BEIRUT (Lebanon) - The FIBA Regional Office-Asia on Monday, May 26, has confirmed the participation of Shabab Al Ahli to the Basketball Champions League Asia (BCL Asia) 2025 in Dubai on June 7-13.
The UAE Basketball League outfit qualified by virtue of hosts, marking their second straight appearance in the continent's most prestigious club competition after hosting its inaugural edition last year.
There, they managed to go all the way to the Final before settling for a silver medal, the highest finish by any Emirati team in the tournament formerly known as the FIBA Asia Champions Cup.
Now, Shabab Al Ahli are heading into BCL Asia 2025 as the Gulf League champions of the 2024-25 FIBA West Asia Super League, where they also finished fourth in the recently concluded Final 8 in Lebanon.
Their entry has widened the field to nine teams.
The teams will be divided into three groups of three, with the top eight teams qualifying for the knockout Quarter-Finals, The pairings will then be determined through a draw, to be held after the last Group Phase game.
The cumulative ranking between the three groups, established according to the FIBA Official Basketball Rules - Chapter D - Classification of Teams, will be used to determine the teams in different pots.
The qualified teams shall be divided into four pots, with the top two teams to comprise Pot D. The 3rd and 4th teams will be in Pot E, while the 5th and 6th teams will be in Pot F. Pot G will have the no. 7 and 8 teams.
The teams from Pot D will be drawn against the teams from Pot G, and the teams from Pot E will be drawn against the Pot F teams. Teams from the same pool in the Group Phase cannot be drawn against each other.
The four winners of the Quarter-Finals will then advance to the Semi-Finals. The Semi-Finals victors will then advance to the one-game Final, while the losing sides will play in the Third-Place Game.
The champion team by the end of the tournament will also earn the right to represent Asia in the FIBA Intercontinental Cup 2025 in Singapore, FIBA's highest club competition.
The Basketball Champions League Asia 2025 is set to be held in Dubai. The Group Phase will be played at the Sheikh Saeed Bin Maktoum Sports Hall, with the Coca-Cola Arena to host the Final Phase.
The draw to determine the groupings will be conducted on May 31 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia at 12:00 local time as the Mongolian capital will be hosting the BCL Asia-East 2025 Final 4 on May 30-31.
FIBA