By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
On Wednesday a meeting will take place at the FIBA headquarters in Mies, Switzerland between the Federation and representatives of the national leagues. According to the Spanish Mundo Deportivo, the plan for the FIBA Champions League will be revealed, with the final details being set.
The first phase of the FIBA Champions League will be compiled of 32 teams, 24 of them being qualified directly according to their performance in their national leagues. The rest 8 teams will emerge from a preliminary round in which 32 teams will take part. Of these, 28 will arrive according to their results in the leagues. 4 will be invited.
The 32 teams of the first phase of the competition will be divided into Four Groups of eight teams. The first four out of each Group will advance to the playoffs, while the fifth and sixth will go to the second continental tournament of Fiba. The seventh and the eighth will be eliminated.
Two knockout rounds will then take place. But pay attention: The games will be judged in double knockout matches and the total point difference. 8 teams will advance to the quarterfinals from the playoffs phase and then 4 teams to the Final Four.
All teams will be guaranteed to play a minimum of 14 games. The ones that will reach the Final Four, will play 20.
The FIBA Champions League will create a joint venture of which FIBA will hold 50% and the national leagues, the remaining 50%. Two categories will exist within the league. The eight major Leagues (Spain, Turkey, VTB League, Greece, Italy, Germany, France and the ABA Liga) will each have 5% ownership of the tournament. The remaining five (Belgium, Czech Republic, Israel, Lithuania, and Poland) will have 2% each.
This affects the teams that will play in FIBA Champions League. At least 2 teams from the eight “major” Leagues, will play directly to the first phase, and only one from each of the remaining five. That gives us a total of 21 teams.