BCL 2026-27 Group F: Cholet Basket, Hapoel Holon, Spartak Subotica and RASTA Vechta — full breakdown and predictions

Four clubs from four different countries open the 2026-27 Basketball Champions League Regular Season together in Group F: Cholet Basket of France, Hapoel Holon of Israel, Spartak Office Shoes Subotica of Serbia, and RASTA Vechta of Germany, with Vechta filling Group F's qualifying place. The group opens on October 6 with Holon facing Cholet at a neutral site in Samokov, Bulgaria, followed a day later by Spartak Subotica vs Vechta on October 7.

The road to the Round of 16 runs through Group E

Under the BCL format, the group winner advances straight to the Round of 16, while the second- and third-place finishers are funneled into a best-of-three Play-In. That Play-In directly connects Group F to Group E: the second-place team in Group F faces the third-place team in Group E, and vice versa. It means every result produced in Subotica, Samokov or Vechta over the coming months will eventually matter for a group these four clubs never play.

With only a handful of domestic or continental games logged by each club so far, and none of the four having yet played a BCL group game, any attempt to rank the group from first to fourth right now would be premature. Cholet sits at 1-1 in Betclic Élite, Holon's 2-2 mark comes entirely from the Israeli Winner Cup rather than league play, Spartak has completed just one ABA League game, and Vechta is 0-3 in the German BBL despite steamrolling through BCL qualifying. The samples are too uneven, and too small, to draw firm conclusions before the ball even goes up in Group F.

Cholet Basket: a rebuilt roster still finding its footing in Betclic Élite

Fabrice Lefrançois enters the season as Cholet's head coach overseeing a roster reshaped over the summer. Jarrod West, Aaron Towo-Nansi, Noah Locke, Malcolm Cazalon, Tony Snell, Digue Diawara, Mohamed Diarra, Sitraka Raharimanantoanina, Miralem Halilović and Lynn Kidd make up the current main group, according to Eurohoops, with youngster Amadou Fall also appearing in the league opener. Cazalon's arrival pushed out Caleb Daniels, who is no longer part of the roster.

The rest of the rebuild came through several fresh faces: Tony Snell joined from Boulazac, Lynn Kidd from Tofaş, Miralem Halilović and Jarrod West both from Bosna, and Sitraka Raharimanantoanina from Pau, while Aaron Towo-Nansi and Noah Locke provide backcourt continuity.

In Betclic Élite (French league), Cholet opened September 27 with an 85-97 loss to ASVEL before bouncing back October 3 with an 85-76 road win at Nancy, leaving the club at 1-1 and averaging 85.0 points scored against 86.5 conceded. Against ASVEL, Towo-Nansi scored 19 points in 21 minutes on 3-of-5 shooting from 3-point range, Raharimanantoanina added 14 points with 5 rebounds and 2 assists, and West dished 7 assists, while ASVEL made 13-of-30 from 3-points in that game. At Nancy, Lynn Kidd went a perfect 5-of-5 from the field for 13 points and 5 rebounds, while Mohamed Diarra posted 10 points, 9 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks on his way to player-of-the-match honors, as Cholet rode six double-figure scorers and 15 offensive rebounds to the win.

Hapoel Holon: cup momentum ahead of a Bulgarian road trip

Predrag Krunić coaches Holon with Netanel Artzi serving as captain. The club's registered roster, per the Israel Basketball Super League official site, includes Lester Medford, Drew Thelwell, Yair Kravitz, Shahar Amir, Claudell Harris Jr.., Rivaldo Soares, Skylar Wicks, Greg Lee, Sam Iorio, Brandon Johns Jr., Adama Sanogo and Artzi himself, alongside Liad Shmuel, Idan Weissbach, Yam Nevo, Liran Azoulay, Ori Ofir and Itai Shnaps. Idan Zalmanson is identified as released by the club's team page.

An important distinction matters here: Holon's domestic Israeli league season does not open until October 11, meaning every result the club has produced in September came from the Israeli Winner Cup, not league play. Those cup results — a 77-72 loss at Ness Ziona on September 10, a 79-83 loss to Kiryat Ata on September 15, an 83-80 win over Ramat Gan on September 23, and an 87-85 win over Eilat on September 30 — leave Holon at 2-2 in the Winner Cup, averaging 80.3 points scored and 81.3 conceded, with two straight victories heading into the BCL opener.

The Eilat win showcased Holon's depth: Artzi scored 20 points with 8 rebounds and 4 assists, Kravitz added 18 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists against 7 turnovers, Amir put up 16 points, Sanogo added 15, and Harris Jr. chipped in 10. Holon trailed 38-50 at halftime before rallying, shooting 11-of-28 from 3-point range and 18-of-20 at the free-throw line. That comeback, built on cup games rather than league form, is the clearest signal of momentum Holon can point to before it travels to Samokov, Bulgaria — the venue the club itself advertises for its opening "home" BCL fixture against Cholet.

Spartak Office Shoes Subotica: reigning Serbian champions searching for rhythm

Vladimir Jovanović returns as head coach of a Spartak roster built around continuity. Matt Coleman, Igor Drobnjak, Jalon Pipkins, Marko Jeremic, Marko Tofoski, Stefan Lazarević, Luka Cerovina, Amar Gegić, Dalibor Ilić, Danilo Nikolić, Boris Bodrožić, Alen Omić, Danilo Lacmanović and Vukašin Kovačević make up the current ABA League-registered group, according to the ABA League's official site. Cerovina, Drobnjak, Ilić, Nikolić, Gegić and Bodrožić return from last season's title-winning group, joined by newcomers Jeremić, Lazarević, Tofoski, Coleman and Pipkins. Spartak enters this campaign as the reigning 2026 Serbian champions.

The club added size late in the summer, signing 2.16m veteran center Alen Omic on September 22. A separate ABA League season preview also names Alonzo Gaffney as a summer arrival, but he does not appear on the current roster table — a discrepancy that remains unresolved and keeps him off any definitive accounting of the squad for now.

Spartak's only completed ABA League game at this point is a rough one: a 79-95 home loss to Bosna on October 3. Jalon Pipkins led the way with 15 points, Danilo Nikolić added 14 points and 4 rebounds, Igor Drobnjak posted 13 points with 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals, Amar Gegić scored 11 with 3 rebounds and 3 assists, and Dalibor Ilić added 9 points and 5 rebounds. The team shot a strong 61.3% on 2-point attempts but struggled badly from distance, going just 6-of-23 from 3-point range, while finishing with 24 rebounds, 11 assists and 14 turnovers. One game is far too little to judge a title defense, but the 3-point shooting is worth tracking.

RASTA Vechta: a qualifying run masking a rocky BBL start

Christian Held leads a Vechta roster that, on paper, runs deep: Tommy Kuhse, D'Mitrik Trice, Kihei Clark, Nelson Weidemann, Timo Lanmüller, Dominik Dolic, Peter Hemschemeier, Matt Lewis, Armaan Franklin, Lloyd Pandi, Justin Edler-Davis, Philipp Herkenhoff, Lamin Sabally, Elijah Ndi, Linus Trettin, Tibor Pleiß, Lars Thiemann and Eliah Braun are all under contract, per the club's own site.

Vechta's path to Group F came through BCL qualifying, where the German club won four games in six days — its third appearance in the BCL group stage. In the qualifying final, Vechta beat Dziki Warszawa 93-82 behind 25 points from Nelson Weidemann, 15 of them in the fourth quarter alone, while Lloyd Pandi added 6 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.

That qualifying form has not carried over to the German BBL, where Vechta opened 0-3: a 67-108 home loss to Bamberg on September 24, a 93-81 road loss at Frankfurt on September 26, and a 79-71 road loss at Jena on October 1, leaving the club averaging 73.0 points scored against 93.3 conceded. A fourth game at Braunschweig, scheduled for October 5, had not yet been played at this cutoff. At Frankfurt, Tibor Pleiß scored 21 points with 16 rebounds and 3 blocks and Matt Lewis added 17 points and 5 assists; at Jena, Justin Edler-Davis posted 20 points and 8 rebounds while Weidemann and Armaan Franklin each scored 12.

The gap between Vechta's two competitions comes down to injuries. Point guards Tommy Kuhse, D'Mitrik Trice and Kihei Clark are all out, along with forward Lamin Sabally, forcing Nelson Weidemann into full-time playmaking duty through both the qualifying run and the league games that followed. The toll showed against Bamberg, where Vechta committed 30 turnovers in the loss.

A group too tight to call before a single BCL game is played

Nothing about Group F's early returns lends itself to a confident prediction. Cholet's 1-1 Betclic Élite record reflects a roster still blending five new arrivals with holdovers Aaron Towo-Nansi and Noah Locke. Holon's 2-2 mark comes from Israeli Winner Cup games, not league play, with the true domestic season only starting October 11. Spartak, the reigning Serbian champions, has a single ABA League result to show for itself. And Vechta pairs four BCL qualifying wins secured in six days with an 0-3 start in the German BBL, a gap explained in part by three injured point guards. Whatever order the four clubs finish in, the stakes stretch beyond Group F: the second-place finisher here will face Group E's third-place team in the Play-In, while Group E's runner-up draws Group F's third-place club.