The country ranking based on the country coefficients is used to determine the number of clubs from each national federation that enters various stages of the BCL:[2]
All countries, if they entered, each have at least one team qualify.[citation needed]
The winners of the 2023–24 Basketball Champions League are given an additional entry if they do not qualify for the 2024–25 Basketball Champions League through their domestic league.[3]
The organiser may grant access to the League through the attribution of up to 4 invitations (wild cards) to the Regular Season or to the Qualification Rounds.[3]
If one or more clubs do not use their right to participate in the Basketball Champions League, the organiser may decide to allocate the respective place(s) to other clubs of the same or other National Federations.[3]
For the 2024–25 Basketball Champions League, the countries are allocated places according to their 2024 country coefficients, which takes into account their performance from 2021–22 to 2023–24.
National Federations ranking for 2024–25 Basketball Champions League
Netherlands (NED):ZZ Leiden would have qualified as the winners of the 2023-24 BNXT Dutch Playoffs, but withdrew from applying because their arena did not meet FIBA Europe's capacity standards.[8] As a result, the spot was given to Heroes Den Bosch, second in the national league.
A total of 54 officials is set to work on the 2024–25 season in Basketball Champions League:[9] After the 2023-24 season, five referees left the squad, two were added.
The draw for the qualifying rounds was held made on 26 June 2024 at the Patrick Baumann House in Mies, Switzerland.[10][11]
The 24 teams will face in four qualifying round tournaments, two of which belong to the Champions Path, which contains the domestic league champions, and the other two to the League Path, which contains the rest of the teams that vie for qualify to the regular season. In each path, teams were seeded into the six pots ordered by the club ranking and by the country ranking for clubs that have not yet participated in the competition. Teams from pot 1 and pot 2 were drawn directly into the semi-finals of the tournaments, while the teams in the other four pots will enter the tournament from the quarter-finals. The four winners of the finals will then qualify for the regular season and join the 28 directly qualified teams in the main draw. The rest of the teams will qualify, if they apply, to the FIBA Europe Cup.
The 28 teams that entered in the regular season directly were divided into four pots based firstly on the club ranking and, for clubs that have not yet participated in the (Regular season of) competition, on the three-year country ranking. The country protection rule will apply for the stage of the draw. Clubs cannot be drawn in groups with other clubs from the same country.[10]
The 28 teams will play against each other in a group phase of eight groups with four teams. The first placed team of each group will directly join the Round of 16. The second and third placed teams will play in the Play Ins. The winner of each Play In match will join the Round of 16. Play Ins will be played in a Best of 3 format. In the Round of 16 the teams will be split in four groups of four teams. Each team plays against each other team in the Round of 16. The two first placed teams of each group will qualify for the Quarterfinals. The Quarterfinals will be played in a Best of 3 format. The winner of each Quarterfinal will be allowed to take place in the Basketball Champions League Final Four in May 2025.[11]
^ abcdeCompetition Regulations 2024-25(PDF). FIBA. 31 May 2024. p. 5. Retrieved 19 June 2024. The Organiser may grant access to the BCL through the attribution of up to four (4) invitations to the Regular Season or to the Qualification Rounds.