FIBA Europe Cup – stronger than ever next season

This is a fact, without any doubt. FIBA Europe Cup will have better teams involved in the 2020-2021 season. The reason is simple and it’s based on a chain of circumstances. First of all, Covid-19 affected the budget of many teams and that’s the reason why many important clubs, like Darussafaka, Rytas Vilnius, Bilbao Basket and Fortitudo Bologna decided to join BasketballCL, where they can have better results than in Eurocup with less money invested. Galatasaray could be as well on that list, while teams like Cedevita or Buducnost were invited to think about choosing Basketball Champions League for the next season.

In the same time, BasketballCL rules are asking teams to put on the players’ list for any game at least 5 homegrown fellows. This measure is orienting the clubs to invest more in local players and not to spend huge money on too many foreigners. I find it a good rule because this way the competition could reach a balance since no team can have 12 foreigners like in the Euroleague.

So, many teams are migrating from Eurocup to Champions League and this is good as well for Fiba Europe Cup. Why? Because it’s sure that many clubs will come from BasketballCL to Fiba Europe Cup since the first competition organized by FIBA is having now more teams involved in the fight for those 32 spots of the regular season groups. If let’s say 10 new strong teams will be newcomers in BasketballCL, then 10 teams that played there in the last seasons have to make room and leave the competition. Where they can go? In Eurocup? Not a good option, for many reasons, including money. So, a couple of them will come in the Fiba Europe Cup, making the competition stronger than ever. Imagine 6 more teams like Pinar Karsiyaka fighting for the title. It will raise a lot the level of the competition and the fans will be the first to be happy for that.

Image: FIBA Europe Cup

Gratian Cormos

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