14 teams eliminated in the Basketball Champions League qualification rounds could join directly the regular season, depending on their decision as declared in the FIBA Europe Cup option form.
The following 9 teams chose the option of ending their continental adventure if they were eliminated from the Champions League qualifying rounds and therefore refuse to participate in the FIBA Europe Cup:
The nineteen teams will be divided into 5 pots. For the quarter-finals round of Qualifications, teams from Pot 5 will be drawn against teams from Pot 4. Clubs from Pot 1, 2 and 3 will be seeded, and will enter directly in the semi-final stage of Qualifications. Teams from pot 1 will face the winners from the quarter-finals round, and teams from pot 3 will be drawn against teams from Pot 2. The winners of the semi-final stage will face each other in the finals of Qualifications. The four winners of the finals will then qualify for the Regular season and join the fourteen directly qualified teams and the fourteen Basketball Champions League eliminated teams in the main draw.[2]
Following the qualification of U-BT Cluj-Napoca and Prometey to the Champions League, two lucky losers will also qualify for the regular season. Their identity will be determined in accordance with section D from FIBA Basketball Rules as follows:[4]
Point difference of the combined results from the Semi-Finals and Finals will be used as the first criterion.
Points scored in the Semi-Finals and Finals will be used as the second criterion.
If the identity of the two is not determined using the previous two criteria, a draw will be held to determine the final classification.
The draw took place in Freising, Germany at 12:00 CET of August 19.[5]
The thirty-two teams will be divided into 4 Seeds and will be drawn into eight groups of four. a maximum of two clubs from the same country can be in the same group. In each group, teams play against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The group winners and runners-up advance to the second round, while the third-placed teams and fourth-placed teams are eliminated.[6] Additionally, Based on a decision of the Board of FIBA Europe, clubs from Russia and Ukraine will be drawn into separate groups in the Draw for the Regular Season.[5]
^Match was originally schedulled to be played on January 26 but was postponed to February 11 because of COVID-19-related disruptions
^Match was originally schedulled to be played on February 2 but was postponed to February 15 because of COVID-19-related disruptions. The re-arranged match had not take place as scheduled. Kyiv-Basket was not able to fly to Italy due to the uncertain status of the airspace of Ukraine (due to the current situation of political instability in Ukraine[9]), as well as the insufficient number of players in the team.[10] Kyiv-Basket forfeited the game.[11]
^Match was originally schedulled to be played on January 26 but was postponed to February 5 because of COVID-19-related disruptions