By Melikşah Bayrav/ info@eurohoops.net
When we look at the recent years of the Basketball Champions League, it’s easy to say that the level of competition in the league has steadily increased. Although the competitiveness of the organization keeps improving each season, Spanish League teams continue to achieve consistent success.
This year, four Spanish teams are participating in the competition: the back-to-back reigning champions Unicaja, as well as Lenovo Tenerife, Joventut Badalona, and Gran Canaria. All four of these teams rank among the strongest title contenders thanks to their roster quality and overall consistency.
As you know, Unicaja managed to lift the Basketball Champions League trophy in each of the last two seasons. Meanwhile, Tenerife — a long-standing part of this league — has also won the BCL championship twice in its history, just like Unicaja.
The 2019–20 and 2020–21 seasons were marked by the dominance of San Pablo Burgos. Although Burgos is now far from its glory days, the club, founded in 2015, made history by winning back-to-back Basketball Champions League titles.
In total, when we look at the nine completed seasons of the FIBA Basketball Champions League, Spanish League teams have won six of them. Unicaja, Tenerife, and San Pablo Burgos have each captured the title twice.
This season, Unicaja and Tenerife are joined by two ambitious newcomers, Joventut Badalona and Gran Canaria. Both teams have produced notable EuroCup results in the past, and with their budgets and roster quality, they are among the biggest favorites in this year’s competition. Seeing both of them in the Final Four this season would hardly surprise anyone.
But how is it that Spanish teams manage to dominate such a competitive league almost every year? Eurohoops Oven seeks the answers to this question in today’s series.
1. The Spanish League Factor
When looking at recent European basketball trends, we can see that several domestic leagues — particularly in Turkey, Italy, France, and Germany — have been on the rise. Yet, one undeniable fact remains: Spain still has the best basketball league in Europe in terms of quality and competitiveness.
In Spain’s top-tier Basketball League, Liga ACB, 12 of the 18 participating teams compete in various European competitions. Moreover, nearly all of these 12 clubs are strong contenders in the tournaments they participate in.
The four Spanish BCL teams — Unicaja, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, and Joventut Badalona — face extremely tough matchups every week in their domestic league. In addition, all four have deep-rooted traditions in European basketball.
Being accustomed to such a competitive environment allows these clubs to enter their midweek Champions League games mentally and physically well-prepared. Players who are used to the high intensity and physicality of ACB games are also better equipped to adapt and find solutions in different game scenarios.
At this point, you might wonder: “If competitiveness is the key, why can’t Turkish teams achieve the same consistent success in the BCL, given that the Turkish Super League is also highly competitive?” To answer that, let’s move on to the next section.
2. Structure and Stability
In professional basketball, success depends on multiple factors working together in harmony. Two of the most important elements are building the right structure and allowing that structure to operate consistently over time.
When we examine this season’s four Spanish teams in the Basketball Champions League, some clear patterns emerge. First, none of them changed head coaches this summer. The defending champions, Unicaja, for instance, continue under the long-term guidance of coach Ibon Navarro.
Unicaja also retained most of its championship roster from last season. Although a few players — most notably Dylan Osetkowski — moved to bigger-budget teams, key contributors like Kendrick Perry, Alberto Díaz, David Kravish, Tyler Kalinoski, and Nihad Djedovic remain with the club.
Tenerife presents a similar picture. Led by coach Txus Vidorreta for the past eight seasons, the Canary Islands team has maintained remarkable roster continuity. With veterans like 42-year-old Marcelo Huertas and Giorgi Shermadini, Tenerife stands out as the most stable team in the league.
Gran Canaria and Joventut Badalona follow the same pattern. Gran Canaria, coached for years by Jaka Lakovic, has built a well-established system, while Badalona, under Daniel Miret since 2023, has retained most of its core players, including Ante Tomic.
This stability is clearly paying off. So far, both Gran Canaria and Joventut Badalona have won all three of their group-stage games, while Tenerife and Unicaja remain undefeated with two wins each. In other words, Spanish teams have won all 10 of their BCL games this season.
In contrast, the situation among Turkish teams is very different. Galatasaray MCT Technic, last season’s runner-up, renewed almost its entire roster this summer. The same goes for Mersin Spor, Bursaspor, and TOFAŞ.
Unlike their Turkish counterparts, Spanish clubs prioritize maintaining their existing structure, which helps them build long-term stability — one of the main reasons for their consistent success in the BCL.
3. Player Quality
Even though team structure, coaching, and stability are crucial, basketball games are ultimately won by players. The talent level on the court directly determines whether a team can succeed.
The rosters of the four Spanish BCL teams are filled with quality players. Moreover, all four are coached by tacticians familiar with the Spanish basketball system, which contributes to their efficiency.
Coaches raised in the Spanish basketball tradition are known for their love of deep rotations. They tend to distribute playing time evenly across the roster to prevent fatigue and maintain high intensity throughout games.
Because these teams also operate with larger budgets than most of their competition, they can build deeper rosters. Combined with smart rotation management, this allows them to stay fresher than their opponents — particularly in the closing minutes of games — which often translates to better results.
This season, none of the players on the four Spanish BCL teams averages more than 25 minutes per game. Nearly every player on their 12-man rosters gets consistent minutes in each match, which helps reduce fatigue.
In contrast, all four Turkish teams feature at least two players who average over 25 minutes per game, and each has at least one player exceeding 30 minutes. This heavy reliance on a few key players can lead to physical exhaustion when competing on multiple fronts, affecting overall performance.