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7 October 2025  4 min read

Elite Academy Leagues set for 2025/26 tip off

The 12-strong field in both leagues will all be chasing a spot in the Academy League Playoff Finals, held on Thursday 26 March 2026 at Essex Sports Arena.

The season's biggest games will be heading back to the East region for the first time since 2018/19, when Charnwood College Riders claimed both titles on a historic day for their programme.

Both the EABL and WEABL schedules get underway on Wednesday 8 October 2025, with the first half of the campaign drawing to a close on 10 December 2025 ahead of the mid-season break.

Firing back into life on 14 January 2026, it's then a sprint to the finish for the end of the regular season on 11 February 2026.

Week One fixtures

EABL

North

BMET City of Birmingham Rockets vs Derby Trailblazers - LIVE STATS

Manchester Magic vs Charnwood College Riders  - LIVE STATS

SGS College vs Myerscough College - LIVE STATS

South

Barking Abbey vs HHS Reading Rockets - LIVE STATS

City of London Academy - Southwark vs Itchen College - LIVE STATS

WEABL

North

Charnwood College Riders vs BMET City of Birmingham Rockets - LIVE STATS

The Sheffield College vs Milton Keynes 5 Dimensions - The Hazeley Academy - LIVE STATS

South

Barking Abbey vs HHS Reading Rockets - LIVE STATS

City of London Academy - Southwark vs Itchen College - LIVE STATS

Barking's Rikki Broadmore coaching in last year's EABL Final

EABL

The EABL cohort will all be trying to topple Barking Abbey, who extended their lead as the competition's most successful programme with a sixth title last March.

As is often the case in the Academy competitions, teams must navigate the transient nature of roster building, with players progressing to the next step of their basketball journeys after just a few years in the league.

In that regard, Barking are no different, losing all five of their starters from last season's playoff showpiece in Manchester.

Head coach Rikki Broadmore is excited for the new campaign, but realistic about the year ahead given his programme's turnover: "Defending the EABL title is always a good thing. It's something we've done before, but we'll be defending it against some very talented teams again this year.

"It's exciting for us to be defending champions, but at the end of the day, it's about performances and developing the players.

"We're a whole new team, so we just have to figure that out and hopefully we figure it out throughout the season.

"So it's could be a really interesting year, but we've got our work cut out for us."

Week one sees six games on offer, split evenly between the North and South.

Defending champs Barking open the season against HHS Reading Rockets, whilst CoLA hosts Itchen College.

Looking North, BMET and Derby go head-to-head, and there's an exciting contest between Manchester Magic and Charnwood as both teams made the post-season last year.

Last season's finalists, Myerscough, open 2025/26 with a trip to SGS College.

 

Copleston's Nick Drane leads his team during a time out in last year's WEABL Final.

WEABL

Copleston High School are the team to beat in the WEABL after the Suffolk programme beat debut finalists Manchester Mystics in 2024/25.

The victory was Copleston's second title, and first solo win after the shared crown of 2019/20's COVID-affected campaign.

Copleston's clashes with City of London Academy - Southwark in the South Conference will once again be a highlight of the calendar, but plenty of other programmes will fancy their chances of stepping up to the mark and mounting a challenge.

Like Barking, Drane's roster has faced something of an overhaul, meaning that an repeat success in 2025/26 isn't at the forefront of his side's thinking. He said: "It means a great deal to be the WEABL champions, a competition that has eluded us for many years,

"However, we are very much focused on the development of our players and the journey that they will go on this season – with defending the title very much at the back of our minds.

"With no third-year players this year, and a number of injuries, we are fully aware of the challenges we are up against this season."

The WEABL South's week one fixtures mirror those in the EABL as Barking host HHS Reading Rockets, and Itchen head to CoLA.

Debutants BMET City of Birmingham Rockets begin their WEABL journey with a tough trip to 2018/19 champs Charnwood, whilst Sheffield College host MK5D, who were winless in their debut 2024/25 season and will be looking to kick on in year two.

Visit the EABL Hub

Visit the WEABL Hub

For a full rundown of all the teams involved in the EABL and WEABL for the upcoming season, including the key returning players, scroll through the carousel below.