University of the Philippines will take its brand of collegiate basketball beyond the local scene, joining 11 other universities in the Eastern Conference of the Asian University Basketball League’s 2026-27 home-and-away season.
The Fighting Maroons will compete against Japanese universities Nippon Sports Science University and Nihon University in the 12-team conference, which will feature a home-and-away format for the first time in Asian collegiate basketball.
UP is scheduled to visit NSSU on Dec. 27, 2026, before hosting the Japanese university on Feb. 12, 2027.
The Fighting Maroons will then face Nihon on the road on Feb. 21 before welcoming the Japanese side on Feb. 14.
The league announced the format and schedule on Monday, with 18 universities from 11 countries set to compete in 54 games across the Eastern and Southern conferences from November 2026 to April 2027.
The Eastern Conference will stage its home-and-away matches across China, Japan, Korea, Mongolia and the Philippines from November through March. The Southern Conference, meanwhile, will hold a separate tournament in Hanoi, Vietnam, from April 7 to 11, 2027.
UP is grouped with NSSU and Nihon in Group 4, where each university will play its two group opponents twice, once at home and once on the road.
The Fighting Maroons are scheduled to open their campaign against NSSU in Tokyo on Dec. 27 before returning to action at home against the same opponent on Feb. 12. They will then play Nihon twice in February, with the first meeting set for Feb. 14 in Manila and the return game slated for Feb. 21 in Tokyo.
(C) Asiabasket
The venue for UP’s home games has yet to be announced.
The Eastern Conference features 12 universities divided into four groups of three.
The top eight teams based on their records will advance to the next stage, alongside defending champion Shanghai Jiao Tong University, which receives an automatic berth. If the reigning champion finishes in the top eight, the ninth-place team will claim the final spot.
Meanwhile, the six-team Southern Conference will feature universities from Australia, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Macau and Vietnam.
The teams will be divided into two groups of three, with the top two from each group advancing to the Final Four and the top three finishers earning places in Championship Week.
The 12 qualifiers will converge for Championship Week from Aug. 16 to 22, 2027, competing in group play and a single-elimination knockout stage to determine the continent’s best collegiate basketball team.
The season opens with a two-game Tip-Off event at Sangnoksu Kim Yeon-koung Gymnasium in Seoul, South Korea, where host Yonsei University will face defending champion Shanghai Jiao Tong on Nov. 22 before taking on China’s Tsinghua University two days later.
The AUBL, launched in 2025 and sanctioned by the Asian University Sports Federation, is positioning the expanded season as a landmark step in developing collegiate basketball across the continent by bringing elite university programs together in a cross-border competition.
