Euroleague Basketball has announced a sequence of rule modifications and clarifications forward of the 2026-27 EuroLeague and EuroCup seasons, with changes protecting the act of taking pictures, technical fouls and unsportsmanlike fouls.
The modifications had been introduced Tuesday, September 15, and also will apply to the inaugural 2026 Euroleague Basketball SuperCup.
One of the important updates issues the definition of the act of taking pictures. For a bounce shot or different transferring shot, it now begins when the participant strikes their shoulders and the ball upward towards the basket, supplied the participant is within the frontcourt.
Drives to the basket are judged individually. The act of taking pictures usually begins between the three-point line and the basket as soon as the participant gathers the ball and continues the taking pictures movement by means of launch.
Euroleague Basketball additionally clarified a number of contact conditions. A rip-through transfer involving side-to-side contact will all the time lead to a foul on the ground relatively than a taking pictures foul.
Contact with a shooter’s hand on the follow-through is authorized solely when it’s minor and happens cleanly after the ball has been launched. Contact on the facet of the hand, wrist, arm or physique stays a foul.
One other vital change issues a defender coming into a shooter’s touchdown house. If the shooter’s foot lands on the defender’s foot, the incident will now be categorized as a flagrant foul relatively than below the earlier unsportsmanlike foul class.
The unsportsmanlike foul itself has been changed by two classes: disruptive foul and flagrant foul. A disruptive foul covers contact that interrupts the circulation of play and downsides an opponent with out reaching the extent of a flagrant foul, together with fouls designed to cease a fastbreak or cease the clock late in 1 / 4.
A flagrant foul applies to contact that’s not a reputable basketball play or is reckless, violent or harmful. Each fouls carry the identical penalty as the previous unsportsmanlike foul, however solely flagrant fouls depend towards disqualification.
Technical fouls have additionally been divided into Class 1 and Class 2. Class 1 contains disrespectful communication, taunting, obstructing an opponent’s imaginative and prescient and faking a foul, and counts towards disqualification. Class 2 covers offenses equivalent to delay of recreation, hanging on the rim after a dunk and defensive goaltending on the ultimate free throw, however doesn’t depend towards disqualification.
A participant might be disqualified after two Class 1 technical fouls, two flagrant fouls, or one in every of every. Head coaches face disqualification after two private Class 1 technical fouls, or three Class 1 technical fouls linked to bench conduct.
A number of Euroleague Basketball-adapted guidelines that had been already in place additionally stay for the brand new season. Head coaches proceed to obtain two challenges per recreation, though one is forfeited if unused throughout the first 38 minutes. Coaches can’t problem the id of a participant known as for a foul.
There may also not be a warning earlier than a technical foul for behavioral points or faking, whereas warnings stay for delay of recreation. A coach might be routinely disqualified if anybody on the workforce’s bench record enters the courtroom and interferes with an opponent’s fastbreak.
