The first ever draw for the FIBA Europe Cup, the new tournament for the second tier of European club competition in basketball has taken place. Freising in Germany was the location for the draw which took place at Tuesday lunchtime and all of the 56 teams who will take place in the tournament have been placed into their group.
The 56 teams involved with the new tournament contain 17 current domestic champions and a further 13 runners-up in their domestic championships. This teams that other half of the teams in the league have experience at fighting it out for the leading domestic honours, which means that this looks set to be a basketball tournament that provides a high standard of play and excitement to fans.
Excitement is starting to build regarding the new European basketball tournament
FIBA Executive Director, Kamil Novak, got proceedings underway on Tuesday and he spoke at the launch of the FIBA Europe Cup. Novak said;
When naming the competition, the key factors we took into consideration were that the name should be easy to remember, recognisable and representative of FIBA as an organisation. I believe the FIBA Europe Cup achieves our aims and I am excited about this new direction we are taking.
It maybe isn’t the most original name you could expect for a tournament featuring some of the finest basketball teams in Europe but it is definitely a name that helps you understand what the tournament is all about.
There are two conferences, which have been split by geographical factors, and there are seven groups, all of which have four clubs in each group. The teams play each other home and away with the top two ranked teams in each group progressing to the next stage. These teams will be joined by the fourth highest ranked third placed teams, which will enable a Round of 32 to take place.
The Final Four will provide a fitting climax to the tournament
The Round of 32 follows the same format as the Regular Season and then the two leading clubs in each group will make their way to the Last 16 Play-Offs. The ultimate aim of each of team has to be to make it towards the Final Four, which will take place between the 29th of April and the 1st of May in 2016. Only one team from the 56 entrants will lift the FIBA Europe Cup but there looks set to be a great deal of excitement along the way.
The Conferences and Groups are as follows:
| Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D |
|---|---|---|---|
| ASVEL Lyon Villeurbanne | BC Cibona | BC Telenet Oostende | SPM Shoeters Den Bosch |
| Belfius Mons-Hainaut | PO Antwerp Giants | Södertälje Kings | magnofit Güssing Knights |
| Donar Groningen | Sport Lisboa e Benfica | Pallacanestro Varese Spa | Elan Chalon |
| Egis Körmend | Sopron KC | Falco KC Szombathely | KK Zlatorog Lasko |
| Group E | Group F | Group G | |
| STB Le Havre | Bakken Bears | KK KRKA Novo Mesto | |
| Boras Basket | Tayfun Sentjur | ZZ Leiden | |
| FoxTown Cantu | CEZ Basketball Nymburk | Fraport Skyliners | |
| ece Bulls Kapfenberg | Hibernia Basketball | FC do Porto | |
| Group H | Group I | Group J | Group K |
|---|---|---|---|
| BC Kalev/Cramo | PGE Turow Zgorzelec | Türk Telecom Ankara | Energia Targu Jiu |
| BC Enisey | BK Ventspils | KTP-Basket | BC Astana |
| PBC Lukoil Academic | BC Timisoara | Rosa Radom | AEK Larnaca |
| Maccabi Rishon Le Zion | Pieno Zvaigzdes | KK Kumanovo 2009 | BC Sigal Prishtina |
| Group L | Group M | Group N | |
| Tartu Rock | Royal Hali Gaziantep | Tsmoki-Minsk | |
| BC Khimik Yuzhne | BC Siauliai | Kataja Basket | |
| ETHA Engomi | Slask Wroclaw | BC Rilski Sportist | |
| Utenos Juventus | BK Inter Bratislava | MBK Rieker Komarno | |
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