Eurocup

Competition Calendar

CHAMPIONS CUP AND EUROCUP 1 GROUP STAGES:
> Thursday 1st – Sunday 4th February 2024
EUROCUP 2 & 3 GROUP STAGES AND CHAMPIONS CUP QUARTER FINALS:
> Thursday 7th – Sunday 10h March 2024
EUROCUP FINALS:
> Thursday 25th – Sunday 28th April 2024
CHAMPIONS CUP FINAL 4:
> Thursday 2nd – Sunday 5th May 2024

Forms to be returned before 31st July

The Entry Form EuroCup 2023 must be completed by all clubs (including those that want to bid to host an event) and returned to the IWBF Europe Competitions Commission as soon as possible but certainly not later than 31st July 2023.

Clubs that have never participated in the EuroCup are welcome to join the competition!

They are required to fill in the EuroCup Entry Form and submitting it like any other club (note: save filename as ‘NEW-00 + Club Name’).

Depending on the number of teams entering the competition, new clubs could qualify for the lowest EuroCup tournament opening or for the Qualification tournament to get a spot in the EuroCup3 of the following year.

Bid to Host EuroCup 2024

Any Club who would like to host an event of EuroCup 2023 can make a bid by completing the ‘Bid Document Host of EuroCup 2023’ and for each hotel, the ‘Form A – Accommodation Information’.

The organizer of a Group Stage or a EuroCup Final will participate in the event they are awarded to host. The Champions Cup Quarter Final should be organized by the winner and the runner up of the Champions Cup Final 4 2019, however if this cannot happen (given the time that has passed since) those clubs must inform us as soon as possible. The host of Champions Cup Quarter Final will compete in the event automatically and do not need to participate in Champions Cup Group Stage.

The Champions Cup Final 4 can be organized by any club, any organization, any federation which wish to organize this event. Only qualified teams from the Quarter Finals can compete in the Champions Cup Final 4.

Team Registration

Clubs may initially register up to 24 players from all their Club teams on the Team Statement. This Team Statement must be signed by a national or international licensed Classifier and also signed by the NOWB.

Your Team Statement must be submitted to IWBF Europe no later than 1st December 2023. Changes to the Team Statement after this date are not allowed.

EuroCup Format

Champions Cup

  • Maximum of 3 organizing teams plus 12 participating teams will compete in the Champions Cup Group Stage in 3 different locations with 10 games per group
  • 8 teams will qualify for the Champions Cup Quarter Finals: the best 2 teams per group plus 2 organizing teams – 2 different locations with 6 games per group
  • 4 teams will qualify for the Champions Cup Final 4: the best 2 teams per quarter final group
  • 1 neutral organizer for the Final 4, 1 location, 4 games in total

EuroCup

  • Maximum of 8 organizing teams and 28 participating teams will compete in the Group Stage of EuroCup 1, 2 and 3 in up to 7 different locations with 10 games per group
  • The best two teams of the Group Stage of EuroCup 1, plus the third positions in the Champions Cup Group Stage, plus the third positions in the Champions Cup Quarter Finals (8 teams in total) will compete in the EuroCup 1 Final – 1 host, 1 location, 18 games
  • The best teams of the Group Stage of EuroCup 2, plus the second positions in the Group Stage of EuroCup 2, plus the third positions in the Champions Cup Group Stage (8 teams in total) will compete in the EuroCup 2 Final – 1 host, 1 location, 18 games
  • The best teams of the Group Stage of EuroCup 3, plus the second positions in the Group Stage of EuroCup 2, plus the third positions in the Group Stage of EuroCup 1 (8 teams in total) will compete in the EuroCup 3 Final – 1 host, 1 location, 18 games

Total of 55 teams competing and 170 games

EuroCup Ranking

Allocations and organizers are assigned based on ranking points. No ranking points were awarded for the 2020, 2021, and 2022 competitions. The ranking points from EuroCup 2023 will be used to place clubs into the preliminary rounds for the next competition. Full EuroCup Ranking can be found HERE

Wildcard

A Club may request before 1st September 2023 a Wildcard. This request must be supported by the NOWB who will make the request on behalf of the Club. The Wildcard can be used by a club to request placement in higher or lower division of Group Stage than would be the situation if the place was decided by their ranking. The Competitions Commission will consider all wild card requests and their decision will be final.

A bit of history...

In 1975, Hans Tukker (NED), coach of SC Antilope and member of the Netherlands Wheelchair Basketball Committee started an international club event with 10 teams from BEL, GER and NED. The name was "the West European Wheelchair Basketball Tournament (WEWBT)".

In 1976, the Belgium club Wapper Antwerp organised a club tournament, called EuroCup. After a meeting with Mr Hans Tukker (NED), Mr André Vergauwen (BEL), the chairman of Wapper Antwerp, and Mr Willi Brinkmann (GER), player/manager of BSG Duisburg-Buchholz, accepted Hans Tukker's invitation to form together the organising committee of the WEWBT. The first finals of the WEWBT were held in IJsselstein (NED) in May 1976 with the following ranking:
1. ISA Amsterdam (NED) 2. SC Antilope (NED) 3. BSG Duisburg (GER)

One year later, 16 teams took part in the WEWBT in two divisions. They were held in Antwerp (BEL), Duisburg (GER), Lokeren (BEL), Bonn and Cologne (GER).

In 1982, for the WEWBT, the committee changed the system in 1st Division with preliminary rounds and a final round.

Also it lowered the number of teams to a total of 22 teams. For the first time the preliminary rounds were held in March instead of the autumn.

In May 1983, the ISMGF recognised the WEWBT as the official European Championship for club teams. The Committee decided to change the name WEWBT to EuroCup, the name of the former Wapper tournament.

In 1988, as experiment, the EuroCup Committee organised the runners up tournament, The André Vergauwen Cup (AVC) was born. The EuroCup changed into Champions Cup.

In 1997, the 1st EuroCup 3 named Willi Brinkmann Cup (WBC) was held in Athens (GRE).

In 2009, the Competitions Commission started with a new formula in the EuroCup competitions, with 55 club teams participating. The preliminary rounds are called EuroLeague 1, 2 and 3. From this year a total four finals are being held, the CC, the AVC and WBC. New is the Challenge Cup.

Nowadays the rounds as called as follow: Champions Cup and EuroCup 1, 2, and 3.