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2021/22 ABL playoff structure confirmed

The playoff structure for the 2021/22 ABL season has been confirmed.

The format of the post-season has been changed since the last completed campaign, with the competition recently expanding to six conferences. 16 teams will make it through to the post-season in total for 2021/22.

Starting on 2 March 2022, the top two teams from all six conferences will progress, plus the four best third place teams. All teams will be seeded as follows:

Seedings 1-6 (six conference winners)
Seedings 7-12 (six conference runners up)
Seedings 13-16 (four best third place teams)

The following criteria will be used to seed teams within each group:

  • Highest percentage of wins, (then if needed)
  • Highest points difference per game, (then if needed)
  • Total points scored

For clarity, no team can jump out of their seeding group. For example, a conference runner up can only ever be seeded as high as seven, even if their win percentage is higher than a conference winner seeded 1-6.

The opening sweet sixteen round of the playoffs will take on a 1v16, 2v15, 3v14 etc format.

Winning teams will then progress to the elite eights, played on the 9 March 2022, before final fours on 16 March 2022 and the ABL playoff final on Wednesday 23 March 2022.

For a full breakdown of the ABL post-season schedule, please click here

The final is once again scheduled to be held at the University of Essex Sport Arena.

Due to the COVID pandemic, there was no ABL season in 2020/21 and the previous post-season was cut short before the 2019/20 playoff final, leaving Haringey Sixth Form College and New City College to be crowned as the league’s most recent co-champions.