By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Paris Basketball won the EuroCup and history was made on more than one front. For the first time, the EuroLeague will have three teams playing in the French Betclic Elite championship in the 2024-25 season.
Paris will push one of the clubs of the 2023-24 season out of the league for at least one season, with Valencia almost accepting its fate and preparing for the EuroCup. The other main candidate to be “relegated” to the EuroCup remains ALBA, however, as it’s already reported, the German club has presented a document signed by the previous management that gives them guarantees for staying in next season’s EuroLeague, an info confirmed by Spanish sources.
What’s certain is that ALBA wants to stay in the EuroLeague, while Valencia has fewer arguments and seems ready to spend a season in the EuroCup. Their goal will be to return to the EuroLeague for the 2025-26 season by winning the EuroCup and maybe even host the Final Four in the new, state-of-the-art Roig Arena, which is expected to be operational until the end of 2024.
The A licenses
The teams that have long-term contracts with the EuroLeague are Real Madrid, Barcelona, Baskonia (Spain), Anadolu Efes, Fenerbahce (Turkey), Panathinaikos, Olympiacos (Greece), Olimpia Milan (Italy), ASVEL (France), Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel), Zalgiris Kaunas (Lithuania) and Bayern Munich (Germany).
There’s also the license of CSKA Moscow, which remains a EuroLeague shareholder, but is not part of the competition until the sports sanctions in Russia are lifted. So their spot has turned into a wildcard.
Until recently, ALBΑ Βerlin was also considered an A license candidate, however, the majority of the shareholders, per Eurohoops sources, have serious doubts about upgrading ALBA’s status.
The wildcards and EuroCup spots
Monaco made it to the playoffs after qualifying for the EuroLeague from the EuroCup and retains one of the two EuroCup spots, while Paris is getting the second. That was Paris Basketball’s goal since the institution of the team in 2018, they play in the brand new Adidas Arena, so they are ready to go.
That leaves the competition with four wildcards and five clubs interested in them. Those are ALBA Berlin, Valencia, Virtus Bologna, Partizan and Crvena Zvezda.
Virtus Bologna lost their EuroCup status last summer, despite winning the EuroCup trophy in 2022, by not making it to the 2022-23 season playoffs, so their only way of staying in the EuroLeague is getting a wildcard.
The ALBA – Valencia issue has already been analyzed. Valencia at this point is expected to stay out of the EuroLeague for the 2024-25 season, while ALBA, Virtus, Partizan, and Crvena Zvezda are expected to get the four wildcards.
In any case, per EuroLeague rules the winner of the ABA League has priority over the wildcards compared to the other candidates, and as it was evident the last two years, the ideal combination for the EuroLeague is not having only one team from the ABA area, but both Partizan and Crvena Zvezda. If a different team wins the ABA League, things will get complicated, however, this seems unlikely.
The final line-up of the EuroLeague will be confirmed after the end of the season and approved by the shareholders before next season’s draw.