By Evaggelos Papadimitriou/ info@eurohoops.net
Romania’s U-BT Cluj-Napoca became the latest example of a European minor league domestic champion shining in the Basketball Champions League. Six years since the launching of FIBA’s European club continental competition, eleven countries have been represented in the stage of Quarterfinals.
Best-of-three series resurfaced in the 2021-22 campaign to determine the four teams advancing through the Quarterfinals to the Final Four. The top four teams of the season will meet in Bilbao between 6 and 8 May to determine the next champion following the two titles in a row secured by San Pablo Burgos.
Backed by tremendous crowd support, the team located in Cluj-Napoca went up 1-0 against MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg and Baxi Manresa routed Unicaja on Tuesday. Hapoel U-NET Holon welcoming SIG Strasbourg and Lenovo Tenerife taking on Tofas Bursa will wrap up the Game 1 schedule today, Wednesday.
Spain represented by three teams was the case in last season’s Final 8 as well with Tenerife, San Pablo Burgos, and Casademont Zaragoza joined by France’s Strasbourg, Israel’s Hapoel Holon, Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod, Czech Republic’s ERA Nymburk, and Turkey’s Pinar Karsiyaka.
The trend of at least six different countries represented in the Quarterfinals started in 2018-19. That season, teams from eight different countries reached the final eight, Israel, Spain, Russia, Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, and Greece, behind Hapoel Jerusalem, Tenerife, Nizhny Novgorod, Telenet Giants Antwerp, Nanterre 92, Virtus Segafredo Bologna, Brose Bamberg, and AEK. Clubs of five different countries shaped the Quarterfinals of both the inaugural 2016-17 and the second 2017-18 seasons.
Overall, Spain tops the list with 12 representatives in the Quarterfinals. Eight different teams from France have made it that far. Turkey (7), Germany (5), and Israel (4) follow. On the bottom end, Belgium and Romania are the two countries with one single team earning a berth in the Quarterfinals, Antwerp in 2019 and Cluj-Napoca this season.
List of Basketball Champions League participants:
| Season | Countries | Teams |
| 2016/17 | France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Turkey (5) | AS Monaco, Banvit, Dinamo Banco di Sardegna Sassari, LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne, MHP Riesen Ludwigburg, Pinar Karsiyaka, Tenerife, Umana Reyer Venezia |
| 2017/18 | France, Germany, Greece, Spain, Turkey (5) | AEK, AS Monaco, Banvit, medi Bayreuth, MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg, Pinar Karsiyaka, SIG Strasbourg, UCAM Murcia |
| 2018/19 | Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Russia, Spain (8) | AEK, Brose Bamberg, Hapoel Jerusalem, Nanterre 92, Nizhny Novgorod, Tenerife, Telenet Giants Antwerp, Virtus Segafredo Bologna |
| 2019/20 | Czech Republic, France, Greece, Israel, Spain, Turkey (6) | AEK, Casademont Zaragoza, ERA Nymburk, Hapoel Jerusalem, JDA Dijon, San Pablo Burgos, Tenerife, Turk Telekom |
| 2020/21 | Czech Republic, France, Israel, Russia, Spain, Turkey (6) | Casademont Zaragoza, ERA Nymburk, Hapoel Holon, Nizhny Novgorod, Pinar Karsiyaka, San Pablo Burgos, SIG Strasbourg, Tenerife |
| 2021/22 | France, Germany, Israel, Romania, Spain, Turkey (6) | Baxi Manresa, Hapoel Holon, MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg, SIG Strasbourg, Tenerife, Tofas, U-BT Cluj-Napoca, Unicaja |
Photo Credit: Basketball Champions League