The tournament organizers officially announced on Tuesday that the EuroLeague shareholders’ board received more than 20 applications to join the tournament and obtain franchise status, i.e., permanent tournament participant status.
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It is stated that the application process began in July 2026. It is planned that franchise status will be granted to eight organizations, which, together with 13 clubs already holding long-term licenses, will form the core of 21 clubs in the EuroLeague. In total, from the 2027-2028 season, 24 clubs are expected to play in the continent’s strongest tournament.
It is reported that clubs currently participating in the EuroLeague and the EuroCup, as well as investment funds, applied for EuroLeague franchise status.
According to “Sport 24,” the selected candidates for the EuroLeague include the following clubs: Belgrade’s “Crvena zvezda,” Belgrade’s “Partizan” (both Serbia), Tel Aviv’s “Hapoel” (Israel), “Dubai” (United Arab Emirates), Bologna’s “Virtus,” “Napoli,” Rome’s “Maxima” (all Italy), Thessaloniki’s PAOK (Greece), “Paris” (France), “Valencia” (Spain), and London’s “Lions” (United Kingdom).
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It was officially announced that the EuroLeague will now evaluate each proposal, whose total bid amount is as much as 700 million euros, and provide recommendations before the next EuroLeague shareholders’ meeting scheduled in a month.
“Partizan” was selected by the EuroLeague board as one of the 11 teams that advanced to the final franchise process, confirmed the Belgrade club’s head Ostoja Mijailović on social media. “The final decision will be made at the end of September when the shareholders’ board votes on which teams will become franchises from the 2027-2028 season. The work is not done yet, but we are on the right track.”
We remind that the following clubs currently hold long-term licenses: Kaunas “Žalgiris,” Madrid “Real,” “Barcelona,” Vitoria “Baskonia,” Athens “Panathinaikos,” Piraeus “Olympiakos,” Milan “Olimpia,” Tel Aviv “Maccabi,” Istanbul “Fenerbahçe,” Istanbul “Anadolu Efes,” Munich “Bayern,” and Villeurbanne ASVEL. The license also belongs to Moscow CSKA, but due to the war caused by Russia in Ukraine, clubs from this country are suspended from EuroLeague-organized tournaments.
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