FIBA: EuroLeague Women play-ins begin with Fenerbahçe as the favorites

The 2026 EuroLeague Women postseason has officially begun.

Things will tip-off this Wednesday, Feb. 18 with the league “play-ins,” in which the top eight finishers from group play will play best-of-three series to determine who moves on to the Final Six, a bracket-style playoff that will be held in April.

The play-ins are divided into two types: the semifinal play-ins and the quarterfinal play-ins.

Each club competing in the semifinal play-ins has already qualified for the Final Six; the winners of those series will advance directly to the second round. The losers of the semifinal play-ins will play the winners of the quarterfinal play-ins in the first round of the Final Six. The losers of the quarterfinal play-ins, meanwhile, will be eliminated from the competition.

It goes without saying that the EuroLeague Women play-ins feature the best talent the competition has to offer, but what makes them particularly exciting is that they feature completely fresh matchups. The benefit of the league’s two-pronged group phase is that come play-in time, none of the competing teams will have faced each other. Less predictability means more uncertainty and, ultimately, more excitement for fans.

Will Fenerbahçe Opet continue its dominant run against an upstart Spar Girona squad? Can ZVVZ USK Praha advance past the quarterfinal play-ins and defend their EuroLeague Women title? How about Galatasaray Çağdaş Faktoring? Will they take yet another step in restoring their previous glories?

All of these questions and more will be answered when the play-ins begin, and you’ll be able to watch all the action live and for free on FIBA’s EuroLeague Women YouTube channel. Without further ado, here are this season’s play-in matchups:

Spar Girona (8-4) vs. Fenerbahçe Opet (11-1) (semifinal play-in)

Casademont Zaragoza (7-5) vs. ZVVZ USK Praha (8-4) (quarterfinal play-in)

Beretta Famila Schio (7-5) vs. Umana Reyer Venezia (7-5) (quarterfinal play-in)

Basket Landes (8-4) vs. Galatasaray Çağdaş Faktoring (10-2) (semifinal play-in)