BOSNA BH Telecom Sarajevo will replace AS Monaco in Group D of the 2026-27 BKT EuroCup after Monaco was ruled ineligible for the competition, Euroleague Basketball announced Tuesday. The Bosnian club receives a one-season participation spot and returns to the EuroCup for the first time since 2007-08.
Euroleague Basketball said Monaco was unable to fulfill the requirements established in the official BKT EuroCup By-Laws, resulting in its ineligibility. BOSNA will now join Bahcesehir College Istanbul, Balkan Botevgrad, Kids&Us Manresa, Lietkabelis Panevezys, PAOK Thessaloniki, ratiopharm ulm and Roma Basketball in Group D.
BOSNA’s EuroCup campaign will begin on Sept. 30 with a road game against Lietkabelis Panevezys. That matchup comes 6,791 days after the club’s previous appearance in the competition.
The Sarajevo club has played in the EuroCup only once before, during the 2007-08 season. BOSNA reached the knockout rounds after one of the most unusual games in European basketball history, losing to ALBA Berlin 141-127 on Dec. 4, 2007, after five overtimes.
The game remains the longest in EuroCup history. Five BOSNA players played more than 40 minutes, with Kyle Hill leading the team after spending 53 minutes and 18 seconds on the court.
Despite the five-overtime defeat, BOSNA advanced to the knockout stage before losing to Gran Canaria in the Last 32. The club will now return to the competition nearly 19 years after its last EuroCup game.
BOSNA enters the tournament as the reigning champion of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The club won its fifth national league championship last season, adding to a domestic history that includes three Yugoslav Championship titles in 1978, 1980 and 1983.
The Sarajevo club also owns one of the most significant achievements in European basketball history. On April 5, 1979, BOSNA defeated Pallacanestro Varese 96-93 in Grenoble, France, to win the European Champions Cup.
Led by Mirza Delibasic and Zarko Varajic, BOSNA became the first club from the former Yugoslavia to win Europe’s premier club competition. Varajic scored 45 points in the final, a record for a championship game in the competition.
BOSNA’s return therefore combines a current domestic championship with a European history that dates back decades. Its first EuroCup appearance since 2007-08 will begin against Lietkabelis on Sept. 30, with the club entering Group D in place of Monaco.
