By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
During the presentation of the Basketball Champions League Final Four 2025 powered by Sunel, the BCL CEO, Patrick Comninos, updated the plans for a new structure in European club continental competitions.
“We continue to work on the framework set almost ten years ago when the league launched,” he replied to a question about the involvement of the NBA during a press conference held in Sunel Arena on Friday.
“We had three main objectives,” Comninos recalled launching the Champions League back in the 2016-17 season, “First, sporting values, which have been displayed by all participants competing through domestic leagues over these nine years. For FIBA, supporting domestic leagues is part of our DNA. Secondly, to be open to all teams. We have indeed succeeded in welcoming teams from various locations. These nine years, we had 126 teams from 39 different countries. That confirms our approach. The third was to engage in restructuring the ecosystem of European basketball. This has been achieved. As the BCL, we are talking, representing FIBA, with the NBA, the Euroleague, and any other involved parties about a different way to organize continental competitions.”
Additional talks and possible developments on the future of European basketball are expected during the championship-crowning tournament of the ninth edition of the top-tier club continental competition of FIBA Europe.
The Final Four will be played in Sunel Arena between May 9 and 11. Host AEK taking on defending champion Unicaja and La Laguna Tenerife against Galatasaray shape the Semifinals schedule.