2020–21 Basketball Champions League

The 2020–21 Basketball Champions League was the 5th season of the Basketball Champions League (BCL), the premier^{[citation needed]} European-wide professional basketball competition for clubs launched and managed by FIBA. The season began on 15 September 2020 and ended on 9 May 2021. It featured 12 domestic champions while four wild cards were allocated for first time.

2020–21 Basketball Champions League
The Trade Union Sport Palace in Nizhny Novgorod hosted the Final Eight
Season	2020–21
Dates	15 September 2020 – 9 May 2021
Teams	32 (regular season) 44 (all rounds)[1]
Regular season
Season MVP	Bonzie Colson
Finals
Champions	San Pablo Burgos (2nd title)
Runners-up	Pınar Karşıyaka
Third place	Casademont Zaragoza
Fourth place	SIG Strasbourg
Finals MVP	Vítor Benite
Awards
Best Coach	Zoran Lukić
Best Young Player	Yoan Makoundou
Statistical leaders
Points Bonzie Colson 18.2 Rebounds Michale Kyser 7.8 Assists Marco Spissu 6.9 Index Rating Raymar Morgan 20.6

San Pablo Burgos won its second consecutive championship, after defeating Pınar Karşıyaka in the final in Nizhny Novgorod. As champions, they qualified for the 2022 FIBA Intercontinental Cup.

Teams

Team allocation

44 teams played in the 2020–21 Basketball Champions League (28 teams directly qualify for the group competition, while 16 teams play 2 qualifying rounds for the remaining 4 places in the group stage).^[1]

• Abd: Abandoned season because of the COVID-19 pandemic
• 1st, 2nd, etc.: Place in the domestic competition
• CLR: Teams qualified based on their Basketball Champions League rankings
• WC: Wild card

Qualified teams for 2020–21 Basketball Champions League (by entry round)^[2]

Regular season
Pınar Karşıyaka (Abd-2nd)	Cholet (Abd-6th)	Happy Casa Brindisi (Abd-5th)	ERA Nymburk (Abd-1st)
Galatasaray Doga Sigorta (Abd-3rd)	Limoges CSP (Abd-8th)	Fortitudo Bologna (Abd-8th)WC	Brose Bamberg (5th)
Tofaş (Abd-5th)	San Pablo Burgos (4th)	AEK (Abd-2nd)	Falco Vulcano Szombathely (Abd-1st)
Darüşşafaka Tekfen (Abd-6th)WC	Casademont Zaragoza (6th)	Peristeri (Abd-3rd)	VEF Riga (Abd-1st)[Note LAT]
Türk Telekom (BCL QF)WC	Iberostar Tenerife (7th)	Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem (3rd)	Rytas (Abd-2nd)
JDA Dijon (CLR)[Note FRA]	RETAbet Bilbao (8th)WC	Hapoel Holon (5th)	Start Lublin (Abd-2nd)
SIG Strasbourg (CLR)[Note FRA]	Dinamo Banco di Sardegna Sassari (Abd-2nd)	Filou Oostende (Abd-1st)	Nizhny Novgorod (BCL R16)
Qualifying rounds
Belfius Mons-Hainaut (Abd-2nd)	Keravnos (Abd-1st)	Hapoel Tel Aviv (8th)	Sporting CP (Abd-1st)
Tsmoki-Minsk	Bakken Bears (Abd-1st)	Neptūnas (Abd-4th)	U-BT Cluj-Napoca (Abd-1st)
Igokea (Abd-1st)	London Lions (Abd-2nd)	Donar (Abd-2nd)	Fribourg Olympic (Abd-1st)
Balkan (Abd-1st)	Iraklis (Abd-7th)	Anwil Włocławek (Abd-3rd)	Dnipro (Abd-1st)

Notes

1. ^
   France (FRA): The LNB ruled the 2019–20 Pro A season void without a classification. As a result, the BCL ruled that teams from France were selected on their BCL club rankings. JDA Dijon and SIG Strasbourg qualified as such.^[3]
2. ^
   Latvia (LAT): VEF Rīga qualified as the highest-ranked Latvian team of the Latvian–Estonian League, because the Latvian championship did not start due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[4]

Referees

Referees of the 2020–21 season
Goran Sljivić Andrei Sharapa Geert Jacobs Ademir Zurapović Martin Horozov Ventsislav Velikov Josip Jurčević Martin Vulić Ilias Kounelles Petr Hrůša Ivor Matějek Mihkel Männiste Tanel Suslov Thomas Bissuel Alexandre Deman Nicolas Maestre Valentin Oliot Yohan Rosso Eddie Viator Steve Bittner Carsten Straube Georgios Poursanidis Erez Gurion	Beniamino Attard Lorenzo Baldini Valerio Grigioni Saverio Lanzarini Manuel Mazzoni Tolga Şahin Andris Aunkrogers Mārtiņš Kozlovskis Oskars Lucis Gatis Saliņš Gvidas Gedvilas Tomas Jasevičius Vilius Mačiulaitis Gintaras Mačiulis Gintaras Vitkauskas Zdravko Rutešić Radomir Vojinović Igor Mitrovski Janusz Calik Wojciech Liszka Michał Proc Dariusz Zapolski Paulo Marques	Marius Ciulin Sergei Beliakov Alexey Davydov Aleksandar Glišić Vladimir Jevtović Siniša Prpa Marek Kúkelčík Zdenko Tomašovič Boris Krejić Blaž Zupančič Fernando Calatrava Luis Castillo Antonio Conde Apostolos Kalpakas Kerem Baki Mehmet Karabilecen Can Mavisu Mehmet Şahin Özlem Yalman Yener Yılmaz Zafer Yılmaz Sergiy Zashchuk

Round and draw dates

The schedule of the competition was as follows.^[5] On December 3, the Basketball Champions League Board has approved a change of format for the 2020-21 Play-Offs and Finals.^[6]

Schedule for 2020–21 Basketball Champions League

Phase	Round		Draw date	Round date
Qualifying rounds	First qualifying round (Semifinals)		15 July 2020	22–23 September 2020
	Second qualifying round (Finals)			24–25 September 2020
Regular season	Round 1	Groups A–D		20–21 October 2020
		Groups E–H		27–28 October 2020
	Round 2	Groups A–D		3–4 November 2020
		Groups E–H		10–11 November 2020
	Round 3	Groups A–D		17–18 November 2020
		Groups E–H		8–9 December 2020
	Round 4	Groups A–D		15–16 December 2020
		Groups E–H		22–23 December 2020
	Round 5	Groups A–D		5–6 January 2021
		Groups E–H		12–13 January 2021
	Round 6	Groups A–D		19–20 January 2021
		Groups E–H		26–27 January 2021
Play-offs	Round 1		2 February 2021	2–3 March 2021
	Round 2			9–10 March 2021
	Round 3			16–17 March 2021
	Round 4			23–24 March 2021
	Round 5			30–31 March 2021
	Round 6			6–7 April 2021
Final Eight	Quarterfinals		16 April 2021	6–7 May 2021
	Semifinals			8 May 2021
	Final			9 May 2021

Qualifying rounds

Draw

The 16 teams that entered in the first round were divided into four pots based firstly on the competition's club ranking and, for clubs that have not yet participated in the competition, on the country ranking.

For the first qualification round (QR1), teams from Pot 3 were drawn against teams from Pot 2, and teams from Pot 4 faced teams from Pot 1. Clubs from Pot 1 and 2 were seeded, and played the second leg at home. Games were played on September 15–18. The eight winners then qualified for the second qualification round (QR2).

For the second round (QR2), the winners of Pot 3 and Pot 2 faced the winners of Pot 4 and Pot 1. The winners from Pot 4 and Pot 1 were seeded, and played the second leg at home. Games were played on September 22–25. The four winners then qualified for the 2020–21 Basketball Champions League regular reason and joined the 28 directly qualified teams in the main draw.

Change of Qualifying format

On August 25, 2020, it was announced, in order to protect the health and guarantee the safety of players, coaches and officials, but also to safeguard a fair competition, and to properly organize game operations, the decision has been taken to modify the competition system from home-away games, to a tournament format, with single games for each Qualification Round.^[7]

Four tournaments took place, each consisting of two semifinals games and of one final game, where the semifinals were played as the BCL qualification round 1 and the final as the BCL qualification round 2. These Qualification tournaments took place in two different locations:

• Group A and B: Tassos Papadopoulos Eleftheria Indoor Hall at Nicosia, Cyprus.
• Group C and D: Arena Botevgrad at Botevgrad, Bulgaria.

Draw pots

Pot 1 Team Pts Neptūnas 69 Anwil Włocławek 28 Fribourg Olympic 13 Donar 7

Pot 2 Team Pts Tsmoki-Minsk 6 Bakken Bears 5 U-BT Cluj-Napoca 4 Keravnos 3

Pot 3 Team Pts Balkan 1 Hapoel Tel Aviv 1 Igokea 1* Iraklis 106.42†

Pot 4 Team Pts Belfius Mons-Hainaut 66.83† Dnipro 15.00† Sporting CP 6.00† London Lions 1.00†

* Example of 1 point for Igokea from 2016 to 2017 season means that the FIBA's "last three season points" rule applies to the last (three) BCL seasons of the particular club, not the last three BCL seasons in general.

Results

Qualification Group A

Semifinals were played on 23 September 2020 and Final took place on 25 September 2020 at Tassos Papadopoulos Eleftheria Indoor Hall in Nicosia, Cyprus.

	Semifinals				Final
	23 September
	Anwil Włocławek	69
					25 September
	Belfius Mons-Hainaut	81
					Belfius Mons-Hainaut	71
	23 September
					Bakken Bears	86
	Bakken Bears	91
	Hapoel Tel Aviv	71

Qualification Group B

Semifinals were played on 22 September 2020 and Final took place on 24 September 2020 at Tassos Papadopoulos Eleftheria Indoor Hall in Nicosia, Cyprus.

	Semifinals				Final
	22 September
	Keravnos (OT)	96
					24 September
	Iraklis	94
					Keravnos	60
	22 September
					Donar	57
	Donar	88
	Dnipro	53

Qualification Group C

Semifinals were played on 23 September 2020 and Final took place on 25 September 2020 at Arena Botevgrad in Botevgrad, Bulgaria.

	Semifinals				Final
	23 September
	U-BT Cluj-Napoca	75
					25 September
	Igokea	82
					Igokea	70
	23 September
					Sporting CP	64
	Fribourg Olympic	78
	Sporting CP	84

Qualification Group D

Semifinals were played on 22 September 2020 and Final took place on 24 September 2020 at Arena Botevgrad in Botevgrad, Bulgaria.

	Semifinals				Final
	22 September
	Tsmoki-Minsk	73
					24 September
	Balkan	65
					Tsmoki-Minsk	69
	22 September
					Neptūnas	59
	Neptūnas	77
	London Lions	73

Regular season

Draw

The 28 teams that entered in the regular season directly were divided into seven pots based firstly on the club ranking and, for clubs that have not yet participated in the competition, on the country ranking. Eighth pot is reserved for winners of qualifying rounds.

Initially, teams were divided into groups of eight teams. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, groups were split with the aim to the reduce the number of games and to make easier to play possible postponed matches.

Pot 1 Team Pts AEK 119 Iberostar Tenerife 119 ERA Nymburk 83 Hapoel Jerusalem 79	Pot 2 Team Pts Strasbourg 68 Filou Oostende 64 Nizhny Novgorod 61 Brose Bamberg 60	Pot 3 Team Pts Dinamo Sassari 51 Hapoel Holon 47 JDA Dijon 43 Türk Telekom 36	Pot 4 Team Pts Pınar Karşıyaka 35 Casademont Zaragoza 34 San Pablo Burgos 30 Peristeri 26
Pot 5 Team Pts Falco Szombathely 17 Happy Casa Brindisi 15 VEF Riga 7 RETAbet Bilbao 131.00†	Pot 6 Team Pts Cholet 110.58† Limoges CSP 110.58† Galatasaray 107.50† Tofaş 107.50†	Pot 7 Team Pts Darüşşafaka Tekfen 107.50† Fortitudo Bologna 95.00† Rytas 74.33† Start Lublin 44.67†	Pot 8 Team Bakken Bears Keravnos Igokea Tsmoki-Minsk

Notes

^† Indicates teams with no club points, therefore using the country points as a tiebreaker.

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		TFE	DIN	BAK	GAL
1	Iberostar Tenerife	6	4	2	552	507	+45	10	Advance to Playoffs		—	115–85	98–73	85–72
2	Dinamo Sassari	6	4	2	524	529	−5	10			92–72	—	71–93	93–84
3	Bakken Bears	6	3	3	523	507	+16	9			96–78	84–91	—	96–78
4	Galatasaray	6	1	5	495	551	−56	7			89–104	81–92	91–81	—

Source: Champions League

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		TOF	NYM	JDA	KER
1	Tofaş	6	4	2	529	482	+47	10	Advance to Playoffs		—	93–96	81–87	78–67
2	ERA Nymburk	6	4	2	546	473	+73	10			97–103	—	94–54	96–69
3	JDA Dijon	6	4	2	457	449	+8	10			61–90	85–61	—	91–79
4	Keravnos	6	0	6	402	530	−128	6			74–84	69–102	44–79	—

Source: Champions League

Group C

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		HOL	AEK	CHO	TSM
1	Hapoel Holon	6	4	2	479	455	+24	10	Advance to Playoffs		—	77–71	73–63	69–79
2	AEK	6	4	2	514	492	+22	10			100–96	—	83–81	95–69
3	Cholet	6	2	4	458	468	−10	8			71–89	79–70	—	89–71
4	Tsmoki-Minsk	6	2	4	462	498	−36	8			71–75	90–95	82–75	—

Source: Champions League

Group D

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		ZAR	NIZ	FAL	LUB
1	Casademont Zaragoza	6	5	1	527	504	+23	11	Advance to Playoffs		—	78–75	85–76	94–82
2	Nizhny Novgorod	6	4	2	496	463	+33	10			92–98	—	73–68	78–65
3	Falco Szombathely	6	3	3	493	471	+22	9			94–86	88–93	—	84–75
4	Start Lublin	6	0	6	432	510	−78	6			85–86	66–85	59–83	—

Source: Champions League

Group E

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		SIG	VEF	PER	RYT
1	SIG Strasbourg	6	4	2	492	466	+26	10	Advance to Playoffs		—	101–94	77–57	81–83
2	VEF Rīga	6	4	2	482	457	+25	10			75–77	—	60–57	84–60
3	Peristeri Winmasters	6	2	4	458	462	−4	8			76–79	81–84	—	81–74
4	Rytas	6	2	4	467	514	−47	8			81–77	81–85	88–106	—

Source: Champions League

Group F

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		BRO	KAR	BIL	FOR
1	Brose Bamberg	6	6	0	509	429	+80	12	Advance to Playoffs		—	83–82	90–75	83–68
2	Pınar Karşıyaka	6	4	2	476	441	+35	10			70–76	—	85–76	80–69
3	RETAbet Bilbao	6	2	4	445	451	−6	8			71–77	72–81	—	82–54
4	Fortitudo Bologna	6	0	6	383	492	−109	6			63–100	65–78	64–69	—

Source: Champions League

Group G

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		TTE	IGO	JER	LIM
1	Türk Telekom	6	5	1	487	477	+10	11	Advance to Playoffs		—	94–86	98–94	76–73
2	Igokea	6	3	3	457	470	−13	9			77–66	—	75–73	76–73
3	Hapoel Jerusalem	6	2	4	492	482	+10	8			77–78	84–68[a]	—	81–75
4	Limoges CSP	6	2	4	459	466	−7	8			70–75	80–75	88–83	—

Source: Champions League

1. The rescheduled game was played in Laktaši instead of Jerusalem by agreement between both teams.^[8]

Group H

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		SPB	BRI	OOS	DAR
1	San Pablo Burgos	6	5	1	543	470	+73	11	Advance to Playoffs		—	93–71	88–73	100–70
2	Happy Casa Brindisi	6	4	2	521	508	+13	10			86–90	—	93–81	92–81
3	Filou Oostende	6	2	4	484	517	−33	8			99–98	80–92	—	77–67
4	Darüşşafaka Tekfen	6	1	5	451	504	−53	7			71–74	83–87	79–74	—

Source: Champions League

Playoffs

Sixteen teams advance to the Play-off phase, consisting of a new group format of four groups with four teams each.

A draw determined the new four groups (each group had respectively two teams having finished first and two teams having finished second in their regular season group) that played home and away games over the month of March. No country protection, only group protection was applied during the draw.

Clubs played six games each in a round robin system (three games home, three away), with the first two teams in each group qualifying for a Final 8 tournament that concluded the 2020–21 season. The playoffs started on March 2–3, 2021.^[9]

The draw of this second phase of the competition was conducted on February 2, at the Patrick Baumann House of Basketball.^[10]

Draw

Seeded teams Lenovo Tenerife Tofaş Hapoel Holon Casademont Zaragoza SIG Strasbourg Brose Bamberg Türk Telekom San Pablo Burgos

Non-seeded teams Dinamo Sassari ERA Nymburk AEK Nizhny Novgorod VEF Riga Pınar Karşıyaka Igokea Happy Casa Brindisi

Group I

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		HOL	KAR	BRI	TOF
1	Hapoel Holon	6	4	2	472	483	−11	10	Advance to Final Eight		—	63–72	81–79	71–90
2	Pınar Karşıyaka	6	3	3	491	471	+20	9			76–77	—	107–88	78–70
3	Happy Casa Brindisi	6	3	3	503	501	+2	9			85–87	83–79	—	77–75
4	Tofaş	6	2	4	478	489	−11	8			81–93	90–79	72–91	—

Source: Champions League

Group J

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		TFE	SPB	IGO	VEF
1	Lenovo Tenerife	6	5	1	484	426	+58	11	Advance to Final Eight		—	89–60	80–75	77–64
2	San Pablo Burgos	6	4	2	462	436	+26	10			101–79	—	83–71	76–75
3	Igokea	6	3	3	440	453	−13	9			62–82	77–75[a]	—	64–58
4	VEF Rīga	6	0	6	381	452	−71	6			64–77	45–67	75–91	—

Source: Champions League

1. The rescheduled game was played in Burgos instead of Laktaši by agreement between both teams.^[11]

Group K

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		NIZ	SIG	AEK	TTE
1	Nizhny Novgorod	6	4	2	506	457	+49	10	Advance to Final Eight		—	87–97	88–60	96–82
2	SIG Strasbourg	6	3	3	491	474	+17	9			68–73	—	91–73	91–81
3	AEK	6	3	3	429	468	−39	9			79–78	77–68	—	74–65
4	Türk Telekom	6	2	4	460	487	−27	8			71–84	83–76	78–66	—

Source: Champions League

Group L

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		NYM	ZAR	BRO	DIN
1	ERA Nymburk	6	5	1	532	497	+35	11	Advance to Final Eight		—	98–78	91–87	90–89
2	Casademont Zaragoza	6	4	2	521	522	−1	10			90–71	—	77–65	105–88
3	Brose Bamberg	6	2	4	513	504	+9	8			80–91[a]	117–76	—	92–86
4	Dinamo Sassari	6	1	5	502	545	−43	7			73–91	83–95	83–72	—

Source: Champions League

1. The rescheduled game was played in Laktaši (Bosnia and Herzegovina) instead of Bamberg due to travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic between Germany and Czech Republic.^[12]

Final Eight

Main article: 2021 Basketball Champions League Final Eight

The concluding Final Eight tournament was played in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, between 5 May and 9 May 2021.^[13]

Draw

Pot 1 ERA Nymburk Hapoel Holon Lenovo Tenerife Nizhny Novgorod

Pot 2 Casademont Zaragoza San Pablo Burgos Pınar Karşıyaka SIG Strasbourg

Bracket

	Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Final
	6 May
	Hapoel Holon	77
					7 May
	San Pablo Burgos	86
					San Pablo Burgos	81
	6 May
					SIG Strasbourg	70
	Lenovo Tenerife	86
									9 May
	SIG Strasbourg (OT)	88
									San Pablo Burgos	64
	5 May
									Pınar Karşıyaka	59
	Nizhny Novgorod	78
					7 May
	Casademont Zaragoza	86
					Casademont Zaragoza	79
	5 May
					Pınar Karşıyaka	84			Third place
	ERA Nymburk	73
									9 May
	Pınar Karşıyaka	84
									SIG Strasbourg	77
									Casademont Zaragoza	89

Quarterfinals

The quarterfinals were played on 5–6 May 2021.

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Lenovo Tenerife	86–88 OT	SIG Strasbourg
Hapoel Holon	77–86	San Pablo Burgos
Nizhny Novgorod	78–86	Casademont Zaragoza
ERA Nymburk	73–84	Pınar Karşıyaka

Semifinals

The semifinals were played on 7 May 2021.

Team 1	Score	Team 2
San Pablo Burgos	81–70	SIG Strasbourg
Casademont Zaragoza	79–84	Pınar Karşıyaka

Third place game

The third place game was played on 9 May 2021.

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Casademont Zaragoza	89–77	SIG Strasbourg

Final

Main article: 2021 Basketball Champions League Final

The final was played on 9 May 2021.

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Pınar Karşıyaka	59–64	San Pablo Burgos

Individual awards

Season awards

The annual season awards were announced on 5 May.^[14][15]

Award	Player	Club
Most Valuable Player	Bonzie Colson	SIG Strasbourg
Final Eight MVP	Vítor Benite	San Pablo Burgos
Best Young Player	Yoan Makoundou	Cholet
Best Coach	Zoran Lukić	Nizhny Novgorod

Star Lineup

First Team		Second Team
Player	Team	Player	Team
C.J. Harris	Hapoel Holon	Dylan Ennis	Zaragoza
Kasey Shepherd	Nizhny Novgorod	Darius Thompson	New Basket Brindisi
Bonzie Colson	SIG Strasbourg	Jasiel Rivero	San Pablo Burgos
Raymar Morgan	Karşıyaka	Omar Prewitt	Nymburk
Giorgi Shermadini	Canarias	Michale Kyser	VEF Rīga

MVP of the Month

Month	Player	Club	Ref.
2020
October	Steven Gray	Peristeri	[16]
November	Yanick Moreira	AEK	[17]
December	Kyle Allman Jr.	VEF Rīga	[18]
2021
January	Raymar Morgan	Pınar Karşıyaka	[19]

Play-Offs MVP

Player	Club	Ref.
Kasey Shepherd	Nizhny Novgorod	[20]

See also

• 2020–21 FIBA Europe Cup
• 2020–21 EuroLeague
• 2020–21 EuroCup Basketball