Rytas Vilnius rally from 20 down to win BCL title

Rytas Vilnius produced the Basketball Champions League’s biggest championship comeback to defeat AEK BC 92-86 after overtime and claim the 2026 title in Badalona on Saturday.

The Lithuanian team appeared to be heading for defeat when AEK opened a 20-point advantage, leading 55-35 midway through the third quarter. Rytas then transformed the game in the final period, outscoring AEK 35-17 to level the contest and force the first overtime in the 10-season history of the BCL Final Four.

Rytas controlled the extra period 12-6, completing a result that made the club the first in the competition to recover from a double-digit deficit in the championship game. A crowd of 10,372 watched the final at the Palau Municipal d'Esports.

The result also made Rytas the seventh different club to win the Basketball Champions League, according to championsleague.basketball, the competition’s publisher. Lithuania became the fifth country represented among the winners, joining Spain, Greece, Italy and Germany.

A final changed after half-time

AEK had established command before Rytas began its recovery. The 20-point margin gave the Greek side a clear route to the trophy, but the Lithuanian response steadily altered the balance of the game. The decisive fourth-quarter scoring burst brought the teams level and sent the final into an additional five minutes.

Rytas then finished the job in overtime, scoring twice as many points as AEK in the extra period. The victory extended the club’s winning run in the competition to seven matches, its longest such sequence in the BCL.

That run followed a campaign in which Rytas recorded four wins and two defeats in both the Group Phase and the Round of 16. The team then swept ERA Nymburk 2-0 in the Quarter-Finals before overcoming two former champions at the Final Four: La Laguna Tenerife and AEK.

Lukosius sets a Finals record

Simonas Lukosius supplied one of the night’s defining individual performances. The Rytas player made seven three-pointers, a new record for a BCL Finals game, and finished with 23 points.

His contribution helped Rytas survive AEK’s early dominance and complete the comeback. Lukosius was also named Most Valuable Player of the Final Four, with travelling Rytas supporters celebrating his performance during the title victory.

The triumph adds Rytas to a winners’ roll that has previously included clubs from four other countries. Spain has produced six title-winning campaigns, while Greece, Italy and Germany have also supplied champions.

Unicaja completes the podium

Unicaja secured third place by beating La Laguna Tenerife 85-80 in the tournament’s third-place game. The result put Unicaja on the podium for a third consecutive season.

The previous winners listed by championsleague.basketball are Iberostar Tenerife in 2016-17, AEK in 2017-18, Segafredo Virtus Bologna in 2018-19, Hereda San Pablo Burgos in 2019-20 and 2020-21, Lenovo Tenerife in 2021-22, Telekom Baskets Bonn in 2022-23, and Unicaja in both 2023-24 and 2024-25.

Rytas’ victory therefore ended Unicaja’s run of back-to-back championships while giving Lithuania its first BCL title. It also turned a final that AEK had controlled for much of the evening into the competition’s first overtime championship game.