East Asia Super League: Hong Kong Eastern to join 10-team competition next season
Hong Kong Eastern will join an expanded East Asia Super League in October, as club officials continue their bid to reach the highest level of basketball in the region.
Originally expected to have eight teams, the second full season of the EASL will now boast 10 clubs, with Macau Black Bears also committing to the competition.
Two sides each from Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and the Philippines will make up the rest of the elite league, which tips off on October 2.
Eastern are expected to play their home games in Hong Kong but a home court has yet to be finalised, given that Kai Tak Sports Park, one of the potential venues, will not be ready when the season starts.
Club officials have been keen to expand their influence in the region, amid persistent efforts to land a slot in mainland China’s top-tier Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) league.
“Hong Kong has been striving hard for a professional basketball team to represent the city at the highest level,” said Wilson Choi Fong-yue, team leader of Eastern. “We want to be a major force in Asian basketball and to put Hong Kong on the map as a basketball powerhouse.”
Three-time Hong Kong A1 Division champion Eastern, who last won their title in 2023, are no strangers to playing in regional basketball competitions, having previously competed in the now-disbanded Asean Basketball League (ABL).
Eastern won their first ABL title on their debut appearance in the 2016-17 season, finishing atop the regular season table before defeating the Singapore Slingers 3-1 in the final.
Their next two ABL seasons ended at the semi-final stage, losing to Filipino franchise San Miguel Alab Pilipinas and the Slingers, respectively.
Eastern’s final season in the ABL – played over four stops in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam – was in 2023, when Zeljko Pavlicevic’s side finished second in the standings before defeating NS Matrix Deers of Malaysia and Vietnamese outfit Saigon Heat in the knockout stages to win the title for the second time.
In April, Eastern topped their group at the Basketball Champions League Asia qualifying rounds but the Hong Kong representative finished bottom in the second round, losing all three matches later that month.
“EASL is getting bigger and it’s getting better,” Henry Kerins, the league CEO said. “It was always our ambition to expand and bring in more leagues, representing more regions in Asia.
“We have accelerated those plans due to the strong demand from the regional leagues to join, and their readiness to do so … fans are in for incredible clashes as Eastern and Black Bears take to the court against our existing line-up.”
Eastern has been placed in Group A alongside Japanese B. LEAGUE champion Hiroshima Dragonflies, Korean Basketball League (KBL) runners-up the Suwon KT Sonicboom, P. LEAGUE+ runners-up the Taoyuan Pauian Pilots and PBA Governors’ Cup champion the San Miguel Beermen.
The Black Bears are in Group B with B. LEAGUE runners-up the Ryukyu Golden Kings, KBL champions the Busan KCC Egis, P. LEAGUE+ champions the New Taipei Kings, and PBA Philippine Cup champions the Meralco Bolts.
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