The second largest club tournament on the Old Continent, EuroCup, announced that Balkan will officially be part of the competition.
This is the first time a home-grown team will play in the EuroCup. This is the most significant achievement for a team from Bulgaria, after the participation of Lukoil Academic in the groups of the ULEB CUP (the predecessor of the EuroCup, the format of the Euroleague at the time).
The new project in Botevgrad is led by the director of the national teams for men and women, Nikolay Rashkov, who, together with his team, was responsible for the best club tournament - the Euroleague, to be held in Bulgaria this year. We remind you that 16 matches were played in our country, after Hapoel Tel Aviv hosted in Bulgaria for most of the season.
“The team responsible for holding the Euroleague is behind the project, we will announce in detail all the details about the things that are coming up, as well as the goals and next steps in the development of Balkan at the end of the month. Our desire is to assemble a competitive team, as well as the most promising Bulgarian players”, Rashkov shared with Sportal.bg.
“It is very important to know, this license entitles the Team to Adidas NextGen (i.e. where the native talent Kristian Zanov played for Panathinaikos). "We are working on a program in cooperation with the federation to support and jointly develop the national youth teams," Rashkov added to our media.
Here is the official statement from the Euroleague:
"The Euroleague has announced the list of teams that will participate in the EuroCup tournament for the 2026-27 season.
After approval by the ESA Board of Directors, the tournament will expand both in terms of the number of participating clubs and in format. The 32 teams will be divided into four groups of eight, with 16 teams qualifying for the playoffs. The playoffs will include round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals, with all matches played in a best-of-three format.
The expansion of the tournament is in response to the huge interest shown by clubs across Europe, who have identified the BKT EuroCup as a tournament that promotes stability, stimulates investment and supports long-term planning among participating clubs, while providing a high-quality framework for teams to compete at the highest level.
The selection of teams was based on the final standings in their respective national leagues, with 22 clubs receiving long-term five-year licenses and wildcard invitations to participate. The final “wildcard“, which will complete the list of 32 participating teams, will be announced in the coming days and will be awarded among the clubs that have submitted the necessary documentation.
In the event that a club receives a “wildcard“ for the Euroleague and thus vacates its spot in the BKT EuroCup, the vacated spot will also be filled by the clubs that have submitted the necessary documentation.
The list of participants includes representatives from 16 different countries and territories. Italy is best represented with five clubs: “Dolomiti Energia Trento“, “Umana Reyer Venezia“, “Bertram Tortona“, “Napoli Basket“ and “Roma“. Germany and Turkey follow with four representatives each.
The full list of teams for the BKT EuroCup 2026-27 will be presented at the next meeting of the ECA Board of Directors for formal approval and will subsequently be presented to the General Assembly for ratification.
As a result of this expansion, the EuroLeague Basketball competitions will include a total of 52 teams - 20 in the EuroLeague and 32 in the BKT EuroCup, representing the highest level of club basketball on the continent.