Horse Racing stats man, Andy has contributed to OLBG for 18 years - An Ipswich fan and F1 fanatic, he also contributes EFL football and Motor Sport opinion.
2026 Basketball Champions League Preview
The Basketball Champions League, also known as the FIBA Champions League or the abbreviated BCL, was established in 2016 with the Spanish team Canarias winning the inaugural tournament.
It is the Basketball equivalent of the UEFA Champions League, where the top teams in Europe compete to see who is the best.
Spanish Dominance
56 teams that did not automatically get into the competition compete in the qualification rounds, of which only three will make it through to the main tournament, which is made up of a total of 32 teams.
The 2025-26 tournament proper will start around October time with Spanish side Unicaja Malaga looking to make it three wins on the bounce.
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How often do Favourites win in the Champions League?
The two seasons have been somewhat bumper years for favourites, with both of them exceeding a win rate of over 70% overall. It was 72% in 2023-24 and then 73% in 2024-25; none of the previous three seasons managed that.
The 2023-24 season saw the most number of favourites winning at home with 108 winning and only 34 losing, a 77% win rate, whilst on the road, last season is the only one of the last five to see a win rate of over 70%.
| Season | Home (W-L) | Road (W-L) | Overall (W-L) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-21 | 79-36 (68.7%) | 28-21 (57.14%) | 107-57 (65.24%) |
| 2021-22 | 92-49 (65.25%) | 33-20 (62.26%) | 125-69 (64.43%) |
| 2022-23 | 93-48 (65.96%) | 39-19 (67.24%) | 132-67 (66.33%) |
| 2023-24 | 108-32 (77.14%) | 37-24 (60.66%) | 145-56 (72.14%) |
| 2024-25 | 98-35 (73.68%) | 46-18 (71.88%) | 144-53 (73.10%) |
| Totals | 470-200 (70.15%) | 183-102 (64.21%) | 653-302 (68.38%) |
How many Points are scored in the Champions League?
Below is a table highlighting the Champions League games over the last five seasons and how many points both the hosts and visitors averaged during those seasons, as well as the game average.
The figures don't tend to differ a great deal from season to season; the game average over the last five seasons is 159.3, last season was slightly up, with the last two seasons both seeing over 160 points.
| Season | Total Games | Home Ave | Road Ave | Game Ave |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-21 | 164 | 81.5 | 78.3 | 159.8 |
| 2021-22 | 195 | 79.5 | 77.4 | 156.9 |
| 2022-23 | 199 | 79.6 | 77.7 | 157.3 |
| 2023-24 | 201 | 82.7 | 78 | 160.7 |
| 2024-25 | 197 | 82.5 | 79.3 | 161.8 |
| Totals | 956 | 81.1 | 78.1 | 159.3 |
Basketball Champions League Past Winners
Only three teams have won this tournament more than once: Canarias, who won the first-ever tournament in 2016-17, also went on to win in 2021-22; they have made three finals in total, having been losing finalists in 2018-19.
San Pablo Burgos and Unicaja Malaga both achieved something that Canarias didn't and that was to win back-to-back championships, San Pablo Burgos doing so in 2020 & 2021 whilst Unicaja Malaga did it in 2024 & 2025 and will look to become the first three-time winners in 2026.
| Season | Winners | Score | Runners-Up |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | Unicaja Malaga | 83 - 67 | Galatasaray |
| 2023-24 | Unicaja Malaga | 80 - 75 | Lenovo Tenerife |
| 2022-23 | Baskets Bonn | 77 - 70 | Hapoel Jerusalem |
| 2021-22 | Canarias | 98 - 87 | Manresa |
| 2020-21 | San Pablo Burgos | 64 - 59 | Karşıyaka |
| 2019-20 | San Pablo Burgos | 85 - 74 | AEK |
| 2018-19 | Virtus | 73 - 61 | Canarias |
| 2017-18 | AEK | 100 - 94 | Monaco |
| 2016-17 | Canarias | 63 - 59 | Banvit |
BCL Winners by Country
Those three teams already mentioned for multiple wins are all Spanish, and with Unicaja Malaga's success in 2024-25, it means six of the nine tournaments have been won by Spanish teams; they also make up three runners-up and four third-placed teams.
That makes the Spanish by far the most successful supplier in this tournament with thirteen 'medal' wins, the next most medals are Greece, Turkey and France with three medals, although only Greece out of those have tasted success with gold.
| Rank | Club | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Spain | 6 | 3 | 4 | 13 |
| 2nd | Greece | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 3rd | Germany | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 4th | Italy | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 5th | Turkey | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 6th | France | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 7th | Israel | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 8th | Belgium | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Author Information
Andy Powell manages this Basketball Champions League Preview and other basketball content in this section of the site, as well as the Basketball Tipsters in the OLBG tipster competition, in his role in the OLBG Expert Team. Andy meticulously updates the data and results for these pieces. You can get Basketball betting advice in our bookmaker reviews as well as in our Best Basketball Betting Sites Guide.
**Statistics included in this blog include all matches (Qualification, Group & Playoffs) from the start of the 2020-21 season to the conclusion of the 2024-25 season. The home and away teams are decided by the matchup.
Andy Powell
Content Editor
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