LAUSANNE (Switzerland) - A total of 53 teams will turn their attention to the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland, where the Basketball Champions League Season X draw will take place on Wednesday, July 2.
Twenty-nine (29) of those teams are directly qualified for the Regular Season (based on sporting criteria), and three (3) teams will be joining through the Qualification Round Tournaments, where twenty-four (24) teams are fighting for their chance to advance.
The draw ceremony for the Regular Season groups and the Qualification Round tournaments will be livestreamed on the official BCL YouTube channel.
Qualification Round Tournaments
Twenty-four (24) teams will compete in three (3) Qualification Round Tournaments, one of which belongs to the champions of the countries not represented in the Regular Season (Champions Path), while the other two include the rest of the teams that are vying for qualification.
The three Qualification Round tournaments will take place end of September. The detailed game schedule, as well as the venue, will be announced later in July.
The teams in the Qualification Round tournaments are seeded as follows:
Champions Path (Qualification Round Tournaments 1)
Pot 1: Bakken Bears (DEN), Patrioti Levice (SVK)
Pot 2: Heroes Den Bosch (NED), Kalev/Cramo (EST)
Pot 3: Rilski Sportist (BUL), Trepca (KOS),
Pot 4: Kutaisi 2010 (GEO), Petrolina AEK Larnaca (CYP)
Qualification Round Tournaments 2 and 3
Pot 1: Falco Szombathely (HUN), Pallacanestro Reggiana (ITA), PAOK mateco (GRE), UCAM Murcia (ESP)
Pot 2: Bursaspor Basketbol (TUR), CSM CSU Oradea (ROU), Fribourg Olympic Basket (SUI), Karhu Basket Kauhajoki (FIN)
Pot 3: Elan Chalon (FRA), Lowen Braunschweig (GER), Uniclub Bet Juventus Utena (LTU), Windrose Giants Antwerp (BEL)
Pot 4: FC Porto (POR), Pelister Bitola (MKD), PGE Start Lublin (POL), SC Derby (MNE)
All three Qualification Round Tournaments will be played in single-game elimination format, starting from the Quarter-Finals. The teams from Pot 1 will face teams from Pot 4, while teams in Pot 2 will be up against teams from Pot 3.
The three Qualification Round Tournaments winners will advance to the Regular Season.
Regular Season
The Regular Season will feature eight groups of four teams.
For the purpose of the draw, the twenty-nine (29) directly qualified teams and the three (3) Qualification Round tournaments winners will be divided into four (4) pots of eight (8) teams each.
The pots are based on the BCL Club Rankings and the BCL Country Rankings.
The Regular Season teams are seeded as follows:
Pot 1: AEK Betsson BC (GRE), ALBA BERLIN (GER), Dreamland Gran Canaria (ESP), Galatasaray MCT Technic (TUR), Joventut Badalona (ESP), La Laguna Tenerife (ESP), Rytas Vilnius (LTU), Unicaja (ESP)
Pot 2: ERA Nymburk (CZE), Filou Oostende (BEL), Hapoel Netanel Holon (ISR), Igokea m:tel (BIH), Promitheas Patras Vikos Cola (GRE), SL Benfica (POR), Tofas Bursa (TUR), VEF Riga (LAT)
Pot 3: Bnei Penlink Herzliya (ISR), Cholet Basket (FRA), FIT/One Würzburg Baskets (GER), Legia Warszawa (POL), Le Mans Sarthe Basket (FRA), Mersin Sports Club (TUR), NHSZ-Szolnoki Olajbanyasz (HUN), Sabah BC (AZE)
Pot 4: Karditsa Iaponiki (GRE), KK Spartak Office Shoes (SRB), MLP Academics Heidelberg (GER), Pallacanestro Trieste (ITA), Trapani Shark (ITA), QRT Winner 1, QRT Winner 2, QRT Winner 3
Play-In series and Round of 16 groups
There will be no additional draw for the Play-Ins and the Round of 16.
The second- and third-placed teams in adjacent Regular Season groups will face each other in best-of-three Play-In series (A2 v B3, B2 v A3; C2 v D3, D2 v C3; E2 v F3, F2 v E3; G2 v H3, H2 v G3), and the winners of each pairing will feed into a predetermined Round of 16 group:
Group I: A1, E1, C2/D3, G2/H3 Group J: B1, F1, D2/C3, H2/G3 Group K: C1, G1, B2/A3, E2/F3 Group L: D1, H1, A2/B3, F2/E3
Draw restrictions: Country protection applies to the Regular Season stage of the Draw, meaning that clubs cannot be drawn in the same group with another club from their country.
The 2024-25 Regular Season will get underway on October 7, 2025.