Ulm will be the first of four qualifiers for the NextGen Finals
NextGen EuroLeague tips off in Ulm with 2022 champ Mega, 2025 finalist Milan
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The 2025–26 Adidas NextGen EuroLeague season tips off in Ulm, Germany, where the first of four qualifying tournaments will take place. The event is highlighted by 2022 continental champion U18 Mega Super Belgrade and 2025 Championship Game finalist U18 EA7 Emporio Armani Milan.
Eight teams will compete from February 6-8 at the Orange Campus, with the tournament winner earning a spot at the Adidas NextGen Finals during the EuroLeague Final Four in Athens this coming May. U18 ratiopharm ulm will host the event for a second consecutive season.
The other participating teams are U18 BAXI Manresa, U18 Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana, U18 LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne, U18 Olympiacos Piraeus, and the U18 Next Gen Team Ulm.
The eight teams are divided into two groups of four, with each team facing the others in its group in round-robin play. The top finisher in each group will meet in the championship game on Sunday, February 8.
The second-place teams will compete for third place, while positions five through eight will also be determined.
The groups are as follows: Group A features Cedevita, Milan, Next Gen Ulm, and Ulm. Group B includes ASVEL, Manresa, Mega, and Olympiacos.
Group A
Cedevita will compete in the event for the 20th time, including its eighth consecutive appearance and 18th in the last 19 seasons. Over the past three seasons, the club has posted a 1–3 record each year, finishing fourth in Munich last season and in Zadar in 2023, seventh in Podgorica in 2024, and fifth in Belgrade in 2020, where it went 3–1.
Milan reached the NextGen Championship Game last season, falling to U18 Zalgiris Kaunas in Abu Dhabi. The Italian side is making its eighth appearance overall and fifth in a row, having finished second at its last two qualifying events in Belgrade in 2024 and 2025.
Ulm is appearing for the ninth straight season dating back to 2017–18 and is hosting the competition for the second time. The German side finished third last season with a 3–1 record after winning the Abu Dhabi qualifier in 2024, becoming the first German club to claim a qualifying tournament title in the competition’s history.
The Next Gen Team Ulm will compete for the fifth time. The team will be coached for a second season by two-time EuroLeague champion Dogus Balbay, assisted by longtime Italian international and 126-game EuroLeague veteran Massimo Bulleri, along with Kheeryoung Rhee.
Group B
ASVEL will compete for the 12th time, including its ninth consecutive appearance. The French club played in Ulm last season, finishing 2–2 and placing fifth. ASVEL won the 2022 qualifier in Belgrade and finished second at the 2023 event in Patras.
Spain’s Manresa returns for just its second appearance after going 2–3 at the Hospitalet event in the 2010–11 season.
Mega has established itself as one of the competition’s premier programs, reaching the last nine NextGen Finals. The Serbian club won the title in 2022 and advanced to the Championship Game in 2017 and 2019. Mega is making its 15th straight appearance since the 2011–12 season. The club finished first at last season’s Istanbul qualifier, marking its fifth qualifier triumph after wins in 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2023, all held in Belgrade.
Olympiacos is appearing in the competition for the ninth time and fifth consecutively. The Greek club finished sixth in Ulm last season with a 1–3 record after placing fifth with a 2–2 mark at Paris 2024. Olympiacos also captured third place at the 2019 Belgrade event with a 3–1 record.