The 2020 Balkans Super League will feature 11 teams from five different countries. Serbia will have the strongest representation with six teams, Bulgaria has two teams and there will be one each from Turkey, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Montenegro.

In another significant change the competition will be a straight forward knock-out with 3 game in an opening round in March/April followed by four quarter-finals in May, two semi-finals in June and a final which is scheduled for September.

Previous winners of the Balkan Super League winners are:

2017 – Partizan Belgrade Serbia

2018 – Red Star Belgrade Serbia

2019 – Red Star Belgrade Serbia

The 2020 teams:

Red Star Belgrade, Serbia
Partizan 1953 Belgrade, Serbia
Radnički Niš, Serbia
Dorcol Belgrade, Serbia
Car Dušan Silni Paraćin, Serbia
Belgrade Youth RLC, Serbia
Valjacite Pernik, Bulgaria
Lokomotiv Sofia, Bulgaria
Borac Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Ankara Phrygians Turkey
South Region Bar, Montenegro

Round 1 ties:

Lokomotiv Sofia VS South Region
Car Dušan Silni VS Valjacite Pernik
Borac Banja Luka VS Beogradski YRLC

The draw for the quarter-finals will be April 7, 2020. Red Star, Partizan, Radnički Niš and Ankara will be seeded and teams will play away and cannot meet each other in the quarter finals.

Tihomir Simeonov president of RLC Lokomotiv Sofia:

“Our club expected more participating clubs for 2020. For our part, we even helped a club from Bulgaria to enter the BSL.

“We are disappointed that the teams from Greece, and Albania are not involved but everyone has their priorities. We wish them success at the club and national level, in championships and competitions for 2020.”

Lazar Karalić player of Borac Banjaluka:

“The Balkan Super League is our first competition in the history of the club. We are extremely happy to represent Republika Srpska in a major rugby league competition in the Balkans. This competition demonstrates a major improvement at our club and it supports the further development of the sport.”

Kemal Ege Gurkan president and player of Ankara Phrygians:

“We are extremely happy to take part again in BSL it contributed massively to our development last year. This time we are back as national champions and its very important that we keep Turkey and Ankara on track for international club rugby league.”