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.
2024 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 who did not automatically get into the competition compete in the qualification rounds, of which only three will make it through the main tournament which is made up of a total of 32 teams.
The 2024-25 tournament proper will start on the 1st of October with Spanish side Unicaja Malaga looking to defend their maiden title.
| Basketball Champions League 2024/25 01 Apr @ 09:00 - Win Tournament | ||
|---|---|---|
| Unicaja Malaga | 2.60 | |
| Tenerife | 7.00 | |
| Galatasaray | 8.00 | |
| UCAM Murcia | 10.00 | |
| Tortona | 13.00 | |
BCL Group Draw
Here is the group draw for the 2024-25 Basketball Champions League:
| Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D |
|---|---|---|---|
| FIT/One Würzburg Baskets | Filou Oostende | Kolossos H Hotels | ERA Nymburk |
| Hapoel Netanel Holon | King Szczecin | La Laguna Tenerife | Galatasaray |
| Igokea m:tel | Petkim Spor | Pinar Karşıyaka | Promitheas |
| Nanterre 92 | Unicaja | Saint-Quentin | Rasta Vechta |
| Group E | Group F | Group G | Group H |
|---|---|---|---|
| AEK Betsson | Falco-Vulcano Szombathely | BAXI Manresa | FMP Soccerbet |
| Maccabi Ironi Ramat Gan | Pallacanestro Reggiana | Benfica | Manisa Basket |
| Telekom Baskets Bonn | Rytas | Bertram Derthona Tortona | Peristeri Domino's |
| VEF Rīga | Śląsk Wrocław | Niners Chemnitz | UCAM Murcia |
How often do Favourites win in the Champions League?
Last season was somewhat of a bumper year for favourites at home based on the previous three seasons, to jump from 66% of winning home favourites during the 2022-23 season to 77% during the 2023-24 is quite a significant jump.
Whilst those jump, the favourites on the road drop to a second low over the last five seasons, 67% of road favourites won during the 2022-23 season, however, during the 2023-24 season that number dropped to just 61%.
| Season | Home (W-L) | Road (W-L) | Overall (W-L) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | 151-53 (74.02%) | 48-29 (62.34%) | 199-82 (70.82%) |
| 2020-21 | 79-36 (68.70%) | 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%) |
| Totals | 523-218 (70.58%) | 185-113 (62.08%) | 708-331 (68.14%) |
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 158.7, last season was slightly up and the only season to be over 160 points.
| Season | Total Games | Home Ave | Road Ave | Game Ave |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | 282 | 81.5 | 77.6 | 159.0 |
| 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 | 78.0 | 160.7 |
| Totals | 1041 | 81.0 | 77.8 | 158.7 |
Basketball Champions League Past Winners
Only two 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.
The other team is San Pablo Burgos who are the only team to win back-to-back tournaments having won both the 2019-20 & 2020-21 tournaments.
| Season | Winners | Score | Runners-Up |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 two teams already mentioned for multiple wins are both Spanish and with Unicaja Malaga's success in 2023-24 it means five of the eight tournaments have been won by Spanish teams and on top of that four 3rd placed teams have also been Spanish.
That makes the Spanish by far the most successful supplier in this tournament with twelve 'medal' wins, the next most medals is France on three and they have never won a gold.
| Rank | Club | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Spain | 5 | 3 | 4 | 12 |
| 2nd | Greece | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 3rd | Germany | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 4th | Italy | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 5th | Turkey | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 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 2019-20 season to the conclusion of the 2023-24 season, home and away teams are decided by the matchup.
Andy Powell
Content Editor
Other Basketball Blogs
We are continuing to build our Basketball content here on OLBG, you may be interested in this NBA blog previewing the season which is packed full of statistics to help your betting.
