Euroleague
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The Euroleague is a high-caliber professional basketball league with teams from all over Europe.
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Euroleague
The Euroleague was established by ULEB, the Union of European Leagues of Basketball, which in turn was created by a group of 24 elite club teams. Most of the founding clubs came from Spain, Italy and Greece.
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-home) 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.
New for the 2004-05 season was a quarterfinal round. 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 2005 Final Four was held in Moscow, Russia. The semifinals took place on May 6, with the third-place and championship games on May 8. The following teams were involved:
- CSKA Moscow
- Maccabi Tel Aviv
- TAU Cerámica (Spain) (official club name: Saski Baskonia, or simply Baskonia)
- Panathinaikos (Greece)
The semifinal matchups were:
- CSKA 78-85 TAU Cerámica
- Maccabi 91-82 Panathinaikos
In the final, Maccabi successfully defended its title, defeating TAU 90-78. The third-place game saw Panathinaikos erase a 22-point deficit in the third quarter and go on to defeat the hosts CSKA 94-91 in double overtime.
The 2006 Final Four will be held at Sazka Arena in Prague, Czech Republic.
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Teams of Euroleague 2004/2005
Croatia
- Cibona VIP (Zagreb)
France
- Adecco Asvel Lyon
- Pau-Orthez
Germany
- Opel Skyliners (Frankfurt)
Greece
- AEK Athens
- Olympiacos Piraeus
- Panathinaikos (Athens)
Israel
Italy
- Benetton Treviso
- Fortitudo (Climamio) Bologna
- Montepaschi Siena
- Scavolini Pesaro
Lithuania
- Žalgiris (Kaunas)
Poland
Russia
Serbia and Montenegro
- Partizan Mobtel (Belgrade)
Slovenia
- Union Olimpija (Ljubljana)
Spain
- Adecco Estudiantes (Madrid)
- FC Barcelona
- Real Madrid
- TAU Cerámica (Vítoria/Gasteiz)
- Unicaja (Málaga)
Turkey
- Efes Pilsen (Istanbul)
- Ülker (Istanbul)
Champions 1958-2005
- 1958 ASK Riga (USSR)
- 1959 ASK Riga (USSR)
- 1960 ASK Riga (USSR)
- 1961 CSKA Moscow (USSR)
- 1962 Tbilisi (USSR)
- 1963 CSKA Moscow (USSR)
- 1964 Real Madrid (Spain)
- 1965 Real Madrid (Spain)
- 1966 Simmenthal Milan (Italy)
- 1967 Real Madrid (Spain)
- 1968 Real Madrid (Spain)
- 1969 CSKA Moscow (USSR)
- 1970 Ignis Varese (Italy)
- 1971 CSKA Moscow (USSR)
- 1972 Ignis Varese (Italy)
- 1973 Ignis Varese (Italy)
- 1974 Real Madrid (Spain)
- 1975 Ignis Varese (Italy)
- 1976 Mobilgirgi Varese (Italy)
- 1977 Maccabi Tel-Aviv (Israel)
- 1978 Real Madrid (Spain)
- 1979 Bosna Sarajevo (Yugoslavia)
- 1980 Real Madrid (Spain)
- 1981 Maccabi Tel-Aviv (Israel)
- 1982 Squibb Cantů (Italy)
- 1983 Ford Cantů (Italy)
- 1984 Banco di Roma (Italy)
- 1985 Cibona Zagreb (Yugoslavia)
- 1986 Cibona Zagreb (Yugoslavia)
- 1987 Tracer Milan (Italy)
- 1988 Philips Milan (Italy)
- 1989 Jugoplastika Split (Yugoslavia)
- 1990 Jugoplastika Split (Yugoslavia)
- 1991 Pop 84 Split (Yugoslavia)
- 1992 Partizan Belgrade (Yugoslavia)
- 1993 CSP Limoges (France)
- 1994 Joventut Badalona (Spain)
- 1995 Real Madrid (Spain)
- 1996 Panathinaikos (Greece)
- 1997 Olympiacos (Greece)
- 1998 Kinder Bologna (Italy)
- 1999 Žalgiris Kaunas (Lithuania)
- 2000 Panathinaikos Athens (Greece)
- 2001* Kinder Bologna (Italy)
- 2002 Panathinaikos Athens (Greece)
- 2003 FC Barcelona (Spain)
- 2004 Maccabi Tel-Aviv (Israel)
- 2005 Maccabi Tel-Aviv (Israel)
*2001 was a transition year, with the best European teams split into two major leagues (Suproleague held by FIBA, Euroleague by ULEB). Suproleague 2001 was won by Maccabi Tel-Aviv (Israel).
External links
- Euroleague official webpage (http://www.euroleague.net/)he:יורוליג