MIES (Switzerland) - Where did we leave off? In Badalona, on May 9, a Lithuanian party took place following Rytas Vilnius' unbelievable and unforgettable comeback over AEK BC to win it all.
Following the summer break and the Qualification Round Tournaments in Samokov, the Basketball Champions League, powered by Ameresco SUNEL, Regular Season is finally back.
Let's find out 48 things to look out for in Season 11's opening night.
Hapoel Maoz Daniel Holon vs. Cholet Basket - Group F, 17:45 CET
This will be the fifth BCL game between Hapoel Maoz Daniel Holon and Cholet Basket, with the former winning three of the previous four encounters; however, Cholet’s only victory in this matchup happened when they played on a neutral venue: 94-92 in November 2025 when they played in Hungary.
Holon are taking part in their 10th consecutive season in the BCL, only missing it in 2016-17, and are now one of five teams with 10+ league campaigns: Holon have won their opening game in four of their last five BCL seasons.
Cholet are going for their fourth season in the BCL and will try to win their first game of a league campaign for the first time: their last two opening games ended with margins of 18 or more points.
Adama Sanogo scored 15+ points in five of his six BCL games with Holon last season; he is averaging 17.0 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks per game with Holon in the competition.
Aaron Towo-Nansi (17 years, 216 days) has already scored 26 points in the BCL; if he scores 4+ points in this game, he will become the third youngest player in league history to reach 30+ career points after Furkan Haltali (17 years, 92 days) and Alperen Sengun (17 years, 131 days).
The Israeli Basket League hasn't started yet, while Cholet had an 85-76 victory away from home against Nancy.
Cibona vs. Galatasaray MCT Technic - Group B, 18:00 CET
Cibona are back in the BCL after playing in the inaugural season, back in 2016-17, with their 10-year gap between their two participations being the biggest of any team, alongside Itelyum Varese, to have played multiple seasons in the BCL.
This will be Galatasaray MCT Technic’s seventh consecutive season in the BCL: they have won their opening game in four of their previous six league campaigns, all by margins of more than 10 points.
Galatasaray conceded only 40.4 percent of the field goals they faced in the BCL Regular Season 2025-26, the best defensive performance of all teams.
Rickey McGill, now with Cibona, scored 20+ points in six different BCL games last season, while only Frank Bartley had more 20-point performances than him in 2025-26 (9 games); McGill has scored 20+ points in three of his four BCL games at home.
After playing three seasons with Bandirma, Sehmus Hazer is back in the BCL, now with Galatasaray; he scored in double figures in eight of his last 10 road games in the competition, after doing it only once in his previous six road appearances.
In Ljubljana, Cedevita Olimpija beat Cibona 89-76 on Saturday; Galatasaray also weren't successful, losing 78-71 on the road against Karsiyaka in Türkiye despite Oumar Ballo's 13 points and 15 boards.
Rytas Vilnius vs. Sabah BC - Group A, 18:30 CET
Rytas have won their opening game in a BCL season only once in their previous six league campaigns, but it was precisely in the most recent one (93-85 vs. Legia Warszawa); Rytas have won 14 of their 15 games at home in the BCL Regular Season over the last five campaigns.
Sabah BC are heading to their second season in the BCL after debuting in 2025-26; they are still looking for their first road victory in the competition, after losing all their three games away from home last season by a margin of more than 12 points.
Rytas made 20.8 free throws per game in the BCL last season, more than any other team, while Sabah had the lowest accuracy from the line (66.7%).
Cassius Winston (Rytas) is back in the BCL to play with his third different club in his three seasons here; he is one of only five players to have had a run of five or more games scoring 20+ points in league history. Winston has scored more than 10 points in 14 of his 16 BCL home games.
Gerry Blakes scored 17 or more points in each of his three BCL games with Sabah last season, while also averaging 5.0 assists per game in the process; overall, he has dropped 15 or more points in eight of his 13 games played in the competition.
Over the weekend in Lithuania, Rytas lost 105-102 at home against Gargzdai despite three local players (Arturas Gudaitis, Augustas Marciulonis, and Matas Jogela) putting up 20 points each; Gerry Blakes' 21 points were crucial for Sabah's 84-74 victory against LANDAU Lions.
Peristeri Betsson vs. BMA365 Bamberg Baskets - Group D, 18:30 CET
This will be the third BCL game between Peristeri Betsson and BMA365 Bamberg Baskets, with the home team of the day winning each of the previous two fixtures by a 3-point margin.
This will be only the second time in their six BCL seasons that Peristeri will start at home, after beating Bnei Penlink Herzliya by a 16-point margin in October 2022 (86-70).
Bamberg are back in the BCL after competing here between 2018-19 and 2020-21; they have won their first road game of a BCL season only once before, a 37-point victory over Fortitudo Bologna in 2020-21 (100-63), their biggest road win in the competition.
Will Carius (Peristeri) scored 12 or more points in four of his six BCL games last season, then with Levice; he has also made a steal in each of his six appearances in the competition, and he is averaging 7.7 rebounds per game when playing at home.
Jonathan Bahre (Bamberg) has already played in four BCL seasons, with his team progressing from the Regular Season in each of his previous campaigns; however, he has been on the losing side in each of his six last BCL games on the road.
Ty Nichols finished with 21 points, 6 assists, and 4 rebounds in Peristeri's 94-88 road victory against Promitheas; Bamberg also had a huge win away from home, taking down ALBA 98-83 in Berlin, propelled by Jordan Wright's 23 points and 7 rebounds.
SIG Strasbourg vs. Legia Warszawa - Group B, 20:00 CET
SIG Strasbourg are back in the BCL after last competing in 2023-24; they are undefeated when starting a league season at home (W4), although their last two such victories ended with single-possession margins: 75-73 vs. Kalev/Cramo in 2021-22 and 81-78 vs. Falco Szombathely in 2022-23.
This is Legia Warszawa’s third campaign in the BCL and the second in a row; they have won only three of their 12 games in the competition, but all three victories happened on the road.
Legia allowed only 22.2 percent of shots from behind the arc in the BCL 2025-26, the best defensive performance, and consequently conceded fewer three-pointers per game than any other team (6.0).
Strasbourg’s Jaylen Hands has scored more than 12 points in five of his last six BCL games; he is going into his third BCL campaign after playing for PAOK in 2022-23 and for Peristeri in 2023-24.
After representing VEF Riga through three different BCL seasons, Kristers Zoriks will now play for his second team in the league as he joined Legia; Zoriks has scored more than 15 points in each of his last four BCL games, making a total of 18 shots from three-point range in that run.
Jaylen Hands had 18 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists in Strasbourg's 87-75 win against Boulazac on Saturday; propelled by Zachary Freemantle's double-double of 20 points and 12 rebounds, Legia prevailed 79-76 on the road against Energa Czarni Slupsk.
Pallacanestro Reggiana vs. BK KVIS Pardubice - Group E, 20:00 CET
Pallacanestro Reggiana are heading into their third BCL season and will try to remain undefeated when starting a league campaign, after beating Telekom Baskets Bonn in 2022 (88-84) and Rytas in 2024 (77-67).
BK KVIS Pardubice will become the third Czech team to compete in the BCL, after ERA Nymburk and BK Opava: both clubs won their debut game in the competition.
Reggiana have blocked 3.8 shots per game, the joint-highest average among all teams with 20+ games played in BCL history (also Derthona Basket); the Italian outfit have blocked 3+ shots in 10 of their 11 games at home in the competition.
Speedy Smith, now with Reggiana, is about to play for his fourth different BCL team, after CSP Limoges, Rytas, and Hapoel Jerusalem; he has distributed 10+ assists in seven different league games, while only Marcelinho Huertas and Joe Ragland have had more such games in BCL history (both with 18).
Lubos Kovar is heading for his fourth BCL season after playing three campaigns with Nymburk; he has grabbed 6+ rebounds in three of his last four league games, including nine in his latest game in the competition, back in December 2022.
Reggiana suffered the 99-93 road defeat against Napoli Basketball in Italy; Robert Lee Trey Bonham had 26 points and 7 assists to inspire Pardubice's 110-98 victory against NH Ostrava.
Igokea m:tel vs. Surne Bilbao - Group G, 20:00 CET
Igokea m:tel and Surne Bilbao will meet for the third time in the BCL, with each of the previous two games being won by the road team of the day; both encounters ended with margins of five or fewer points, and both teams scored 80+ points in those games.
Igokea are going for their seventh BCL season and have won their first game at home in five of their previous six campaigns. Bilbao are heading for their third season in the BCL and have won the first road game in each of their previous two seasons.
18.0 percent of Igokea's points conceded in Season X came from second-chance situations, the highest percentage of all teams; they have allowed their opponents to grab 10+ offensive rebounds in 10 of their last 13 BCL games.
Dragan Milosavljevic has scored 194 points for Igokea and needs six more points to become only the third player tallying 200+ points scored with the Bosnian club in the BCL; he is averaging 10.4 points per game when playing at home in the competition.
Surne Bilbao will be Adam Somogyi’s third club in the BCL, after playing for Falco Szombathely and NHSZ-Szolnoki Olajbanyasz; Somogyi averaged 8.3 assists per game in the BCL in 2025-26, the highest average among all players last season.
Led by Djordje Topolovic's 16 points, Igokea beat Slovan Bratislava 97-89 in the ABA League during the weekend; despite Darrun Hilliard's 17 points, Bilbao lost 104-101 on the road to Coruña.
Asisa Joventut vs. Bnei Penlink Herzliya - Group H, 20:30 CET
As it happened in 2025-26, Asisa Joventut will also start this BCL campaign playing at home: they are undefeated when playing at Palau Municipal d'Esports de Badalona and have scored more than 90 points in five of their seven BCL games there.
Bnei Herzliya are going for their third season in the BCL, the second one in a row: this will be their third league game in Spain, where they have lost their previous two fixtures, both by margins of 20 or more points.
Bnei Herzliya had the best field goal accuracy of all teams in the BCL 2025-26 (48.8%) and had the best average of two-pointers made (22.0); Joventut were also in the Top 5 in two-pointers made per game last season (21.2).
Ricky Rubio has dished out 5+ assists in each of his last seven games in the BCL; in fact, he combined 10+ points and 5+ assists in seven different league games, while only Marcus Carr (12) and Trevor Hudgins (9) had more of such performances last season.
Noah Carter is going for his second BCL season, after averaging 7.2 points per game in his six appearances in the league last term; however, his highest scoring performance happened against a Spanish team (15pts vs. La Laguna Tenerife).
Neither team played during the weekend: Joventut's game with MoraBanc Andorra was postponed due to weather concerns, while Bnei Herzliya's domestic season hasn't started yet.