A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
| 2020–21 Basketball Champions League | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The Trade Union Sport Palace in Nizhny Novgorod hosted the Final Eight | |||||||||||||
| Season | 2020–21 | ||||||||||||
| Dates | 15 September 2020 – 9 May 2021 | ||||||||||||
| Number of teams | 32 (regular season) 44 (all rounds)[1] | ||||||||||||
| Regular season | |||||||||||||
| Season MVP |  Bonzie Colson | ||||||||||||
| Finals | |||||||||||||
| Champions |  San Pablo Burgos (2nd title) | ||||||||||||
| Runners-up |  Pınar Karşıyaka | ||||||||||||
| Third place | Casademont Zaragoza | ||||||||||||
| Fourth place |  SIG Strasbourg | ||||||||||||
| Finals MVP |  Vítor Benite | ||||||||||||
| Awards | |||||||||||||
| Best Coach |  Zoran Lukić | ||||||||||||
| Best Young Player |  Yoan Makoundou | ||||||||||||
| Statistical leaders | |||||||||||||
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The 2020–21 Basketball Champions League was the 5th season of the Basketball Champions League (BCL), the premier European-wide professional basketball competition for clubs launched and managed by FIBA. The season began on 15 September 2020 and ended on 9 May 2021. It featured 12 domestic champions while four wild cards were allocated for first time.
San Pablo Burgos won its second consecutive championship, after defeating Pınar Karşıyaka in the final in Nizhny Novgorod. As champions, they qualified for the 2022 FIBA Intercontinental Cup.
Teams
Team allocation
44 teams played in the 2020–21 Basketball Champions League (28 teams directly qualify for the group competition, while 16 teams play 2 qualifying rounds for the remaining 4 places in the group stage).[1]
- Abd: Abandoned season because of the COVID-19 pandemic
- 1st, 2nd, etc.: Place in the domestic competition
- CLR: Teams qualified based on their Basketball Champions League rankings
- WC: Wild card
- Notes
- ^ France (FRA): The LNB ruled the 2019–20 Pro A season void without a classification. As a result, the BCL ruled that teams from France were selected on their BCL club rankings. JDA Dijon and SIG Strasbourg qualified as such.[3]
- ^ Latvia (LAT): VEF Rīga qualified as the highest-ranked Latvian team of the Latvian–Estonian League, because the Latvian championship did not start due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[4]
Referees
| Referees of the 2020–21 season | ||
|---|---|---|
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Round and draw dates
The schedule of the competition was as follows.[5] On December 3, the Basketball Champions League Board has approved a change of format for the 2020-21 Play-Offs and Finals.[6]
| Phase | Round | Draw date | Round date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifying rounds | First qualifying round (Semifinals) | 15 July 2020 | 22–23 September 2020 | |
| Second qualifying round (Finals) | 24–25 September 2020 | |||
| Regular season | Round 1 | Groups A–D | 20–21 October 2020 | |
| Groups E–H | 27–28 October 2020 | |||
| Round 2 | Groups A–D | 3–4 November 2020 | ||
| Groups E–H | 10–11 November 2020 | |||
| Round 3 | Groups A–D | 17–18 November 2020 | ||
| Groups E–H | 8–9 December 2020 | |||
| Round 4 | Groups A–D | 15–16 December 2020 | ||
| Groups E–H | 22–23 December 2020 | |||
| Round 5 | Groups A–D | 5–6 January 2021 | ||
| Groups E–H | 12–13 January 2021 | |||
| Round 6 | Groups A–D | 19–20 January 2021 | ||
| Groups E–H | 26–27 January 2021 | |||
| Play-offs | Round 1 | 2 February 2021 | 2–3 March 2021 | |
| Round 2 | 9–10 March 2021 | |||
| Round 3 | 16–17 March 2021 | |||
| Round 4 | 23–24 March 2021 | |||
| Round 5 | 30–31 March 2021 | |||
| Round 6 | 6–7 April 2021 | |||
| Final Eight | Quarterfinals | 16 April 2021 | 6–7 May 2021 | |
| Semifinals | 8 May 2021 | |||
| Final | 9 May 2021 | |||
Qualifying rounds
Draw
The 16 teams that entered in the first round were divided into four pots based firstly on the competition's club ranking and, for clubs that have not yet participated in the competition, on the country ranking.
For the first qualification round (QR1), teams from Pot 3 were drawn against teams from Pot 2, and teams from Pot 4 faced teams from Pot 1. Clubs from Pot 1 and 2 were seeded, and played the second leg at home. Games were played on September 15–18. The eight winners then qualified for the second qualification round (QR2).
For the second round (QR2), the winners of Pot 3 and Pot 2 faced the winners of Pot 4 and Pot 1. The winners from Pot 4 and Pot 1 were seeded, and played the second leg at home. Games were played on September 22–25. The four winners then qualified for the 2020–21 Basketball Champions League regular reason and joined the 28 directly qualified teams in the main draw.
Change of Qualifying format
On August 25, 2020, it was announced, in order to protect the health and guarantee the safety of players, coaches and officials, but also to safeguard a fair competition, and to properly organize game operations, the decision has been taken to modify the competition system from home-away games, to a tournament format, with single games for each Qualification Round.[7]
Four tournaments took place, each consisting of two semifinals games and of one final game, where the semifinals were played as the BCL qualification round 1 and the final as the BCL qualification round 2. These Qualification tournaments took place in two different locations:
- Group A and B: Tassos Papadopoulos Eleftheria Indoor Hall at Nicosia, Cyprus.
- Group C and D: Arena Botevgrad at Botevgrad, Bulgaria.