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| (Image Source: One Sports/East Asia Super League) |
Hong Kong Eastern and the Macau Black Bears will compete in the 2024-2025 season of the East Asia Super League (EASL) in a major expansion of East Asia’s professional club basketball championship. Home games will be played in both Macau and Hong Kong for each respective clubs, bringing the top competition to the Greater Bay Area. Basketball fans in East Asia are set for a champions league between the region’s best teams on a scale never seen before. The addition of Hong Kong Eastern and the Macau Black Bears increases the number of competing teams in the EASL 2024-2025 Season from eight to ten teams and ramps up representation from Greater China.
The Hong Kong and Macau sides will face off against the best teams from Chinese Taipei, Japan, Korea and the Philippines for pride and glory of becoming East Asia’s champion. Eastern are one of Hong Kong’s most storied teams and are the reigning domestic champions. The team won their thirddomestic A1 Division title in 2023. They are also a two-time winner of the ASEAN Basketball League (2016-17 and 2023). Eastern has been placed into Group A for the 2024-2025 Season Group Stage in which they will play against B.LEAGUE champions Hiroshima Dragonflies, Korean Basketball League (KBL) runners-up Suwon KT Sonicboom, P. LEAGUE+ runners-up Taoyuan Pauian Pilots, and PBA Philippine Cup champions Meralco Bolts. The Macau Black Bears was formed in 2018 as Macau’s first-ever professional team. The team are the reigning Macau basketball league champions and have also represented the region in the ASEAN Basketball League and The Asia Tournament. The Black Bears are now placed into Group B for the 2024-2025 Season Group Stage in which they will play against B.LEAGUE runners-up Ryukyu Golden Kings, KBL champions Busan KCC Egis, P.LEAGUE+ champions New Taipei Kings, and PBA Governors’ Cup champions San Miguel Beermen.
EASL CEO Henry Kerins said, “EASL is getting bigger and it’s getting better. It was always our ambition to expandand 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. The 2024-2025 Season now includes two powerful teams from two amazing cities, in one of the biggest basketball markets in the world – China’s Greater Bay Area. Both teams have great ownership and ambitions to be major brands in Asian basketball. Fans are in for incredible clashes next year as Hong Kong Eastern and the Macau Black Bears taketo the court against our existing line-up of amazing teams from Chinese Taipei, Japan, Korea and the Philippines.” For Hong Kong Eastern Team Leader Wilson Choi, “Hong Kong has been striving hard for a professional basketball team to represent the city at the highest level. Now, Hong Kong Eastern will do that, as we take on East Asia’s best teams in the EASL 2024-2025 Season. Eastern wants to be a major force in Asian basketball and to put Hong Kong on the map as a basketball powerhouse.” Macau Black Bears' Lukas Peng said, “The Black Bears have showed their strength in both the Macau Basketball League and the ASEAN Basketball League in recent years. We are excited and investing in our club so we can compete and challenge the best teams in Asia in EASL. We are proud to represent Macau and the wider Greater Bay Area in the EASL 2024-2025 Season.”
After its groundbreaking first season in 2023-2024, EASL is preparing to make history again in 2024-2025 which the official season schedule to be disclosed in the coming weeks will set out an epic series of matches across some of the greatest cities and biggest basketball markets in East Asia. EASL will also be announcing commercial partnerships with a host of brands and broadcasters. The league presents a unique opportunity for commercial partners to align with the most exciting new professional sports project in Asia and to access the region’s massive, youthful and growing basketball audience. An expanded series of broadcastand streaming partnerships will enable more fans than ever, in East Asia and around the world, to watch live as the best teams and players in the region clash for the championship in the 2024-2025 season.
