Dubai Basketball progressed from a newly established club to a EuroLeague participant within two seasons. Founded in 2023, the team entered the ABA League in 2024–25 before making its EuroLeague debut the following season.
The club finished its first EuroLeague campaign in 11th place, narrowly outside the Play-In positions. It now approaches the 2026–27 season with experience in two major competitions and an ABA League title behind it.
Dubai Basketball’s first full campaign came in the 2024–25 ABA League. The club advanced through the quarter-finals by defeating Cedevita Olimpija and then faced Partizan in the semi-finals.
That performance preceded a significant change to the EuroLeague. The competition expanded from 18 to 20 teams for 2025–26, increasing its regular season from 34 to 38 rounds. Dubai Basketball received a five-year wildcard and joined the official line-up alongside clubs including Real Madrid, Barcelona, Olympiacos and Panathinaikos.
The decision made Dubai Basketball the first Gulf-based club to compete in the EuroLeague. It also introduced regular EuroLeague basketball to Dubai, with the club staging its home fixtures at Coca-Cola Arena.
The 2025–26 campaign required Dubai to play every other EuroLeague team twice, once at home and once away. That meant managing a 38-game European schedule alongside the club’s ABA League commitments.
Dubai completed the EuroLeague regular season in 11th place. Its campaign ended with a 95–85 defeat against Valencia Basket in Round 38, leaving the club immediately outside the top-10 Play-In positions.
The final standing provided a clearer measure of the team’s level than promotional claims about its rapid growth. Dubai proved capable of competing across a full EuroLeague schedule but still had ground to make up on the teams that reached the postseason.
The EuroLeague brings together independent clubs competing across domestic and regional leagues. Its structure differs substantially from the closed-franchise, salary-cap and free-agency system that shapes stories such as the 2026 NBA offseason.
EuroLeague clubs must also balance several competitions during the same season. For Dubai Basketball, results in Europe are only one part of the schedule; the team continues to compete in the ABA League, creating additional travel, recovery and squad-management demands.
This context matters when assessing the club’s 11th-place debut. Dubai was adapting not only to stronger opposition but also to a competition structure with limited recovery time between European and regional fixtures.
Dubai Basketball’s progress continued after its first EuroLeague campaign. The club won the 2025–26 ABA League title, adding its first major championship in only its second season in the competition.
The result changed the expectations surrounding the project. Dubai entered its first EuroLeague season as a newcomer whose competitiveness was still uncertain. It begins the next campaign as an ABA League champion seeking to turn an 11th-place European finish into a place in the postseason.
There has also been a change in technical leadership. Xavi Pascual is now the club’s head coach, replacing the coaching structure that guided Dubai through its initial rise.
Dubai Basketball’s second EuroLeague campaign begins at home against Real Madrid on 24 September 2026. Barcelona then visits Coca-Cola Arena on 29 September before Dubai plays its first European away fixture of the season against Fenerbahçe.
The early schedule offers an immediate test of whether the club has progressed since its debut. Reaching the Play-In requires greater consistency across the entire 38-round season, particularly when EuroLeague fixtures overlap with the defence of the ABA League title.
Dubai’s place in the competition is no longer only a story about geographical expansion. The second season will show whether the club can convert its rapid entry, first-year experience and regional championship
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