The EUROHOLD BIBL brings in changes to make it more attractive

The EUROHOLD Balkan League will bring in changes to the competition format for the upcoming 2012/2013 season that is meant to make the League even more attractive and interesting.

The first change is that for the 2012/2013 basketball season the EUROHLD Balkan League will have a total of 10 (ten) teams. Those teams will be divided into 3 (three) groups (two groups with 3 teams and one group with 4 teams), as the teams in each group will play home and away games.

In the second stage of the competition the teams placed in the first two places in each group will form a league of 6 teams, and they will play home and away games, the results between 2 teams that played in the first group stage will count. In the same time the rest, which will be 4 teams will play each other in home and away games in order to determine the classification between 7th and 10th place and for the money prizes.

The quarterfinal stage of the competition will be the “best of three” series or just home and away games, as this depends on the schedule of the local championships, as not all of them are ready.

At the Final 4 there will be a game for third place, due to the money prize.
The money prizes have been updated and now they are the following:

-    Champion – 10.000 EUR
-    Runner-up – 7.000 EUR
-    3rd place – 5.000 EUR
-    4th place – 4.000 EUR
-    5th and 6th place – 3500 EUR each
-    7th place – 3000 EUR
-    8th place – 2500 EUR
-    9th place – 2000 EUR
-    10th place – 1500 EUR

Each team will be allowed to include in the team list a maximum of 4 (four) non-European players (until now was 3).

The groups will be created after a draw takes place. The teams will be divided into three cups, as it follows:
-    First cup: the champion from last season and the two best ranked clubs, the second one: according to the ranking, and the third one with the rest of the clubs.
-    The teams from the same country will be in different groups
-    The team from Israel will be in the group with three teams

The draw will be held in Sofia, Bulgaria, as the date is yet to be decided.

The minimum games for team are 8. The teams who qualify for the F4 will have 12 to 14 games, which will give more opportunities to the sponsors. Also the total number of the games in 2012/2013 will be between 66 and 69.