FIBA Basketball Champions League: path to final plotted

The final round of the FIBA Basketball Champions League closed last week and we have been looking ahead to the Play-Offs. Knockout hoops will commence in the competition on March 6 and today the draw was held to determine who will meet who in the next round.

During an event at the House of Basketball in Mie, Switzerland, the FIBA Basketball Champions League Play-Offs pairings were drawn by the sport’s governing body. During the Wednesday draw, the following ties were made.

The draw started with the teams to compete the Round of 16:

PAOK (GRE) v Pinar Karsiyaka (TUR)
Nanterre 92 (FRA) v Banvit (TUR)
AEK (GRE) v CEZ Nymburk (CZE)
EWE Baskets Oldenburg (GER) v MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg (GER)
Stelmet Enea Zielona Gora (POL) v AS Monaco (FRA)
medi Bayreuth (GER) v Besiktas Sompo Japan (TUR)
UCAM Murcia (ESP) v Iberostar Tenerife (ESP)
Neptunas Klaipeda (LTU) v SIG Strasbourg (FRA)

These games will be played over two rounds (March 6/7 and 13/14) and will be a head-to-head tie with a home and away leg. The teams with the highest aggregate score from each tie will progress to the quarter-finals. Clubs that finished 1st and 2nd in the groups during the Regular Season have been seeded and will have the advantage of hosting the second leg at home. The teams having finished 3rd and 4th of their Regular Season group are unseeded and will play the first leg of the Round of 16 at home.

On Wednesday, the draw for the other rounds was also made. The Quarter-Finals of the FIBA Basketball Champions League will be played over March 27/28 and April 3/4 and will follow the same head-to-head format as the Round of 16.

The pairings 5-8 (Pot 4 vs Pot 1) are seeded and will play the second leg of the Quarter-Finals at home. The pairings 1-4 (Pot 3 vs Pot 2) are unseeded and will play the first leg of the Quarter-Finals at home.

The Quarter-Final pairings are as follows:

• Winner of Nanterre 92/Banvit v Winner of Stelmet Enea Zielona Gora/AS Monaco
• Winner of PAOK/Pinar Karsiyaka v Winner of UCAM Murcia/Iberostar Tenerife
• Winner of AEK/CEZ Nymburk v Winner of Neptunas Klaipeda/SIG Strasbourg
• Winner of EWE Baskets Oldenburg/MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg v Winner of medi Bayreuth/Besiktas Sompo Japan

The Final Four will be played on May 4-6 amongst the four clubs that progress from the Quarter-Finals. FIBA will announce the location of the Final Four after the Quarter-Finals are decided.