The last season was not able to be completed and the dates for the upcoming season are not set in stone yet, but the teams who applied for continental competition were revealed on Monday. 4 teams will be in the EuroLeague qualifiers to join the 14 teams that have already advanced to the regular season. 6 teams will contest EuroCup qualifiers to join the 30 teams directly playing in the regular season and 2 teams that lose EuroLeague qualifiers. Draws will be conducted on August 17th, but the final format will likely not be decided until next month.
EuroLeague:
Since there are four qualifiers, the matchups were already drawn to fit the regional groups format of EuroCup. Izmit of Turkey will face DVTK of Hungary with the loser joining EuroCup’s Eastern Conference. Sepsi Sfantu Gheorghe looks to provide Romanian representation to the competition, but will face a tough task in avoiding EuroCup’s Western Conference against Girona of Spain.
There are plenty of familiar names in the regular season already. Russian powerhouses Ekaterinburg, Dynamo Kursk, and Nadezhda Orenburg are back. France was also able to secure three direct places with Bourges, Lyon, and Landes. Turkey will need qualifiers to join those two countries with three teams, but Istanbul rivals Fenerbahce and Galatasaray will be there. Avenida of Spain is back in the picture as they and Sopron of Hungary will wait to see if their domestic rivals will join them. Arka Gdynia of Poland, USK Praha of the Czech Republic, Schio of Italy, and Riga of Latvia will be the sole representatives from their countries.
EuroCup:
There will be no need for qualifiers in the Eastern Conference with 15 direct spots awarded and the last place reserved for the team dropping from EuroLeague qualification. There will definitely be a group with multiple Turkish teams as Orman, Kayseri, Elazig, Adana, and Hatay will be participating. There will also be plenty of Hungarian representation with Szekszard, Gyor, and Cegled. Moscow based Spartak and MBA will be the Russian contingent, meaning that teams will not need to plan for some of the long journeys to the east of past seasons. Gorzow of Poland, KP Brno of the Czech Republic, Umea of Sweden, and Elitzur Ramla of Israel will return to the competition and be the only teams from their countries. Prometey joins to give Ukraine a representative.
All the necessary qualifying series will be in the Western Conference and the teams have already been split for draw purposes. Hainaut of France, Clarinos of Spain, and Namur of Belgium will be in a pot while the other will consist Mechelen of Belgium, Winterthur of Switzerland, and Grengewald Hueschtert, which will try to give the competition a representative from Luxembourg.
Reyer Venezia of Italy and Fribourg of Switzerland have direct spots while most of the others will be claimed by the same three countries. Landerneau, Carolo, Roche, and Villeneuve give France the lead in teams in this half right now. Gernika, Valencia, and Sedis are the teams from Spain while Braine, Sint-Katelijne-Waver, and Boom are from Belgium.