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EuroLeague 13/05/2014, 19.29

A brief history of European basketball top competition format

Euroleague is a private league owned by the clubs

EuroLeague

EUROPEAN CLUB BASKETBALL PRE-2000

 

Football & L’Equipe

- Origins in Association Football
- Gabriel Hanot, L’Equipe, France
- 1954 - friendly - England’s Wolves vs. Hungary’s Honved
- 1957 European Championship in Bulgaria
- FIBA Secretary General William Jones - commission
- L’Equipe Trophy
- 1957-58 European Cup for Men’s Champion Clubs



FIBA years: 1957-58 to 1999-2000

- FIBA headquartered in Rome, Italy (1932-40), Bern, Switzerland (1940-56), Munich, Germany (1956-2002), Geneva/Mies, Switzerland (2002-14)
- Last edition 1999-2000, Panathinaikos Athens champions in Thessaloniki, Greece
- Summer 2000, ULEB created “new” Euroleague
- Own management & exploitation of commercial rights
- 2002 FIBA Europe created

 

EUROLEAGUE COMPETITION SYSTEM

 

Euroleague / Suproleague: 2000-01

 

- For one season, two parallel competitions

- SuproLeague (FIBA): Maccabi Tel Aviv, Panathinaikos Athens, CSKA Moscow, Efes Pilsen Istanbul

- Euroleague: Virtus Bologna, Tau Ceramica Vitoria, Olympiacos Piraeus, Real Madrid

- Competition System based upon NBA model

- 24 teams played a 10 Game Home and Away Regular Season

- 3 Game Series Last 16, 3 Game Series Last 8, 5 Game Series Last 4, 5 Game Series Playoff Finals

 

Transition season: 2001-02

 

- In order to accommodate pre-existing commitments with Euroleague teams and SuproLeague teams - 32 teams

- 14 Game Regular Season -> 6 Game Top 16

- 50% principle applied

- 6 weeks of do or die basketball

- 4 group leaders qualified directly for the 2002 Final Four in Bologna, Italy

 

Competition system V1: 2002-04

 

- Regular Season 3 Groups of 8 14 Games (1st-4th place teams in each group + 2 best 5th place teams)

- Top 16 4 Groups of 4 6 Games (1st place team in each group)

- Final Four Single Game 2 Games

 

Competition system V2: 2004-08

 

- Regular Season 3 Groups of 8 14 Games (1st-4th place teams in each group + 2 best 5th place teams)

- Top 16 4 Groups of 4 (1st & 2nd place team in each group) 6 Games

- Playoffs 3 Game Series (Winner) 2-3 Games

- Final Four Single Game 2 Games

 

Competition system V3: 2008-09

 

- Regular Season 4 Groups of 6 (1st-4th place teams in each group) 10 Games

- Top 16 4 Groups of 4 (1st & 2nd place team in each group) 6 Games

- Playoffs 5 Game Series (Winner) 3-5 Games

- Final Four Single Game 2 Games

 

Competition system V4: 2009-12

 

- Qualifying Rounds 2 Game Series (Winner(s)) Up to 6 Games

- Regular Season 4 Groups of 6 (1st-4th place teams in each group) 10 Games

- Top 16 4 Groups of 4 (1st & 2nd place team in each group) 6 Games

- Playoffs 5 Game Series (Winner) 3-5 Games

- Final Four Single Game 2 Games

 

Competition system V5: 2012+

 

- Qualifying Rounds 8 Team Bracket (Winner) 3 Games

- Regular Season 4 Groups of 6 (1st-4th place teams in each group) 10 Games

- Top 16 2 Groups of 8 (1st & 2nd place team in each group) 14 Games

- Playoffs 5 Game Series (Winner) 3-5 Games

- Final Four Single Game 2 Games

 

Original Licensing System

 

Principles Behind Licensing System

 

- Historically domestic champions participate on annual basis

- Flaw: certain countries having stronger domestic leagues than others = more than one team participating in the Euroleague

- Next step: identify best performing clubs on-court, help them develop and grow on and off the court with multi-year licence

- Original 10 clubs awarded a 3-year “A” Licence from 2000-2003 were:

 

PRINCIPLES BEHIND LICENSING SYSTEM

 

“A” Licence minimum criteria:

 

- Elite Sports Results

- 10,000 Seater Arena

- 2x 4**** Hotels in same City

- International Airport less than 100km from Arena

- Bank Guarantee

- Comply with all Regulations including lack of involvement in other clubs

- Clubs holding long-term “A” Licence able to plan and promote without fear that one below average season in their domestic league could put the rest of their work in peril

 

PRINCIPLES BEHIND LICENSING SYSTEM

 

Possible reasons for loss of “A” Licence

- Finishing as the last “A” Licence team over three seasons

- Finishing in the bottom half of the Domestic Championship

- Failing to sell at least 8,000 tickets per Euroleague game
- Failing to comply with Euroleague Regulations

 

PRINCIPLES BEHIND LICENSING SYSTEM

 

Advantages of Stability

 

- Allows clubs to invest in their facility, given that most construction projects take more than one season to complete

- Season tickets campaign and fan loyalty can be developed over time

- Multi-year sponsors can be signed knowing their brand will receive pan-

 

European exposure

 

- Players can be signed to multi-year contracts

 

PRINCIPLES BEHIND LICENSING SYSTEM

 

- Clubs without “A” Licence able to qualify for Euroleague with one-year “B” or “C” Licence

- Benefit: guaranteed presence of important clubs and brands

- “B” Licences gained by Domestic Championship results

- “C” Licence gained by winning the Eurocup

 

CLUB RANKING

 

- Evaluation system among all clubs participating in Euroleague & Eurocup

- Three-year period

- 2 points for a win and 1 point for a tie or loss from the Regular Season 

onwards

- 2 bonus points last 16

- 2 bonus points last 8

- 1 bonus point last 4

- 1 bonus point final

 

SUMMER 2009

 

2006-09

 

Euroleague Bylaws in place for 2006-09 seasons = rigid competition

Fixed:

- Number of countries participating (13)

- Number of clubs per country

- Eurocup Champion only avenue for a new club or country to participate

- New proposal had to be formulated to remedy the situation

 

STRUCTURE

 

- Add a new Qualifying Rounds phase to the competition

- Assign to a maximum of 14 clubs a long-term licence upon the basis of their sports results in the Euroleague (Best European Clubs)

- Ensure that at least the Domestic Champions from 12 countries and the runner-up from 3 of these countries participate, if not more (Best European Leagues)

- Ensure the Eurocup Champion participates (Best Eurocup Club)

- Maximum of 5 teams per country

 

CURRENT LICENSING SYSTEM

 

“A”, “B”, “C” LICENCES

 

- 13 long-term “A” licences

- 10 one-year “B” licences; 1 one-year “B” licence coming from the Qualifying Rounds

- 1 one-year “C” licence assigned to the Eurocup Champion (or Euroleague Champion if necessary)

 

2013-14 “A” LICENCE CLUBS

 

- Anadolu Efes Istanbul

- CSKA Moscow

- EA7 Emporio Armani Milan

- FC Barcelona

- Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul

- Laboral Kutxa Vitoria

- Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv

- Montepaschi Siena

- Olympiacos Piraeus

- Panathinaikos Athens

- Real Madrid

- Unicaja Malaga

- Zalgiris Kaunas

 

2013-14 “B” LICENCE COUNTRY RANKING

#

COUNTRY / LEAGUE

(1xELCH)

POSITION

1

Spain

CH

2

Russia

CH

3

Italy

CH

4

Turkey

CH

5

Lithuania

CH

6

Greece

CH

7

France

CH

8

Germany

CH

9

Adriatic

CH

10

Poland

CH

11

Adriatic

RU

12

Spain

RU

13

Russia

RU

14

Italy

RU

 

#

COUNTRY / LEAGUE

(1xELCH)

POSITION

15

Turkey

RU

16

Lithuania

RU

17

Greece

RU

18

France

RU

19

Germany

RU

20

Adriatic

N3

21

Belgium

CH

22

Czech Republic

CH

23

Ukraine

CH

24

Israel

CH

25

Bulgaria

CH

26

Netherlands

CH

27

Latvia

CH

28

Poland

RU

 

 

EUROPEAN COUNTRIES IN EUROLEAGUE COMPARISON

 

Prior to Summer 2009 changes

 

1.Croatia

2. France

3. Germany

4.Greece

5. Israel

6. Italy

7.Lithuania

8.Poland

9. Russia

10. Serbia

11. Slovenia

12. Spain

13. Turkey



Currently

 

1. Belarus

2. Belgium

3. Bosnia and Herzegovina

4. Croatia

5. Czech Republic

6. Estonia

7. France

8. FYROM

9. Germany

10. Greece

11. Hungary

12. Israel

13. Italy

14. Kazakhstan

15. Latvia

16. Lithuania

17. Montenegro

18. Netherlands

19. Poland

20. Russia

21. Serbia

22. Slovenia

23. Spain

24. Turkey

25. Ukraine

 

1. About Euroleague Basketball

 

- Euroleague is a private league owned by the clubs

- Euroleague is an independent organization of the traditional federative structure

 

See Pictures (courtesy of Euroleague):

 

 

 

 

 

M. Mantovani

M. Mantovani

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