MIES (Switzerland) - We are back, finally! Season X of the Basketball Champions League, powered by Ameresco SUNEL will start on Tuesday, October 7, with eight games full of stories and interesting matchups.
Here are 48 facts to know before turning on your television at 18:00 CET.
Promitheas Patras BC Vikos Cola vs. MLP Academics Heidelberg - Group A, October 7 at 18:00 CET
Promitheas Patras BC Vikos Cola are going to their fourth season in the BCL and the third consecutive one; the Greeks have won their first game of a BCL season in two of their three previous campaigns, but lost the most recent one, also at home (78-86 vs. ERA Nymburk).
MLP Academics Heidelberg are taking part in a BCL season for their first time: before this season already nine German teams have played in the competition; German teams have won just two of their last six road games against Greek opposition in the BCL.
Georgios Limniatis (Promitheas Patras) is set to coach his second team in the BCL, after leading Peristeri in 2024-25; he won just two games with them in the competition, but both at home; his team scored 80+ points only once in his eight games in the BCL.
After playing for Rytas Vilnius and Maccabi Ramat-Gan, Kendale McCullum (Promitheas) will play for his third different team in the BCL: last season he dished out 7.9 assists per game, the most of any player in the competition, with the USA-born player having two double-doubles in his last three BCL games.
Mateo Seric (Heidelberg) has already played 17 games in the BCL, eight with MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg and nine with Brose Bamberg: however, he has scored in double-figures only once in those appearances: a 16-point performance against Dinamo Sassari in April 2021, his only game as a starter.
Promitheas managed to reach the Greek Supercup Final, where they lost to Olympiacos, while in the Greek League opener they suffered a 90-79 road defeat to Iraklis despite Leyton Hammonds' 20 points; Heidelberg are yet to win a game in this season’s Bundesliga, currently 15th with a 0-3 record as they recently lost 90-83 at home to Niners Chemnitz.
ERA Nymburk vs. BC Sabah - Group B, October 7 at 18:30 CET
This will be ERA Nymburk's ninth season in the BCL, only missing a league campaign in 2023-24: AEK BC, Filou Oostende and La Laguna Tenerife are the only teams with more seasons in the league than them (all going into their 10th); this will be their fourth time starting a BCL season at home, but they won only one of the previous three such games (91-71 vs. Brose Bamberg in 2019-20).
Sabah will make their BCL debut, becoming the first team from Azerbaijan to play in the competition; of the last 18 teams to debut in the BCL, only six have won their first game on the road.
Oren Amiel is back as Nymburk's head coach: he has won 38 games with them, the fifth most BCL wins by any coach with a single team; in his last season with Nymburk, in 2020-21, they scored 88.5 points per game, the second-highest average in a single season by any team (Unicaja, 92.2ppg in 2024-25).
Nymburk's Vojtech Hruban has scored a total of 1190 points in the BCL, only Marcelinho Huertas (1202) and Giorgi Shermadini (1277) have scored more than him in league history.
Sabah's Justin Tillman has already played a total of 30 BCL games previously, with three different teams (Dinamo Sassari, AEK, Nanterre); he has faced Nymburk twice in the competition, scoring 25 points in his previous trip to the Czech team in March 2025, his personal best in the BCL.
Nymburk are on a 3-0 record thus far in the Czech League, having beaten Decin 97-68 at home; Sabah started the Azerbaijan Basketball League on a very promising note, taking down Neftchi thanks to Justin Tillman's double-double of 18 points and 14 rebounds.
Fitness First Wurzburg Baskets vs. Pallacanestro Trieste - Group E, October 7 at 18:30 CET
Fitness First Wurzburg Baskets are going into their second season in the BCL: in 2024-25 they won three of their first four home games in the competition, but were defeated in their most recent two.
Pallacanestro Trieste are about to play their first game in the BCL - before this season, 11 teams from Italy have played in the league, with Italian sides being victorious in four of their last five BCL trips to Germany.
Of Wurzburg's attempted field goals in the BCL last season, 48.9 percent were taken from behind the arc, the highest ratio in the league in 2024-25; they were also the team to have allowed the fewest offensive rebounds per game in the last campaign (8.2 OREB per game).
Davion Mintz is going for his second season in the BCL, after joining Wurzburg last season, despite starting 2024-25 with Filou Oostende; he scored more than 12 points in three of his four BCL games with the German side, although he is yet to win a league fixture with Wurzburg (L4).
Colbey Ross, now with Trieste, has already played for two BCL teams: Nymburk in 2021-22 and Derthona Basket in 2023-24. Colbey Ross has scored 41.9 percent of his attempted threes (13-of-31) and 93.8 percent of his shots from the foul line (15-of-16) in eight games in the BCL.
The two teams are entering the BCL Regular Season in different moods: Wurzburg beat MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg 84-79 away from home to capture their third straight win in Germany, while Trieste lost 91-87 domestically in the Italian BCL derby to Trapani Shark in the LBA.
Rytas Vilnius vs. Legia Warszawa - Group A, October 7 at 19:00 CET
This is Rytas Vilnius' sixth consecutive season in the BCL, they have never missed a league campaign since their debut in 2020-21; they have won 12 of their last 13 games at home during the Regular Season with all their three such wins last season ending with double-digit margins.
Legia Warszawa are going into their second season in the BCL, becoming the fifth Polish team with multiple seasons in the league; they won just one of their six games in the 2022-23 season, but that sole victory happened on the road (71-66 at Oostende).
Rytas Vilnius scored 86.5 points per game in the BCL last season, their highest scoring average in a single league campaign; 2024-25 was also their season with the highest pace in the competition, with 75.5 possessions per game.
Jordan Walker, now with Rytas Vilnius, is set to play his second BCL season, after playing for Promitheas Patras in 2024-25; he has scored 162 points in his seven games played in the league, while only one player has scored more than that in his first seven appearances: Saben Lee, 182 points. Walker is the only player to have had 50+ points in a BCL game: he did it in his last game last season (54pts v Wurzburg).
Jayvon Graves, now with Legia Warszawa, has already played for three BCL teams, including Rytas Vilnius last season: he averaged 9.4 points per game in 2024-25, after averaging 17.1 points per game with Ludwigsburg in the BCL in 2023-24.
Rytas won their last three games in the LKL, the latest 92-85 on the road against Juventus; Legia began the Polish campaign with the 90-68 victory over Lublin as Jayvon Graves finished with 16 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists.
Galatasaray MCT Technic vs. Igokea m:tel - Group E, October 7 at 19:00 CET
Galatasaray MCT Technic are going to their sixth consecutive BCL season, never missing a league campaign since their debut in 2020-21; the last season's runners-up will face Igokea m:tel for the third time in the BCL, having won their two previous encounters by margins of four and eight points, both in 2021-22.
This will be Igokea's fifth BCL trip to Türkiye, where they are yet to win a game in the competition; in fact, this is their second time tipping off a BCL campaign in that country, after losing against Bahcesehir in the first gameday of the 2022-23 season (67-70).
Igokea made and attempted the most free throws per game (23.2 FTM/26.5 FTA) in the BCL in 2024-25, while also boasting the highest FT percentage (87.4%); however, Galatasaray were one of the three teams to have made the fewest fouls per game last season (18.0).
Errick McCollum is back in the BCL, now with Galatasaray after three seasons with Karsiyaka; McCollum has scored 20+ points in his last five games in the league, and if he scores 20 or more in this fixture, he will become the first player with six or more consecutive BCL games with that many points.
Breein Tyree will play in the BCL for the fourth consecutive season and is ready to represent his fourth different team, after playing with Oostende, Sassari, and Aliaga Petkimspor - he has made a three-pointer in each of his last 23 games in the BCL, while only five players have had longer runs.
The Turkish Lions suffered a setback in the first game of the season, but bounced back with a 93-91 win over Tofas Bursa with 27 points from James Palmer Jr; Igokea entered the ABA League season with a 92-88 victory against FMP.
VEF Riga vs. AEK BC - Group F, October 7 at 20:00 CET
VEF Riga will face AEK BC for the fifth time – only against Tenerife have they played more often in their six previous seasons in the BCL (6 games); they have lost three of their four games against the Greek team, but the sole victory in their head-to-head history happened at home (92-76 in November 2021).
AEK are one of the three teams to have taken part in all the BCL seasons thus far (also Oostende and Tenerife); this will be the third time in 10 seasons that AEK will start on the road, having lost the two previous such games: in 2021-22 at Falco Szombathely and in 2022-23 at Karsiyaka.
Of Riga's 77.3 points per game in the BCL last season, 40.7 percent were scored from behind the arc, the highest ratio of any team in 2024-25; however, they also made the fewest FT per game last season (9.5).
Arnaldo Toro Barea has grabbed 12.2 rebounds per game in the BCL, the highest average amongst all players with five or more appearances in the competition; he has had more than 12 rebounds in each of his last three BCL games with Riga, all in November and December 2023.
RaiQuan Gray is going for his second BCL season and the second with AEK; AEK have won the five BCL games in which Gray has scored more than 10 points - he has faced Riga twice in the competition but is yet to score more than six points in a single game against them.
Back-to-back wins by Riga in the Latvian-Estonian League, with Toro Barea finishing with a double-double (15 points and 13 rebounds) in the 94-92 road win over BK Ogre; AEK beat last season's BCL participants, Kolossos Rhodes, 87-85 away from home.
Joventut Badalona vs. Cholet Basket - Group C, October 7 at 20:30 CET
Joventut Badalona will play their first season in the BCL, becoming, alongside Dreamland Gran Canaria, the 11th and 12th team from Spain in the competition; of the 10 previous Spanish teams, only one has lost their home debut in the BCL (Bilbao in 2020-21 vs. Karsiyaka).
Cholet Basket are back in the BCL for their third season in the league: they have won just two of their 10 away games in the competition, and their two heaviest defeats on the road both happened in Spain (75-95 at Tenerife in October 2023; 70-85 at Unicaja in March 2024).
Simon Birgander is going into his third season in the BCL, after playing for UCAM Murcia both in 2023-24 and 2024-25; he has had 3+ blocks in four different league games, while only two players have had more such games since Birgander's debut in the BCL (Austin Wiley and Ismael Kamagate, both five times).
Ludvig Hakanson is set to play for his fourth BCL team, with all the previous three also being from Spain (Estudiantes, Bilbao and Murcia); he has scored in double figures in 16 of his 47 games played in the competition, with his teams winning 13 of those.
This will be Jamuni McNeace's second season in the BCL, after playing with PAOK in 2023-24: he had 5+ rebounds in four of his five appearances, while blocking at least one shot in each of his games played in the competition, making a total of eight blocks in five games.
Ricky Rubio had 18 points to boost Joventut on the road (87-75) against Granada in the ACB opener; Cholet have also had a nice start to the season, winning two straight games in the LNB.
SL Benfica vs. Dreamland Gran Canaria - Group H, October 7 at 21:30 CET
This is SL Benfica's fourth consecutive season in the BCL: they have won just two games across their last two league campaigns, but both happened at home (94-72 vs. PAOK in 2023-24 and 79-68 vs. Chemnitz in last season's last game of the group stage).
Gran Canaria are, alongside Joventut, the 11th and 12th Spanish teams playing in the BCL: only two of the last six Spanish teams debuting in the league have won their first road game ever.
Benfica have made 9.2 steals per game in the BCL, the second-most in the competition since the Portuguese side joined in, back in 2022-23 - only JDA Dijon have averaged more in that span (9.6spg).
Geno Crandall, now with Benfica, will represent his second team in the BCL, after playing three games with EWE Baskets Oldenburg in 2023-24: he scored a total of eight three-pointers across those appearances, with an accuracy of 61.5 percent from behind the arc (8-of-13).
Gran Canaria's Braian Angola will play for his fifth BCL team: he has scored 30 or more points in two different games in the competition, while only three other players have had more such games in league history (Rion Brown, Keith Langford, and Kyle Wiltjer, all with three).
Justice Sueing (15 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists) was all over the place in Benfica's latest win in Portugal, 89-76 against Oliveirense; Gran Canaria opened the season in Spain with an 81-71 road defeat to Real Madrid.