BEIRUT (Lebanon) - Teams competing in the FIBA West Asia Super League (WASL) have another source of motivation to put their best efforts in each game aside from claiming bragging rights over the region.

That will be qualifying for the opportunity to win the Basketball Champions League Asia (BCL Asia).

Only two tickets to BCL Asia are allocated for FIBA WASL teams. So, how can these tickets be booked by the teams?

Obviously easier said than done, the FIBA WASL teams will have to become finalists of the rising pan-regional event, which is just in its second season, to be able to make it to the continent's most prestigious club competition.

First, the FIBA WASL teams will have to finish at least third in their respective Sub-Zone Leagues to assure themselves a spot in the Final 8, the league's culminating event. Therefore, making the Final and winning the Sub-Zone will still be the main target for all of the teams... but the battle for Third-Place will be just as important.

The Final 8 will be an entirely different level of competition as eight clubs consisting of champions, runners-up, and third-placers of the Gulf and West Asia sub-zones, in addition to domestic league champions from the South and Central Asia, will be the ones battling for supremacy.

Reaching the title game of the FIBA WASL Final 8 will then guarantee the Finalists spots in BCL Asia, where champion teams from Japan (B.League), Korea (KBL), China (CBA League), the Philippines (PBA), and the two best sides from the BCL Asia Qualifiers await them.

However, in the event that two teams from the same country reach the FIBA WASL Final, only the winner will earn their ticket to BCL Asia. The other ticket, meanwhile, will go to the winner of the Third-Place Game.

In the ongoing FIBA WASL Season 2, eight clubs still have their chances of making it to BCL Asia alive as the league is about to head into the Sub-Zone Semi-Finals.

Reigning FIBA WASL champions Manama will be taking on Muharraq while defending Gulf League winners Kuwait Club are set to face Kazma in the Semis.

The repeat-seeking Al Riyadi, on the other hand, will face fierce rivals Sagesse in the West Asia Semis, which will also see Shahrdari Gorgan take on Al Shorta on the other side of bracket.

It would be interesting to see which among these teams can make it to the BCL Asia inaugurals - and help usher in a new era of club competition in the continent.

FIBA