BKT EuroCup 2025/2026: the season in which Europe came to a halt between Istanbul, Jerusalem, and one final French-Turkish battle

A competition that does not tolerate empty stories

BKT EuroCup in the 2025/2026 season is not just the second-tier European club competition. It is a league of 20 clubs from 13 countries, stretched across two groups, 18 regular-season rounds, and playoffs in which one bad night erases months of work. The season opened on September 30, 2025, the regular season ended on February 11, 2026, the round of 16 was played on March 10 and 11, the quarterfinals on March 17 and 18, the semifinals are scheduled for March 31, April 3, and April 8, and the final is set for April 22 and 28 and, if necessary, May 1, 2026. EuroCup remains a competition in which the format creates drama. In the groups, a double round-robin is played, everyone against everyone home and away, for a total of 18 rounds. The top six from each group advance, but the reward structure is not the same for everyone: first and second place in each group skip the round of 16 and go straight to the quarterfinals, while third through sixth must survive an additional round. The round of 16 and the quarterfinals are played as single games, with no second chance. Only the semifinals and the final return the series to two and then three games. Translated: the regular season rewards continuity, the playoffs punish every crack.

Who is playing: twenty clubs, two groups, a range of different basketball signatures

In Group A played Hapoel Jerusalem, BAXI Manresa, U-BT Cluj-Napoca, Bahcesehir College Istanbul, Umana Reyer Venice, Aris Thessaloniki, Neptunas Klaipeda, Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana, Veolia Towers Hamburg, and Slask Wroclaw. In Group B played Turk Telekom Ankara, JL Bourg-en-Bresse, ratiopharm Ulm, Besiktas GAIN Istanbul, Buducnost VOLI Podgorica, Panionios Athens, Lietkabelis Panevezys, Dolomiti Energia Trento, NINERS Chemnitz, and London Lions. That is not a decorative list, but a range of styles. Hapoel Jerusalem brought an offense that ground opponents down with rhythm and depth. Besiktas looked like a team that knows when to speed up and when to turn a game into a physical fight. Throughout the season, Bahcesehir maintained rebounding and defensive pressure, Cluj played fast and wide, Bourg sought fluidity and ball movement, and Turk Telekom once again reached the spring as the team nobody likes to see in a single-elimination game.

What the regular season looked like: the top with little mercy

The regular season ended with two group winners at 13-5: Hapoel Jerusalem was first in Group A, and Besiktas was first in Group B. Behind Hapoel came Bahcesehir, Cedevita Olimpija, Reyer Venezia, Manresa, and Cluj-Napoca. In the other group, behind Besiktas finished Bourg, Buducnost, Turk Telekom, Trento, and NINERS Chemnitz. That outcome was no accident. Hapoel Jerusalem was the team's statistical engine of the season: 113.7 team PIR and 96.5 points per game were the best marks among all clubs. Besiktas made the most three-pointers per game among the leaders, 10.8, and finished the regular season as a team that looked almost untouchable at home. Bahcesehir was first in total rebounding with 39.1 rebounds per game, and Cluj first in assists with 22.8 per game. Whoever watched only the standings saw the order; whoever watched the games saw the patterns of victory.

Players who defined the season

If the season must be reduced to a few faces, then Daron Russell cannot be overlooked. The point guard, averaging 19.7 points per game, was the season’s top scorer and the kind of guard who can break a game open out of nothing, without a long possession setup. Jared Harper, with 18.6 points and 22.7 PIR, remained among the deadliest offensive players in the competition, while Ante Zizic, with the same average PIR, established himself as the central figure of Besiktas’s inside game. Arnas Velicka was the competition’s top assist man with 7.7 assists per game, Austin Wiley the best rebounder with 9.3 rebounds, Dogus Ozdemiroglu the top ball thief with 2.1 steals, and Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu the best shot blocker with 1.8 blocks. These are not just nice columns in a table. They are profiles that reveal how games are won in the EuroCup: some break games open with shooting, others with paint control, others with pressure on the ball, and others with the rhythm of passing.

Up to April 7, 2026: one finalist known, the other spot still burning

On the date of April 7, 2026, EuroCup still does not have a complete final pairing, but one finalist is already known. Besiktas reached the final over city rival Bahcesehir, and did so convincingly: 91-72 in the first game and 82-72 in the second. It was not a qualification based on experience, but on control. In that series, Besiktas looked deeper, tougher, and calmer, a team that knows how to recognize the moment when the opponent must be squeezed to the very end. The other semifinal story is not over yet. Turk Telekom opened the series in Bourg-en-Bresse with a brutal 99-71 win, but Bourg answered in Ankara and took the second game 76-73. That means that on April 8 a deciding game follows in France, a match that determines the second traveler to the final. That schedule gives this season exactly what EuroCup often has in April: the feeling that several months of work are ultimately decided in forty minutes and in two or three possessions.

Arenas and cities: the basketball atlas of the season

This season was played across a wide geographical arc, from Las Palmas and Ljubljana to Jerusalem, Ankara, and Podgorica. Some arenas carry a great European story even when no final is played in them, and some are smaller, but in the EuroCup they produce an almost laboratory-like tension because the crowd sits practically on the court.

• Sinan Erdem Sports Hall, Istanbul – around 16,000 seats; one of the biggest stages of the season and the arena in which Besiktas and Bahcesehir played a semifinal game in front of 12,525 spectators.
• Ankara Spor Salonu / Ankara Arena, Ankara – around 10,400 seats; the home of Turk Telekom and the arena in which the host built rhythm during the season for another spring breakthrough.
• Pais Arena, Jerusalem – around 11,000 seats; Hapoel’s great home theater, the team that finished first in Group A.
• Ekinox, Bourg-en-Bresse – 3,548 seats; a smaller arena, but it is precisely such arenas in the EuroCup that create a dense, almost playoff atmosphere from the opening tip.
• BTarena, Cluj-Napoca – around 10,000 seats; a modern Romanian arena in which Cluj once again pushed a high offensive tempo this season.
• Stozice Arena, Ljubljana – up to 12,480 seats for basketball; the home of Cedevita Olimpija and one of the largest arenas among this season’s participants.
• Moraca, Podgorica – around 6,000 seats; an arena that for years has had the reputation of being one of the toughest regional addresses for away games.
• Gran Canaria Arena, Las Palmas – around 11,500 seats; although Gran Canaria is not among the participants this season, that arena remains an important EuroCup reference because of the 2023 final.

It is precisely the combination of large arenas and dense, noisy smaller-capacity halls that gives the EuroCup its recognizable tone. This is not a competition of one aesthetic. One night you play in front of more than ten thousand people, and the next a compact arena awaits you where every defensive stop is heard like a metallic blow.

A history that cannot be avoided

Today’s EuroCup carries official continuity since 2003, and entering the history of the competition almost always also means entering a higher European class. The last champions before this season were Hapoel Tel Aviv in 2024/2025, Paris Basketball in 2023/2024, Gran Canaria in 2022/2023, and Virtus Bologna in 2021/2022. Last season, Hapoel swept Gran Canaria 2-0 in the final and scored 103 points in the second game, which became the finals record for the most points by one team; in the same game, the record for the most made three-pointers in a final was also broken. If the broader history is considered, Valencia is the competition’s most decorated club with four titles. That is a piece of information that says a lot about the weight of the tournament: winning the EuroCup is not an episode, but an entry into a serious European register. That is why every new season is not read only through who is the best now, but also through the question of who will join that narrow circle of clubs that knew how to endure April and May.

Interesting details that make the season come alive

EuroCup 2025/2026 has already brought several stories that matter beyond the mere result. Besiktas and Bahcesehir turned the semifinals into an Istanbul showdown with crowds of the kind not seen every week in the second European tier. Bourg and Turk Telekom opened their series with a result shock of 99-71 for the Turkish team, only for the French side to answer just three days later and force a decider. That is EuroCup in its pure form: one game makes you the favorite, the next brings you back to zero. In the regular season, result extremes were also recorded that reveal the rhythm of the season. On December 30, Bahcesehir crushed Hamburg 105-68 for the biggest home win of the season, on January 21 Turk Telekom won at Panionios 106-61 for the biggest away win, and the game between Neptunas and Reyer ended 118-103, which is the highest-scoring game of the season. These are numbers that show how wide the EuroCup is: in the same competition there is room both for a tactical brawl in the seventy-point range and for a game that goes far beyond two hundred combined points. Its appeal also lies in that breadth. This is not a competition in which there is only one model of success. You can reach the end with offense like Hapoel, with a home fortress like Besiktas, with rebounding like Bahcesehir, or with well-timed form like Turk Telekom. That is why the 2025/2026 season, up to April 7, left the impression of an open race, even now when one finalist is already known. In that sense, EuroCup remained true to itself: large enough for all of Europe to follow it, harsh enough for only a team that knows how to play both in October and in April to win it.