Players of the Hangzhou team celebrate with the trophy after winning the Zhejiang City Basketball League championship at the Huanglong Sports Center in Hangzhou on Feb 6, 2026. [Photo/IC]

The 2026 Zhejiang City Basketball League, known as "ZheBA", will open in late June and run through January 2027.

The upgraded tournament will expand its provincial championship from 22 to 28 teams, including 11 city select teams and 17 teams representing counties, county-level cities, and districts. City-level qualifiers will continue to cover all 90 counties, county-level cities, and districts across Zhejiang.

All city-level qualifiers must finish by Aug 23. The top team from each prefecture-level city will advance directly to the provincial championship.

The runner-up teams from six populous cities, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Jinhua, Taizhou, and Jiaxing, will also qualify. Each prefecture-level city may also form a select team from other participating counties, county-level cities, and districts under its jurisdiction.

The city-level qualifiers will use a home-and-away format, with local organizers allowed to choose a single or double round-robin system.

In the provincial championship, the 28 teams will be divided into four groups of seven, playing a home-and-away double round-robin format. The top four teams from each group will enter the knockout stage.

The round of 16, quarterfinals, and semifinals will be played as best-of-three home-and-away series. The finals will use a best-of-five format, with the deciding game to be held at Huanglong Sports Center.

Player eligibility will continue to reflect the tournament's grassroots focus. Participants must be male Chinese citizens born before May 31, 2008. They must either have been born in Zhejiang or have held Zhejiang household registration and paid social insurance in the province for at least two years.

Players from professional leagues, including the CBA and men's professional 3x3 basketball leagues, as well as professional reserve teams, are barred from competing. Student players who have competed in regional rounds or above in Division I of the Chinese University Basketball Association League are also ineligible.