ABA League Expands to 18 Teams with New Competition Format

The ABA League announced significant changes for the upcoming season, expanding to 18 teams, up from 16 in the previous year. This expansion includes the addition of two new clubs: the Austrian team Bec and the Romanian club Cluj. Each of these teams secured a place in the league by paying a special invitation fee of €500,000 and signing three-year contracts.

The league’s structure will also undergo changes due to the increase in participants. Next season, the league will feature two groups of nine teams each. Budućnost Voli will compete in Group B alongside prominent teams such as Crvena zvezda, Cedevita Olimpija, Spartak, Bosna, Mega, Zadar, Ilirija, and Bec. Meanwhile, the other Montenegrin representative, SC Derbi, will be placed in Group A, competing against Partizan, Dubai, Cluj, Igokea, FMP, Borac Čačak, Split, and Krka.

Each team will play a total of 16 matches during the group phase, with eight games at home and eight away. The top four teams from each group will advance to a new Top 8 phase, while teams finishing in fifth to ninth place will form a separate group for the playoff relegation phase. Points earned during the group stage will carry over into the second phase, where teams will compete in a home-and-away format against teams from the opposite group.

The best eight teams will play a total of 24 matches, which is six fewer than in previous seasons. Teams in the relegation phase will have a total of 26 matches during the regular season. The six highest-ranked teams from the Top 8 phase will secure direct qualification to the playoff quarterfinals. The seventh and eighth-ranked teams will enter a play-in phase along with the top two teams from the relegation group.

The structure of the playoff finals, whether to follow a traditional semifinal and final format or revert to a Final Four setup, will be determined as soon as possible, according to the ABA League.

The new season of the ABA League is set to commence on the first weekend of October 2023, promising an exciting and competitive environment for basketball fans across the region.