ABA League Expands to 18 Teams, Welcomes New Clubs for 2024 Season

The ABA League has officially announced a significant expansion for the upcoming season, increasing its membership to 18 teams. This decision, reached during today’s assembly, introduces two new clubs: the Austrian team BC Vienna and the Romanian side BC Ključ, both of which paid €500,000 for a special invitation and signed three-year contracts.

Joining the league as well are BC Bosna, crowned champions of the ABA2 League, and Slovenian club BC Ilirija, which secured its spot by defeating Cibona in a playoff. Unfortunately, both Mornar and Cibona will exit the league following this season’s conclusion.

With the addition of these new teams, the league’s structure will shift to two groups of nine. BC Budućnost Voli will compete in Group B alongside notable teams such as Red Star Belgrade, Cedevita Olimpija, and BC Zadar. Meanwhile, SC Derby, the other representative from Montenegro, will be placed in Group A, competing against Partizan, BC Dubai, and BC Igokea.

Each team will play a total of 16 games during the group phase, with eight matches at home and eight away. The top four teams from each group will advance to a newly formed Top 8 phase, while teams finishing from fifth to ninth will enter a playoff-out phase.

Points earned in the group stage will carry over into the next phase, where teams will face opponents from the opposite group in two matches each—one at home and one away. This format will see the best eight teams playing 24 matches, which is a reduction of six games compared to previous seasons, while teams in the playoff-out phase will each compete in 26 regular-season matches.

The top six teams from the Top 8 phase will qualify directly for the quarterfinals of the playoffs. The seventh and eighth teams will join the first and second-placed teams from the playoff-out phase in a play-in round. The winner of the play-in matchup between the seventh and eighth place teams will secure a spot in the quarterfinals, while the losing team will face off against the winner of the playoff-out’s first and second teams for the final quarterfinal position.

A decision regarding the format for the playoff finals—whether to continue with the traditional semifinals and finals or revert to a final four format—will be made as soon as possible, according to the ABA League. The new season is set to commence on the first weekend of October 2024.