BUMPER BCB TROPHY FORMAT WITH 20 TEAMS TAKING PART

The second season of the British Championship Basketball will commence in early September with the BCB Trophy, which features a whopping 20 teams.

The teams will be organised into four groups of five teams each. The top two from each group will advance to the quarter-finals, which will take place in October, with the semi-finals scheduled for November.

The winners of the two semi-finals will meet in the final, which will take place in January, at a venue to be determined.

In a landmark moment, the BCB Trophy will, for the first time, feature five clubs from England and Wales, one team from the Scottish League, and the 14 league clubs, including reigning champions the City of Birmingham Rockets.

Portsmouth Force, Gloucester City Kings, Plymouth Raiders, Cardiff Met Archers and Oaklands Wolves will take part in the upcoming season’s Trophy competition, with last season’s semi-finalists, Signs Express Fury, from Falkirk, representing the Scottish League.

“Just as we pause for breath at the end of a very successful inaugural BCB season, we’re delighted to launch another BCB Trophy campaign to kick off our plans for 2026/27,” BCB Chairman Russell Bell said.

“As well as welcoming back our friends at Signs Express Fury, we’re excited to be joined by five clubs from Wales and England, taking us to a total of 20 top-level clubs competing in what will be the biggest Trophy event in the competition’s short history.

“This is a great endorsement of the status of British Championship Basketball in the UK basketball hierarchy and the progress made over the past 12 months. We’re very much looking forward to further developments as we approach the new season.”

Both Gloucester and Oaklands finished undefeated and topped their respective Division 2 groups last season, reaching the playoff final, which the Wolves won. Portsmouth and Plymouth – who were in the same pool as Gloucester - finished in third and fourth, respectively. Cardiff competed in NBL Division 1 this season but narrowly missed the post-season spots.

In the Scottish League (SBC), the Fury went undefeated in their regular season, finishing 21-0, en route to a treble-winning campaign that also saw them add the Cup and playoff titles to their ever-growing trophy cabinet.

The Fury were also one of the invited teams to last season’s BCB Trophy, where they made the semi-finals, but lost out to the Yorkshire Dragons. They will be keen to create a similar run this year.

The Fury played their part in an exciting BCB Trophy competition last season, which was won by the City of Birmingham Rockets at Harvey Hadden in Nottingham.

Eric Donaldson claimed MVP honours, going a perfect 7-for-7 from the field and 19 points, seven rebounds in an 85-66 success over the Yorkshire Dragons.