2018–19 Basketball Champions League

The 2018–19 Basketball Champions League was the third season of the Basketball Champions League (BCL), a European-wide professional basketball competition for clubs, that was launched by FIBA. The competition began in September 2018, with the qualifying rounds, and concluded in May 2019. It featured 19 domestic champions including two from France and Italy.

Basketball Champions League
The Sportpaleis in Antwerp hosted the Final Four
Season	2018–19
Dates	20 September 2018 – 5 May 2019
Teams	55
Regular season
Season MVP	Tyrese Rice
Finals
Champions	Segafredo Virtus Bologna (1st title)
Runners-up	Iberostar Tenerife
Third place	Telenet Antwerp Giants
Fourth place	Brose Bamberg
Final Four MVP	Kevin Punter
Statistical leaders
Points Vince Hunter 18.0 Rebounds Babacar Touré 10.1 Assists Kamil Łączyński 7.8 Index Rating Vince Hunter 22.8
Records
Biggest home win	Tenerife 97–38 Opava (30 January 2019)
Highest attendance	17,289 Tenerife 70–54 Antwerp Giants (3 May 2019)

The Final Four was held in the Sportpaleis in Antwerp on 3 and 5 May 2019.

Virtus Bologna won its first BCL championship. As such, the team qualified for the 2020 FIBA Intercontinental Cup.

Eligibility of players

In 2017, FIBA agreed to adopt eligibility rules, forcing the clubs to have at least 5 home-grown players in rosters of 11 or 12 players, or at least four, if the team has got fewer players.

Team allocation

A total of 56 teams (19 of which are champions) from 28 countries will participate in the 2018–19 Basketball Champions League.^[1] On July 11, 2018, Kalev/Cramo was replaced by Z-Mobile Prishtina. On July 12, 2018, Eskişehir announced their withdrawal from the competition, leaving an open spot in group C^[2] that would be occupied by Lietkabelis.^[3]

Teams

League positions after eventual playoffs of the previous season shown in parentheses (TH: Champions League title holders; FEC: FIBA Europe Cup title holders).

Regular season
Le Mans Sarthe (1st)	Promitheas (4th)	Iberostar Tenerife (8th)	Beşiktaş Sompo Japan (5th)
SIG Strasbourg (3rd)	AEKTH (5th)	Montakit Fuenlabrada (9th)	Filou Oostende (1st)
JDA Dijon (5th)	Umana Reyer VeneziaFEC (1st)	Hapoel Holon (2nd)	Ventspils (1st)
MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg (3rd)	Sidigas Avellino (5th)	Hapoel Jerusalem (3rd)	Anwil Włocławek (1st)
Brose Bamberg (4th)	Segafredo Virtus Bologna (9th)	Neptūnas (3rd)	Petrol Olimpija (1st)
Telekom Baskets Bonn (5th)	ČEZ Nymburk (1st)	Lietkabelis (4th)
PAOK (3rd)	Opava (2nd)	Banvit (4th)
Third qualifying round
JIP Pardubice (3rd)	Nanterre 92 (7th)	Sakarya Büyükşehir (8th)
UCAM Murcia (10th)	medi Bayreuth (6th)
First qualifying round
Telenet Giants Antwerp (2nd)	Petrolina AEK Larnaca (1st)	Aris (9th)	Donar (1st)
Spirou (3rd)	Bakken Bears (1st)	Szolnoki Olaj (1st)	Polski Cukier Toruń (3rd)
Avtodor (6th)	Movistar Estudiantes (11th)	Hapoel Tel Aviv (4th)	Porto (2nd)
Nizhny Novgorod (7th)	Karhu (1st)	Red October Cantù (7th)	Oradea (1st)
Tsmoki-Minsk (1st)	Leicester Riders (1st)	Z-Mobile Prishtina (2nd)	Norrköping Dolphins (1st)
Levski Lukoil (1st)	Dinamo Tbilisi (1st)	Šiauliai (5th)	Fribourg Olympic (1st)

Round and draw dates

The schedule of the competition is as follows (all draws are held at the FIBA headquarters in Mies, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise):^[4]

Phase	Round	Draw date	First leg	Second leg
Qualifying rounds	First qualifying round	11 July 2018	20–21 September 2018	22–24 September 2018
	Second qualifying round		25–26 September 2018	27–29 September 2018
	Third qualifying round		1 October 2018	4 October 2018
Regular season	Matchday 1		9–10 October 2018
	Matchday 2		16–17 October 2018
	Matchday 3		23–24 October 2018
	Matchday 4		30–31 October 2018
	Matchday 5		6–7 November 2018
	Matchday 6		13–14 November 2018
	Matchday 7		20-21 November 2018
	Matchday 8		11–12 December 2018
	Matchday 9		18–19 December 2018
	Matchday 10		8–9 January 2019
	Matchday 11		15–16 January 2019
	Matchday 12		22–23 January 2019
	Matchday 13		29–30 January 2019
	Matchday 14		5–6 February 2019
Play-offs	Round of 16	8 February 2019	5–6 March 2019	12–13 March 2019
	Quarter-finals		26–27 March 2019	2–3 April 2019
Final Four	Semi-finals	11 April 2019	3 May 2019
	Final		5 May 2019

Qualifying rounds

The first qualifying rounds were held on 20–21 September and 22–24 September 2018. The second round was held on 25–26 September and 27–29 September 2018. The third round was played on 30 September and 2 October 2018.^[5] The losers of all the rounds entered the 2018–19 FIBA Europe Cup regular season.

Draw

The 24 teams that entered in the first round were divided into four pots. Teams of pot A would play against teams from pot D in games 1 to 6, and pot B teams will face the ones of the pot C.^[6] Teams from pots A and B would play the second leg at home.

In the second round, teams from games 7 to 12 would play the first leg at home.

Pot A Telenet Giants Antwerp Bakken Bears Aris Oradea Avtodor Movistar Estudiantes

Pot B Tsmoki-Minsk Spirou Lukoil Levski Szolnoki Olaj Donar Nizhny Novgorod

Pot C Hapoel Tel Aviv Red October Cantù Z-Mobile Prishtina Šiauliai Polski Cukier Toruń Porto

Pot D Petrolina AEK Larnaca Karhu Dinamo Tbilisi Leicester Riders Norrköping Dolphins Fribourg Olympic

First qualifying round

A total of 24 teams will play in the first qualifying round. The first legs were played on 20 and 21 September, while the second legs were played on 22 and 24 September 2018.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Leicester Riders	161–193	Bakken Bears	77–90	84–103
Fribourg Olympic	167–165	Avtodor	89–89	78–76
Petrolina AEK Larnaca	128–159	Telenet Giants Antwerp	74–83	54–76
Dinamo Tbilisi	118–182	Aris	64–90	54–92
Norrköping Dolphins	133–143	Movistar Estudiantes	62–74	71–69
Karhu	167–158	Oradea	87–84	80–74
Red October Cantù	159–139	Szolnoki Olaj	69–68	90–71
Hapoel Tel Aviv	135–146	Spirou	76–73	59–73
Šiauliai	144–170	Lukoil Levski	79–91	65–79
Polski Cukier Toruń	160–151	Tsmoki-Minsk	87–61	73–90
Porto	134–178	Nizhny Novgorod	85–86	49–92
Z-Mobile Prishtina	139–144	Donar	84–64	55–80

Second qualifying round

The twelve winners of the first qualifying round will play the second round. The first legs were played on 25 and 26 September, while the second legs were played on 27 and 29 September 2018.

After the retirement of Eskişehir, the winner of the series between Red October Cantù and Telenet Giants Antwerp joined directly the regular season.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Red October Cantù	170–184	Telenet Giants Antwerp	76–84	94–100
Polski Cukier Toruń	144–137	Movistar Estudiantes	60–68	84–69
Lukoil Levski	167–181	Karhu	88–93	79–88
Spirou	133–130	Bakken Bears	59–61	74–69
Nizhny Novgorod	125–116	Aris	63–65	62–51
Donar	144–151	Fribourg Olympic	67–72	77–79

Third qualifying round

After the retirement of Eskişehir, a total of 10 teams will play in the third qualifying round: five teams which enter in this round, and five of the six winners of the second qualifying round. Winners of game 13 will directly qualify to the regular season without playing this round. The first legs were played on 1 October, while the second legs were played on 4 October 2018.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Fribourg Olympic	163–137	Sakarya Büyükşehir	87–85	76–52
Karhu	112–182	Nanterre 92	54–91	58–91
Spirou	144–149	UCAM Murcia	62–71	82–78
Nizhny Novgorod	177–141	JIP Pardubice	92–84	85–57
Polski Cukier Toruń	146–159	medi Bayreuth	73–73	73–86

Regular season

Antwerp

Oostende

Nymburk

Opava

Dijon

Le Mans

Nanterre

Strasbourg

Bamberg

Bayreuth

Bonn

Ludwigsburg

AEK

PAOK

Promitheas

Holon

Jerusalem

Avellino

Reyer

Virtus

Ventspils

Lietkabelis

Neptūnas

Włocławek

Nizhny Novgorod

Olimpija

Fuenlabrada

Tenerife
(not on map)

Murcia

Fribourg

Banvit

Beşiktaş

Location of teams of the 2018–19 Basketball Champions League regular season.
Red: Group A; Green: Group B; Blue: Group C; Yellow: Group D.

The 32 teams are drawn into four groups of eight, with the restriction that teams from the same country cannot be drawn against each other. In each group, teams play against each other home-and-away, in a round-robin format. The group winners, runners-up, third-placed teams and fourth-placed teams, advance to the round of 16, while the fifth-placed teams and sixth-placed teams enter the 2018–19 FIBA Europe Cup playoffs.

A total of 32 teams play in the regular season: 26 teams which enter in this stage, and the 6 winners of the third qualifying round. The regular season will start on 9 October 2018 and end 6 February 2019.^[5]

Draw

Teams were divided into two pots according to the club ranking published by the organization. Twelve teams were named seeded teams while the rest would be unseeded teams.^[6]

Seeded teams

AEKTH	MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg
Banvit	Neptūnas
Beşiktaş Sompo Japan	PAOK
Brose Bamberg[a]	Sidigas Avellino
ČEZ Nymburk	SIG Strasbourg
Iberostar Tenerife	Umana Reyer Venezia

1. Despite not participating in previous editions, Brose Bamberg was considered as seeded team as the team played in the 2017–18 EuroLeague.

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		MUR	BAN	NIZ	MSB	AVE	VEN	ANW	LUD
1	UCAM Murcia	14	13	1	1080	945	+135	27	Advance to round of 16		—	86–71	94–90	74–62	72–69	91–85	78–70	73–47
2	Banvit	14	9	5	1149	1073	+76	23			62–63	—	78–60	96–67	96–88	78–63	75–68	89–76
3	Nizhny Novgorod	14	7	7	1117	1077	+40	21			51–72	72–75	—	85–71	93–100	82–73	86–62	74–76
4	Le Mans Sarthe	14	7	7	1057	1066	−9	21			71–80	85–71	89–74	—	74–77	91–76	88–79	64–54
5	Sidigas Avellino	14	7	7	1160	1177	−17	21	Transfer to FIBA Europe Cup		57–63	99–95	71–92	68–81	—	74–88	106–102	82–76
6	Ventspils	14	6	8	1142	1178	−36	20			61–67	86–80	75–80	88–77	106–102	—	78–99	93–92
7	Anwil Włocławek	14	4	10	1103	1164	−61	18			68–87	84–95	82–93	76–64	62–72	84–71	—	74–87
8	MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg	14	3	11	1035	1163	−128	17			81–80	76–88	59–85	68–73	77–96	81–99	85–93	—

Source: Basketball Champions League

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		TFE	VEN	NAN	PAOK	HOL	BONN	FRI	OPA
1	Iberostar Tenerife	14	12	2	1164	945	+219	26	Advance to round of 16		—	78–80	79–68	65–66	84–52	87–68	91–68	97–38
2	Umana Reyer Venezia	14	10	4	1170	1096	+74	24			65–72	—	87–99	69–59	111–104	69–73	72–62	102–81
3	Nanterre 92	14	8	6	1159	1046	+113	22			58–75	80–89	—	79–70	70–82	103–56	96–87	110–64
4	PAOK	14	8	6	1127	1036	+91	22			77–85	77–76	83–82	—	92–77	95–100	92–61	93–43
5	Hapoel Holon	14	7	7	1145	1117	+28	21	Transfer to FIBA Europe Cup		77–88	69–70	62–74	72–68	—	94–74	93–69	88–72
6	Telekom Baskets Bonn	14	6	8	1120	1181	−61	20			92–99	84–94	57–81	94–77	91–83	—	63–70	114–77
7	Fribourg Olympic	14	3	11	1057	1184	−127	17			66–72	86–96	81–92	64–84	90–95	79–83	—	97–79
8	Opava	14	2	12	952	1289	−337	16			70–92	72–90	74–67	69–94	64–97	73–71	76–77	—

Source: Basketball Champions League

Group C

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		AEK	JER	BRO	ANT	LIE	JDA	NYM	FUE
1	AEK	14	12	2	1133	1034	+99	26	Advance to round of 16		—	75–79	93–86	77–76	65–59	80–56	80–76	78–71
2	Hapoel Jerusalem	14	12	2	1265	1093	+172	26			70–83	—	103–89	92–72	81–67	86–72	88–64	91–77
3	Brose Bamberg	14	9	5	1152	1136	+16	23			77–73	85–88	—	82–78	82–77	73–64	78–71	88–89
4	Telenet Giants Antwerp	14	7	7	1120	1099	+21	21			64–71	101–89	76–85	—	70–64	67–63	85–72	102–78
5	Lietkabelis	14	5	9	1073	1107	−34	19	Transfer to FIBA Europe Cup		65–84	70–97	84–67	87–91	—	78–62	97–86	78–67
6	JDA Dijon	14	4	10	1058	1118	−60	18			80–90	83–85	97–101	61–80	99–91	—	74–63	85–87
7	ČEZ Nymburk	14	4	10	1097	1183	−86	18			93–94	80–111	78–84	82–74	78–71	78–89	—	104–87
8	Montakit Fuenlabrada	14	3	11	1082	1210	−128	17			82–90	75–105	65–75	96–84	78–85	59–73	71–72	—

Source: Basketball Champions League

Group D

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		BOL	BJK	NEP	PRO	SIG	OST	BAY	OLI
1	Segafredo Virtus Bologna	14	10	4	1203	1099	+104	24	Advance to round of 16		—	70–71	83–78	98–91	87–81	89–60	74–67	87–84
2	Beşiktaş Sompo Japan	14	9	5	1089	1064	+25	23			90–94	—	77–70	96–74	71–78	80–71	74–90	94–84
3	Neptūnas	14	8	6	1166	1130	+36	22			88–85	78–63	—	82–83	92–83	77–79	83–73	82–74
4	Promitheas	14	8	6	1143	1150	−7	22			85–95	80–72	69–82	—	77–64	84–88	95–83	79–77
5	SIG Strasbourg	14	8	6	1090	1085	+5	22	Transfer to FIBA Europe Cup		83–80	64–69	80–90	83–78	—	61–64	67–63	81–73
6	Filou Oostende	14	7	7	1071	1119	−48	21			77–76	66–73	91–89	84–93	94–100	—	82–62	73–79
7	medi Bayreuth	14	5	9	1084	1092	−8	19			83–93	70–78	102–78	70–75	76–84	87–71	—	82–71
8	Petrol Olimpija	14	1	13	1049	1156	−107	15			61–92	75–81	88–97	76–80	71–81	69–71	67–76	—

Source: Basketball Champions League

Playoffs

Main article: 2018–19 Basketball Champions League playoffs

The playoffs start on 5 March 2019 and end 3 April 2019.^[5]

In the playoffs, teams play against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis, except for the Final Four. In the playoffs draw, the group winners and the runners-up are seeded, and the third-placed teams and the fourth-placed teams are unseeded. The seeded teams are drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. Teams from the same group cannot be drawn against each other.

Bracket

	Round of 16						Quarterfinals						Semifinals						Final
	Nanterre 92	68	62	130
	Beşiktaş Sompo Japan	59	60	119
							Nanterre 92	83	58	141
							Virtus Bologna	75	73	148
	Le Mans Sarthe	74	58	132
	Virtus Bologna	74	81	155
													Virtus Bologna			67
													Brose Bamberg			50
	Brose Bamberg	81	88	169
	Banvit	79	85	164
							Brose Bamberg	71	67	138
							AEK	67	69	136
	PAOK	75	63	138
	AEK	84	62	146
																			Virtus Bologna			73
																			Iberostar Tenerife			61
	Neptūnas	74	64	138
	Hapoel Jerusalem	86	84	170
							Hapoel Jerusalem	75	64	139
							Iberostar Tenerife	73	81	154
	Promitheas	69	57	126
	Iberostar Tenerife	57	79	136
													Iberostar Tenerife			70
													Telenet Antwerp Giants			54			Third place
	Nizhny Novgorod	95	66	161
	Umana Reyer Venezia	72	84	156
							Nizhny Novgorod	68	61	129									Brose Bamberg			58
							Telenet Giants	83	66	149									Telenet Antwerp Giants			72
	Telenet Giants	75	77	152
	UCAM Murcia	67	78	145

Round of 16

The first legs were played on 6–7 March, and the second legs on 13–14 March 2019.^[7]

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Brose Bamberg	169–164	Banvit	81–79	88–85
Nanterre 92	130–119	Beşiktaş Sompo Japan	68–59	62–60
Neptūnas	138–170	Hapoel Jerusalem	74–86	64–84
Nizhny Novgorod	161–156	Umana Reyer Venezia	95–72	66–84
PAOK	138–146	AEK	75–84	63–62
Promitheas	126–136	Iberostar Tenerife	69–57	57–79
Le Mans Sarthe	132–155	Segafredo Virtus Bologna	74–74	58–81
Telenet Giants Antwerp	152–145	UCAM Murcia	75–67	77–78

Quarterfinals

The first legs were played on 27–28 March, and the second legs were played on 3–4 April 2019.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Hapoel Jerusalem	139–154	Iberostar Tenerife	75–73	64–81
Nizhny Novgorod	129–149	Telenet Giants Antwerp	68–83	61–66
Nanterre 92	141–148	Segafredo Virtus Bologna	83–75	58–73
Brose Bamberg	138–136	AEK	71–67	67–69

Final Four

Main article: 2019 Basketball Champions League Final Four

Virtus Bologna celebrating after winning the title in Antwerp

The concluding Final Four tournament will be played on 3–5 May 2019. The drawing of the pairings took place on 10 April 2019. On 5 April, the Sportpaleis in Antwerp, Belgium was announced as the venue of the 2019 Final Four.^[8]

	Semifinals				Final
	3 May
	Segafredo Virtus Bologna	67
					5 May
	Brose Bamberg	50
					Segafredo Virtus Bologna	73
	3 May
					Iberostar Tenerife	61
	Iberostar Tenerife	70
	Telenet Antwerp Giants	54
					Third place game
					5 May
					Brose Bamberg	58
					Telenet Antwerp Giants	72

Awards

Most Valuable Player

Player	Team	Ref.
Tyrese Rice	Brose Bamberg	[9]

Final Four MVP

Player	Team	Ref.
Kevin Punter	Virtus Bologna	[10]

Star Lineup

First team		Second team		Ref.
Players	Teams	Players	Teams
Tyrese Rice	Brose Bamberg	Paris Lee	Telenet Giants Antwerp	[11]
Kevin Punter	Segafredo Virtus Bologna	James Feldeine	Hapoel Jerusalem
Tim Abromaitis	Iberostar Tenerife	Ovie Soko	UCAM Murcia
Vince Hunter	AEK Athens	Amath M'Baye	Segafredo Virtus Bologna
Ismaël Bako	Telenet Giants Antwerp	Colton Iverson	Iberostar Tenerife

All Defensive Team

Player	Team	Ref.
İsmail Ulusoy	Bantiv	[12]
Kendrick Perry	Nizhny Novgorod
Kelvin Martin	Virtus Bologna
Howard Sant-Roos	AEK Athens
Youssoupha Fall	SIG Strasbourg

Best Young Player

Player	Team	Ref.
Tamir Blatt	Hapoel Jerusalem	[11]

Best Coach

Player	Team	Ref.
Roel Moors	Telenet Giants Antwerp	[11]

Game Day MVP

Main article: Basketball Champions League Game Day MVP

After each gameday a selection of five players with the highest efficiency ratings is made by the Basketball Champions League. Afterwards, the official website decides which player is crowned Game Day MVP.

Regular season

Gameday	Player	Team	EFF	Ref.
1	Norris Cole	Sidigas Avellino	28	[13]
2	Austin Daye	Umana Reyer Venezia	33	[14]
3	Norris Cole (2)	Sidigas Avellino	33	[15]
4	Vince Hunter	AEK	39	[16]
5	James Feldeine	Hapoel Jerusalem	39	[17]
6	Julian Gamble	Nanterre 92	34	[18]
7	Linos Chrysikopoulos	PAOK	25	[19]
8	Malcolm Griffin	AEK	34	[20]
9	Paris Lee	Telenet Giants Antwerp	35	[21]
10	Jason Rich	Beşiktaş Sompo Japan	27	[22]
11	Marcos Knight	MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg	39	[23]
12	Vince Hunter (2)	AEK	37	[24]
13	Vince Hunter (3)	AEK	39	[25]
14	Amath M'Baye	Segafredo Virtus Bologna	27	[26]

Round of 16

Player	Team	EFF	Ref.
Tyrese Rice	Brose Bamberg	14 / 28	[27]

Quarterfinals

Player	Team	EFF	Ref.
Tim Abromaitis	Iberostar Tenerife	21 / 26	[28]

Prize money

Based on final position, teams received prize money from the BCL.^[5]

Competition stage	Final position	Prize money (€)
Final	Winners	€1,000,000
	Runners-up	€400,000
Match for third place	Third place	€200,000
	Fourth place	€140,000
Playoffs	Quarterfinalist	€100,000
	Round of 16	€70,000
Regular season		€50,000

Sponsorship

Official partner	Equipment partner
Peak[29]	Molten[30]

See also

• 2018–19 EuroLeague
• 2018–19 EuroCup Basketball
• 2018–19 FIBA Europe Cup