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The 'Euroleague' (EL) is the highest caliber professional basketball league in Europe, with teams from thirteen different European countries.
| Contents |
| History |
| Euroleague Format |
| Champions 1958-2007 |
| Titles by Team |
| Titles by Country |
| Trivia |
| External links |
History
Main articles: Fiba European Champions Cup and Euroleague history
The Euroleague (or historically, the ''European Champions Cup'') was established by FIBA and it operated under its umbrella from 1958 until the summer of 2000 including the 1999/2000 season. That was when ULEB, the Union of European Leagues of Basketball, was created by the 24 richest club teams, most of them from Spain, Italy and Greece.
Amazingly, FIBA had never trademarked the 'Euroleague' name and ULEB simply swiped it without any legal ramifications. Understandably, FIBA brass were fuming, but having no legal recourse to do anything, they had to find a new name for their league. Thus, the following 2000/2001 season started with 2 separate top European basketball competitions: FIBA Suproleague (known as FIBA Euroleague up to that point) and the brand new ULEB Euroleague.
The rift in European club basketball initially showed no signs of letting up. Top clubs were also split between the two leagues: Panathinaikos, Maccabi Tel Aviv, CSKA Moscow, stayed with FIBA while Olympiacos Piraeus, Kinder Bologna, Real Madrid, Barcelona, TAU Cerámica and Benetton Treviso, joined ULEB.
In May 2001, Europe had two continental champions. The leaders of both organizations realized the need to come up with a single competition. Negotiating from the position of strength, ULEB dictated proceedings and FIBA essentially had no choice but to agree to their terms. As a result, Euroleague was fully integrated under ULEB's umbrella and teams that competed in FIBA Suproleague during the 2000/2001 season joined it as well.
In essence, the authority in European basketball was divided over club-country lines. FIBA stayed in charge of national team competitions (Eurobasket, World Championships, Olympics) while ULEB took over the club competitions. From that point, FIBA's Korac Cup and Saporta Cup lasted one more season before folding, which was when ULEB launched the ULEB Cup.
Euroleague Format
The Euroleague is currently contested in four phases.
The first phase is the 'Regular season', in which 24 teams, divided into three groups of eight, participate. Each team plays two games (home-and-away) against every other team in its group. At the end of the regular season, the field is cut from 24 to 16; the surviving teams are divided into four groups.
The second phase, known as the 'Top 16', then begins. As in the regular season, each Top 16 group is contested in a double round-robin format.
The third phase, the 'Quarterfinal round', has been played since the 2004-05 season. Before, only the group winners advanced to the Final Four (see below). Now, the first- and second-place teams from each group advance. In the quarterfinal round, the first-place team from each group is matched against a second-place team from another group in a best-of-three series, with two of the three possible games scheduled at the first-place team's home court.
The 'Final Four', held at a predetermined site, features the winners of the four quarterfinal series in one-off knockout matches. The semifinal losers play for third place; the winners play for the championship.
The 2007 Final Four was held at the Olympic Indoor Hall in Athens, Greece. The semifinal pairings and results were:
★ 'Panathinaikos' - TAU Cerámica 67 - 53
★ 'CSKA Moscow' - Unicaja Málaga 62 - 50
CSKA were attempting to repeat as champions, while Panathinaikos were trying to win the Euroleague on their home floor. The final was held on May 6, preceded immediately by the third-place game. Panathinaikos won the championship by a two point difference (93-91). The third place was taken by Unicaja Málaga (74-76).
The 2008 Final Four is scheduled for May 2-4 at the Palacio de Deportes de la Comunidad de Madrid in Madrid.
Champions 1958-2007
For finals not played on a single match, '
★ ' precedes the score of the team playing at home.
★
Titles by Team
| Team | Winners | Runners-Up | Years Won | Years Runner-Up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Real Madrid | | | 1964,1965,1967,1968,1974,1978,1980,1995 | 1962, 1963, 1969, 1975, 1976, 1985 |
| Maccabi Tel Aviv | | | 1977, 1981, 2001, 2004, 2005 | 1980, 1982, 1987, 1988, 1989, 2000, 2006 |
| Pallacanestro Varese | | | 1970, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1976 | 1971, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1979 |
| CSKA Moscow | | | 1961, 1963, 1969, 1971, 2006 | 1965, 1970, 1973, 2007 |
| Panathinaikos | | | 1996, 2000, 2002, 2007 | 2001 |
| Olimpia Milano | | | 1966, 1987, 1988 | 1967, 1983 |
| ASK Riga | | | 1958, 1959, 1960 | 1961 |
| KK Split | | | 1989, 1990, 1991 | 1972 |
| Virtus Bologna | | | 1998, 2001 | 1981, 1999, 2002 |
| Pallacanestro Cantù | | | 1982, 1983 | - |
| Cibona Zagreb | | | 1985, 1986 | - |
| FC Barcelona | | | 2003 | 1984, 1990, 1991, 1996, 1997 |
| Olympiacos Piraeus | | | 1997 | 1994, 1995 |
| Dinamo Tbilisi | | | 1962 | 1960 |
| Joventut Badalona | | | 1994 | 1992 |
| Žalgiris Kaunas | | | 1999 | 1986 |
| Bosna Sarajevo | | | 1979 | - |
| Virtus Roma | | | 1984 | - |
| Partizan Belgrade | | | 1992 | - |
| CSP Limoges | | | 1993 | - |
| Academic Sofia | | | - | 1958, 1959 |
| Spartak Brno | | | - | 1964, 1968 |
| Benetton Treviso | | | - | 1993, 2003 |
| TAU Cerámica | | | - | 2001, 2005 |
| USK Slavia Prague | | | - | 1966 |
| AEK Athens | | | - | 1998 |
| Fortitudo Bologna | | | - | 2004 |
★ Maccabi beat Panathinaikos in the 2000/2001 FIBA Suproleague final. The league did not contain all of the European champions.
★ Virtus Bologna beat Saski Baskonia (TAU Cerámica) in the 2000/2001 ULEB Euroleague final. The league did not contain all of the European champions.
The titles date back to 1958 when the first European Champions Cup was played.
Titles by Country
| Country | Cups |
|---|---|
| Italy | 13 |
| Spain | 10 |
| USSR | 8 |
| SFR Yugoslavia | 6 |
| Greece | 5 |
| Israel | 5 |
| Federal Republic of Yugoslavia | 1 |
| France | 1 |
| Lithuania | 1 |
| Russia | 1 |
Trivia
★ Real Madrid has been the most successful team, having won the competition a record eight times.
★ Panathinaikos is the most successful team since the Final Four system introduction, having won 4 out of 20 Final Fours.
★ Athens is the only city, from which three different clubs Panathinaikos, Olympiacos and AEK Athens have participated in Euroleague finals.
★ The highest attendance ever recorded in Euroleague is around 20,000 fans, achieved in a home match of Panathinaikos Athens in OAKA against Benetton on March 29, 2006, for the second phase of the 2005-06 Euroleague. An attendance of 18,900 fans has also been achieved three times in home matches of Panathinaikos, against Efes Pilsen in 2005 and Tau Ceramica (twice) in 2006.
★ Although Israel is located in the Middle East, its teams play in the Euroleague (similar to Israel's national football team and clubs playing for UEFA competitions).
★ In the small area of less than 40 km² in the northern metropolitan Area of Milan, there are 3 clubs that won a total of 10 European Champions Cups and played a total of 16 finals:
★
★ Pallacanestro Cantù, which won the Euroleague twice, is the team of a small city of Cantù (only 35,172 inhabitants), located 25 km north of Milan.
★
★ Pallacanestro Varese, which won 5 Euroleagues, is from the city of Varese (only 82,282 inhabitants), which is located a few miles west from Cantù and Milan.
★
★ Olimpia Milano is from the city of Milan itself.
★ Record score for a final game was achieved in the 2004 finals in Tel Aviv, where home club Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Skipper Bologna by a score of 118-74 (44 point difference).
★ During the 1970s, Pallacanestro Varese, then-named Ignis and later on Mobilgirgi and Emerson, reached all 10 finals. These consecutive final matches (of which it won five) were the only ones ever reached by this club.
External links
★ Euroleague official webpage
★ TalkBasket - Basketball forum
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