Euroleague, Eurocup, Champions League and Europe Cup - the competitions in European club basketball seem almost like an impenetrable jungle to outsiders.

Since the continent's top clubs split off from the international association FIBA, they have been organizing the undisputed premier class, the Euroleague, on their own.

The second competition is the Eurocup, which FIBA ​​would like to overtake with its Champions League.

The association has succeeded in attracting some good clubs through financial incentives.

But the current situation shows that the Eurocup has clearly established itself as the second best competition.

Furthermore, it is the only way to qualify for the Euroleague.

By changing the mode, its attractiveness was further enhanced.

As of this season, twenty teams have been playing the preliminary round in two groups of ten, which means that each team will play 18 games before going into the play-offs.

Professionals with NBA experience

That is still a long way from the madness program of the Euroleague with 34 main round encounters, but still a great challenge.

Except for a few individual cases, the teams do not have the financial and infrastructural background of the Euroleague participants.

These exceptions include Partizan Belgrade and Virtus Bologna, who are considered favorites for the final, which is linked to qualifying for the premier class.

The Italian champions were already a contender last season, but lost in the semi-finals.

In 2019 the club won the FIBA ​​Champions League.

The reorientation after this success underlines the importance of the Eurocup for the ambitious clubs.

Prior to this season, Bologna signed Niccolo Mannion, one of the great hopes of Italian basketball.

The 20-year-old last played for the Golden State Warriors in the NBA.

He is supported by Marco Belinelli, fifteen years his senior, who returned to his homeland in 2020 after 13 years in America.

There are also four other professionals with NBA experience, including the Serb Miloš Teodosić, who receives more than five million euros net for his three-year contract.

1.3 million net per season

The coach also has a big name.

Sergio Scariolo was world champion with Spain, three times European champion and won two Olympic medals.

Most recently, the 60-year-old worked in the NBA for several years and won the title as the main assistant coach with the Toronto Raptors in 2019.

In Belgrade, the coach is the star. Željko Obradović has won the Euroleague nine times, making him the most successful European club coach. His commitment is a return. He won his first continental title in 1992 with Partizan, the club he now wants to bring back to the top. For his team, the Serbs signed two NBA returnees in Alen Smailagić and Rodions Kurucs. They also brought in Kevin Punter and Zach LeDay, who were top performers at the Euroleague semi-finals in Milan last season. The 1.3 million euros net per season that Partizan transfers to Punter were too much even for the Milanese sponsor Giorgio Armani. Due to incomplete payments in the past, including to the current Bayern coach Andrea Trinchieri,Belgrade is currently not allowed to make any further transfers. President Ostoja Mijailović has announced that a solution is about to be found in this regard.

The two German teams in the Eurocup, Hamburg Towers and Ratiopharm Ulm, also had to acknowledge the strength of the two favorites.

The Hanseatic League lost to Partizan on the first match day, the Ulm team on the second in Bologna.

It speaks for the quality of the competition that the top teams are also vulnerable.

Belgrade was only able to beat Badalona by a very thin margin this week, and Bologna suffered their first defeat in Podgorica.

While Hamburg are still waiting for their first success, the Ulm team achieved their first victory with a big comeback after a 23-point deficit against Venice.

Reaching the play-offs seems possible for both German teams.

The double burden could, however, lead to setbacks in the Bundesliga - and jeopardize their goal of reaching the play-offs.

The author was twice BBL trainer of the year.