By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
While speaking to the Lithuanian press before the game of Zalgiris Kaunas versus Bayern Munich, EuroLeague CEO Jordi Bertomeu clarified that it’s not possible anymore to have five teams from the same country in the EuroLeague, in this case, five teams of Spain if Valencia or Andorra win the 7Days EuroCup.
Bertomeu explained why there were five Spanish teams competing in the EuroLeague during last season and why this can’t be repeated: “As an exception, we had five Spanish teams in the Euroleague 2017-18, which was a consequence of the fact that in the previous year, we went down from 24 clubs to 16. It was a kind of compensation, but it was an exception. According to the rules, the maximum number of teams in a country will be four. If a Spanish team wins the Eurocup, that means that no Spanish team will qualify via the ACB for the Euroleague. The EuroCup champion has priority over the hypothetical champion of the ACB. So there can’t be five Spanish teams competing in next season’s competition”.
If a Spanish team wins the EuroCup, the spot which was allocated to ACB will turn into a wildcard. Here’s the full press conference.