The league said the admissions process began in parallel to planning the conclusion of the current season, with the Final Eight tournament scheduled to take place from September 30 to October 4.

The Basketball Champions League is considered a rival to the EuroLeague and EuroCup competitions.

Turkish club Darüşşafaka and Lithuanian team Rytas Vilnius are set to make the switch from the EuroCup to the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) backed Basketball Champions League.

Darüşşafaka finished sixth in the Basketbol Süper Ligi and Rytas Vilnius recorded a second place finish in the Lithuania Premier League, following the early end of both domestic seasons due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Spanish outfit RETAbet Bilbao will also join the Basketball Champions League after a successful season saw them reach the ACB playoffs.

"We are delighted to welcome these top clubs, playing in some of the strongest leagues in Europe, to the Basketball Champions League family, and I’m convinced they will bring something special to next year’s competition," said Patrick Comninos, Basketball Champions League chief executive.

"Their presence underscores the successful growth and development of the competition, and we are pleased to see more clubs convinced by the truly pan-European nature of the Basketball Champions League and its focus on providing a great international competition for clubs based on sport results and merit.

“We are also thrilled to see that more and more clubs with ambitions to win a top European trophy are choosing the Basketball Champions League to pursue their dreams."

Next season will be the fifth edition of the Basketball Champions League, a tournament that has been the source of a dispute between the organisation and EuroLeague, with both clashing over ownership of the European club game.

Europe's top sides broke away from FIBA in 2000 to form part of the EuroLeague tournament.

The Basketball Champions League, established by FIBA, was designed to replace the EuroLeague as the top level competition on the continent when it was created in 2016.

EuroLeague features 16 teams, with 11 sides having a long-term licence to take part in the competition.

The remaining teams consist of the four highest placed teams in four leagues, as well as the winner of the second tier EuroCup competition.

The Basketball Champions League says the competition sees teams qualify through "sporting merit", via performances in domestic leagues and qualification rounds.

Adomas Buzinskas, chairman of Rytas Vilnius, told the club’s website that the decision to move to the Basketball Champions League was to ensure the club was not "stuck in a mediocre role."

"The transition to the FIBA Champions League is not a step backwards - it is a responsibly weighed decision in the process of transforming the club," he said.

"FIBA provides the organisation with financial stability and the opportunity to work in the priority direction of the club - the education of the youth system.

"We don’t want to be stuck in the role of mediocrity, so we had to choose a more complex but long-term process of organisational transformation.

"I believe that Rytas' family will trust this decision, and the club will convince those who doubt it with its results, which will definitely come when everyone works together."

According to Eurohoops, FIBA has also contacted Partizan, Buducnost and Cedevita Olimpija over potentially taking part in the Basketball Champions League.