By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
With just five days left until the presentation of the Basketball Champions League from FIBA, Euroleague has already finalized their planning for the 16 Euroleague teams of the upcoming 2016-17 season.
As the Euroleague announced on Monday after the meeting with the clubs and the domestic leagues in Barcelona: “The attendees agreed to propose allocation criteria that will see four domestic leagues (Adriatic League, German League, Spanish League and VTB United League) gaining direct, B Licence access to the Turkish Airlines Euroleague, joining the 11 A Licence clubs (Anadolu Efes Istanbul, CSKA Moscow, EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, FC Barcelona Lassa, Fenerbahce Istanbul, Laboral Kutxa Vitoria Gasteiz, Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv, Olympiacos Piraeus, Panathinaikos Athens, Real Madrid and Zalgiris Kaunas) and the Eurocup champion in the competition. Euroleague Basketball also informed the clubs and domestic leagues about the criteria for a potential future expansion of the competition. This structure would commence in the 2016-17 season, with the exception of the Spanish League’s B Licence allocation. For the 2016-17 season only this spot will be filled with a wild card, whilst starting with the 2017-18 season the place will revert to the Spanish League”.
So for next season add to Anadolu Efes Istanbul, CSKA Moscow, EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, FC Barcelona Lassa, Fenerbahce Istanbul, Laboral Kutxa Vitoria Gasteiz, Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv, Olympiacos Piraeus, Panathinaikos Athens, Real Madrid and Zalgiris Kaunas, the champion or finalist of the VTB United League (depending on CSKA Moscow’s results), the Eurocup winner, a wildcard team – with Dogus Darussafaka being a very strong candidate – and the champs of the Adriatic League and the German League.
At the moment neither the Adriatic League or the German League has signed with Euroleague the proposed deal, which is similar with the deal signed with the VTB United League. However this doesn’t change much in the big picture. According to sources close to the talks, there are indications that both the Adriatic and the German league are ready to sign and if they don’t, then Euroleague will add two clubs from those two leagues in its regular season, by speaking directly with the clubs.