Basketball Champions League Asia
| Organising body | FIBA Asia |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1981 as Asia Champions Cup 2024 as Champions League Asia |
| First season | 1981 |
| Region | Asia |
| Number of teams | 8 |
| Promotion to | FIBA Intercontinental Cup |
| Current champions | Utsunomiya Brex (1st title) (2025) |
| Most championships | Al Riyadi Sagesse (3 titles each) |
| 2026 Basketball Champions League Asia – East | |
The Basketball Champions League Asia (BCL Asia) is an annual continental club men's basketball competition organised by FIBA Asia. It is the highest level club competition for basketball in Asia and it replaced the FIBA Asia Champions Cup.[1]
In 1981 the FIBA Asia Club Championship was introduced and, the competition was rebranded in 2004 as the FIBA Asia Champions Cup. It lasted until 2019.
In 2024, a new tournament was launched, the Basketball Champions League Asia was launched as the continent's top tier club competition.[2]
History
Earlier iterations (1981–2019)
The Asia Champions Cup was organized by the Asian Basketball Confederation in 1981, when the inaugural tournament was hosted in Hong Kong. The first-ever champions were the Bayi Rockets from China. In 1995, the name of the competition was changed to the ABC Champions Cup. After the ABC became integrated in FIBA in 2004, the competition was rebranded as the FIBA Asia Champions Cup.
In the 1990s, FIBA announced plans to expand the Intercontinental Cup with the teams from the BCL Asia, Basketball Africa League (BAL), NBL, and the NBA, at some point in the future.[3][4]
Al Riyadi Club Beirut and Sagesse from Lebanon are the most successful clubs in the history of the competition, having won three titles each. Clubs from Lebanon and Iran have the most combined titles, with a total of six each.
BCL Asia era (2024–present)
In 2024, it was announced that the tournament will be renamed as the Basketball Champions League Asia, a name in line with other continental competitions in the Americas and Europe.[2] The 2024 edition was the 29th top-tier club competition in Asia following a 5-year hiatus.
In 2025, the BCL Asia qualifying rounds renamed as BCL Asia – East.[5]
In 2026, the top performing East Asia Super League (EASL) teams representing B.League, Korean Basketball League and the Philippine Basketball Association will secure direct qualification to BCL Asia.[6]
The winner of the competition gets a spot in the annual FIBA Intercontinental Cup tournament.
Qualification
As of the 2026 season, teams can qualify for the BCL Asia directly through their national leagues, the East Asia Super League, West Asia Super League or the Basketball Champions League Asia – East (BCL Asia – East).
| Method | Scope | League |
|---|---|---|
| Direct qualification | China | Chinese Basketball Association |
| East Asia Super League | Japan | B.League |
| South Korea | Korean Basketball League | |
| Philippines | Philippine Basketball Association | |
| West Asia Super League | Central, South, West Asia and Gulf | West Asia Super League champion |
| West Asia Super League runner-up | ||
| BCL Asia – East | East and Southeast Asia | BCL Asia – East champion |
| BCL Asia – East runner-up |
Format
The nine teams play in three round-of-robin groups of three, with each playing two games. The top eight teams from overall group phase advance to the final phase, where they play single-elimination games for final classification.[7]
Summary
It includes all top-tier competitions since 1981.
Results
Asian Basketball Club Championship / ABC Champions Cup / FIBA Asia Champions Cup (1981–2019)
Basketball Champions League Asia
| Ed. | Year | Host | Final | Third place game | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Champion | Score | Runner-up | Third | Score | Fourth | |||||
| 1 | 2024 | Dubai |
Al Riyadi |
122–96 | Shabab Al Ahli |
Hiroshima Dragonflies |
81–76 | Shahrdari Gorgan | ||
| 2 | 2025 | Dubai |
Utsunomiya Brex |
94–93 | Al Riyadi |
Ulaanbaatar Xac Broncos |
84–79 | Shabab Al Ahli | ||
- Notes
- ^ The championship game were called off due to security issues in Beirut. Therefore, the finalist Al-Riyadi and Mahram Tehran were declared as co-runners-up.
Records and statistics
It includes all top-tier competitions since 1981.
| Club | Titles | Runners-up | Years won | Years runners-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Al Riyadi | 3 | 4 | 2011, 2017, 2024 | 2012, 2016, 2019, 2025 |
| Sagesse | 3 | 0 | 1999, 2000, 2004 | — |
| Al-Rayyan | 2 | 5 | 2002, 2005 | 2001, 2003, 2008, 2010, 2013 |
| Mahram Tehran | 2 | 2 | 2009, 2010 | 2011, 2012 |
| Saba Battery Tehran | 2 | 0 | 2007, 2008 | |
| Liaoning Hunters | 1 | 3 | 1990 | 1988, 1992, 1999 |
| Al-Ittihad | 1 | 2 | 2001 | 2000, 2002 |
| Zain | 1 | 2 | 2006 | 2005, 2009 |
| Al-Wahda | 1 | 1 | 2003 | 2004 |
| Kia Motors | 1 | 1 | 1992 | 1997 |
| Bayi Rockets | 1 | 1 | 1981 | 1984 |
| Regal | 1 | 1 | 1997 | 1998 |
| Xinjiang Flying Tigers / China Kashgar | 1 | 1 | 2016 | 2017 |
| Alvark Tokyo | 1 | 1 | 2019 | 2018 |
| Petrochimi Bandar Imam | 1 | 0 | 2018 | — |
| Northern Cement | 1 | 0 | 1984 | — |
| Swift | 1 | 0 | 1988 | — |
| Andok's | 1 | 0 | 1995 | — |
| Hapee Toothpaste | 1 | 0 | 1996 | — |
| Beijing Hanwei | 1 | 0 | 1998 | — |
| Foolad Mahan Isfahan | 1 | 0 | 2013 | — |
| Utsunomiya Brex | 1 | 0 | 2025 | — |
| Al-Jalaa Aleppo | 0 | 2 | — | 2006, 2007 |
| Petronas | 0 | 1 | — | 1995 |
| Nippon Kokan | 0 | 1 | — | 1981 |
| Bank of Korea | 0 | 1 | — | 1990 |
| Isuzu Lynx | 0 | 1 | — | 1996 |
| Shabab Al Ahli | 0 | 1 | — | 2024 |
Asia's top tier competitions
FIBA Asia took control in 2004.
- 1981-1994, Asian Basketball Club Championship
- 1995-2003, Asian Basketball Confederation Champions Cup (or ABC Champions Cup) (renamed)
- 2004-2022, FIBA Asia Champions Cup (renamed)
- 2024-present, Basketball Champions League Asia
Titles by nation
It includes all top-tier competitions since 1981.
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lebanon | 6 | 4 | 4 | 14 |
| 2 | Iran | 6 | 2 | 2 | 10 |
| 3 | China | 4 | 5 | 1 | 10 |
| 4 | Philippines | 4 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 5 | Qatar | 2 | 5 | 4 | 11 |
| 6 | Japan | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| 7 | Syria | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| 8 | South Korea | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 |
| 9 | Jordan | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 10 | Saudi Arabia | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 11 | Hong Kong | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 12 | Malaysia | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| United Arab Emirates | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 14 | Kuwait | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 15 | Bahrain | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Chinese Taipei | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Indonesia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Iraq | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Kazakhstan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Mongolia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (20 entries) | 29 | 31 | 30 | 90 | |
Awards
MVP
Asian Basketball Club Championship / ABC Champions Cup (1995-2003)
- 1995: Bobby Parks
- 1996: Tony Harris
- 1997: Wayman Strickland
- 1998: Michael Cumberland
- 1999: Assane N'Diaye
- 2000: Elie Mechantaf
- 2001: Johnny Rhodes
- 2002: Kris Johnson
- 2003: Andre Pitts
FIBA Asia Champions Cup (2004-2019)
- 2004:
- 2005: Fadi El Khatib
- 2006:
- 2007: Samad Nikkhah Bahrami
- 2008: Gabe Muoneke
- 2009: Jackson Vroman
- 2010:
- 2011: Fadi El Khatib (2)
- 2012: not awarded
- 2013:
- 2016: Dewarick Spencer
- 2017: Darius Adams
- 2018: Daiki Tanaka
- 2019: Alex Kirk
Basketball Champions League Asia (2024-present)
- 2024: Wael Arakji
- 2025: D.J. Newbill
Topscorer
See also
- East Asia Super League
- FIBA West Asia Super League
- Women's Basketball League Asia
- ASEAN Basketball League
References
- General
- Specific
- ^ "22ND FIBA ASIA CHAMPIONS CUP". fibaasia.net. Archived from the original on 13 May 2012.
- ^ a b "Mongolia, Indonesia to host BCL Asia Qualifying rounds". FIBA. 29 February 2024. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
- ^ Esportes.Opovobr Com Copa Intercontinental, Fiba ensaia Campeonato Mundial. Archived January 17, 2019, at the Wayback Machine (in Portuguese)
- ^ Estadao.com Pinheiros e Olympiacos começam a disputar o título da Intercontinental. (in Portuguese)
- ^ "FIBA Asia convenes third board meeting for 2023-27 in Jeddah". FIBA.basketball. 28 January 2025. Retrieved 31 January 2025.
- ^ "EASL Designated as Official Qualifier for Basketball Champions League (BCL) Asia". East Asia Super League. 15 December 2025. Retrieved 15 December 2025.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Host and Formatwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "FIBA Asia Board Meeting Decisions" (PDF). Basketball Association of Singapore. FIBA Asia. 3 August 2020. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
- ^ "Bayi Rockets soar to first FIBA Asia Champions Cup". FIBA. 22 October 2022. Retrieved 3 March 2024.