
Cyprus
Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...
.
Qualification Group C
Semifinals were played on 23 September 2020 and Final took place on 25 September 2020 at
Arena Botevgrad in
Botevgrad,
Bulgaria
Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
.
Qualification Group D
Semifinals were played on 22 September 2020 and Final took place on 24 September 2020 at
Arena Botevgrad in
Botevgrad,
Bulgaria
Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
.
Regular season
Draw
The 28 teams that entered in the regular season directly were divided into seven 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, groups were split with the aim to the reduce the number of games and to make easier to play possible postponed matches.
;Notes
: Indicates teams with no club points, therefore using the country points as a tiebreaker.
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Group G
Group H
Playoffs
Sixteen teams advance to the Play-off phase, consisting of a new group format of four groups with four teams each.
A draw determined the new four groups (each group had respectively two teams having finished first and two teams having finished second in their regular season group) that played home and away games over the month of March. No country protection, only group protection was applied during the draw.
Clubs played 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 concluded the 2020–21 season. The playoffs started on March 2–3, 2021.
The draw of this second phase of the competition was conducted on February 2, at the Patrick Baumann House of Basketball.
Draw
Group I
Group J
Group K
Group L
Final Eight
The concluding Final Eight tournament was played in
Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...
,
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
, between 5 May and 9 May 2021.
Draw
Bracket
Quarterfinals
The quarterfinals were played on 5–6 May 2021.
Semifinals
The semifinals were played on 7 May 2021.
Third place game
The third place game was played on 9 May 2021.
Final
The final was played on 9 May 2021.
Individual awards
Season awards
The annual season awards were announced on 5 May.
Star Lineup
MVP of the Month
Play-Offs MVP
See also
*
2020–21 FIBA Europe Cup
*
2020–21 EuroLeague
*
2020–21 EuroCup Basketball
References
External links
Basketball Champions League(official website)
FIBA(official website)
{{DEFAULTSORT:2020-21 Basketball Champions League
Basketball Champions League seasons
2020–21 Basketball Champions League