Guillaume Marion, Media365: published on Thursday, April 30, 2026 at 12:15
By winning the Eurocup on Tuesday night against Besiktas, Bourg-en-Bresse earned an invitation to participate in the Euroleague next season. The question now is whether JL will be able to participate in the premier European basketball competition.
Back in the top division since 2017, Bourg-en-Bresse made history in French basketball on Tuesday. By winning the Eurocup against Besiktas, JL followed in the footsteps of Monaco and Paris, winners of the competition in 2021 and 2024, becoming the seventh French club to claim a title on the European stage. This remarkable achievement by Fredéric Fauthoux’s players also earned them an invitation to compete in the Euroleague next season.
While euphoria has taken over Bourg-en-Bresse, the club is not yet certain if they will be able to participate in the top European basketball competition and will now have to consider their options. “We will study the hypothesis thoroughly. We are torn between reason and passion. The passion is to imagine Bourg-Barcelona or Bourg-Belgrade. For a basketball child, a JL child, giving that up would be an enormous decision,” explained Julien Desbottes.
Desbottes does not want to put the club “in danger”
“We need to be able to do it well (‘doubling the budget’), or we will give up. Our fans and our environment deserve for us not to put the club in danger. We have a strength: many small partners for whom it might be easier to increase their involvement… if we lack a lot of money (after a season in the Euroleague), we will be alone. The club’s sustainability is a founding principle,” later recognized the JL president.
If it is financially viable for the recent Eurocup champions, the question remains whether they will be able to play at home at Ekinox. “I would like us to play there. Monaco plays well in their arena (advertised as 5,000 seats, Gaston-Médecin doesn’t actually reach this total). If we are told that it is imperative to work on something else, we will consider other options,” Desbottes later stated in comments reported by L’Équipe. So will Fauthoux’s crew participate in the Euroleague next year? Answer expected in early June, apparently.
