By Stefan Acevski / info@eurohoops.net
JL Bourg has decided to extend their contract with EuroCup for the next 3+2 seasons, thus remaining a part of this competition in the future.
Although they won the EuroCup trophy this season, defeating Besiktas 2-0 in the final, JL Bourg decided that a leap to the EuroLeague level would be too difficult for the club at this time.
After this turn of events, Paris and Monaco are expected to stay in the EuroLeague, as both have applied for wildcards and they need for their EuroLeague Board and the assembly to confim their participation to next season’s competition, or even get a multiyear deal.
Meanwhile, Bourg issued a public statement about their decision.
“For several weeks, JL Bourg had been evaluating the possibility of playing in the EuroLeague for the 2026–2027 season, as EuroCup 2026 champions.
After multiple ambitious seasons punctuated by great sporting moments, the JL reached the top of European basketball with its title of Champion on Tuesday, April 28. Following this, the question of a potential evolution in the Euroleague has prompted many studies. On a structural level of course, but it was also a question of evaluating all the possibilities to try to offer the Bresse public a form of apotheosis in European basketball. However, this ambition could not be achieved at any cost and it was essential not to jeopardize everything the club has built, stone by stone.
After assessing the challenges that this would represent – financial, organisational, and therefore human – a decision was made, in agreement and consultation with the Euroleague Basketball organisation. Subject to the approval of the Board of Directors and the General Assembly of the ECA (Euroleague Commercial Assets), JL Bourg will be part of the EuroCup for the “next 3+2 seasons”, thus recognising the club’s strong commitment and growth ambitions within the European ecosystem.
The choice to continue together on the path of a competition that we will play for the seventh consecutive season next year is a mark of mutual trust, for JL Bourg as well as for Euroleague Basketball. This long-term licence is also a recognition of the work done over many years and the sporting evolution that the club has experienced in recent seasons.
Far from being a renunciation of the club’s sporting ambitions, it is with a reaffirmed ambition – structural and sporting – that JL Bourg is approaching this turning point, and this new dimension of a club holding a long-term licence for the Eurocup.”
Make 
Your Preferred Basketball Source.
Add Eurohoops to Google