EuroCup Basketball

EuroCup Basketball, commonly known as the EuroCup and currently called BKT EuroCup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual professional basketball club competition organized by Euroleague Basketball. The league is regarded as Euroleague Basketball's second-tier professional basketball club tournament.

Founded as ULEB Cup in 2002, the competition lasted until 2008 when a new competition was introduced after an agreement between ULEB and FIBA under the name of EuroCup for the 2008–09 season, following a change in format. Given that the FIBA EuroChallenge was known as EuroCup until 2008, a new era of stronger cooperation between ULEB and FIBA Europe was set in 2008. The number of the new competition was increased to a total of 48 and the winner of the 3rd tier FIBA EuroCup Challenge, formerly known as EuroCup would get an automatic qualification for the tournament's following season, for first time.

Though initially advertised as a new competition, the ULEB Cup and EuroCup Basketball are now considered the same competition, with the change of name being simply a re-branding.

Since the 2021–22 season both EuroCup finalists qualify for next season's EuroLeague. Until then only the winner was entitled to the one year licence.

The title has been won by 16 clubs, 3 of which have won the title more than once. The most successful club in the competition are Valencia Basket, with four titles. The current champions are Hapoel Tel Aviv, winning their first title after defeating CB Gran Canaria in the 2025 Finals.

History

The competition was created in 2002, as the ULEB Cup, and has had several names:

• 2002–03 to 2007–08 ULEB Cup
• 2008–09 to 2015–16 Eurocup Basketball
• 2016–17 to present EuroCup Basketball

Sponsorship names

On 7 July 2016, Chipita and Euroleague Basketball announced a strategic agreement to sponsor the European competition across the globe. According to the agreement, starting with the 2016–17 season, the competition would be named 7DAYS EuroCup. This title partnership was set to run for three seasons.

Logos

Evolution of the EuroCup logo
2002–2008	2008–2016	2016–2023	2023–present
File:Cup uleb.png	File:ULEB Eurocup logo.png	File:EuroCup Basketball logo.svg	File:Eurocup new logo.png

Qualification

Clubs qualify for the competition based on their performance in their domestic leagues competitions. For this purpose, the clubs from countries participating in the ABA League qualify for the competition based on their performance in the ABA League, and not their domestic leagues.

Format

Starting with the 2016–17 season, the EuroCup's first phase is the Regular Season, in which 20 teams participate. The participants include 20 clubs automatically entered into the Regular Season. 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 20 to 16. The next phase, known as the Top 16, then begins, featuring the 16 survivors of the Regular Season in four-team groups. As in the Regular Season, each Top 16 group is contest in a double round-robin format. The group winners and runners-up advance to the third phase, the Playoffs. Each playoff series is best-of-three, and the winners of each series advance to the next round persistently until the Finals. Home advantage in the series goes to the best placed team in the Top 16. The Finals features the two remaining series winners in a best-of-three series with home advantage in the series to the best placed team in the Top 16.

Previous EuroCup formats

Historically, the competition began with a group phase in which the starting field was reduced to 16 teams. The survivors then advanced to a knockout phase. In the inaugural 2002–03 season, the knockout phase consisted entirely of two-legged ties. In the following 2003–04 season, the final became a one-off game, but all other knockout ties remained two-legged.

In the 2007–08 season, the initial phase, now called the Regular Season, was only used to reduce the field to 32 teams. The survivors were paired into two-legged knockout ties, with the winners advancing to another set of two-legged ties. The survivors then entered the first-ever Final Eight phase in the competition's history, consisting of one-off knockout games.

The following 2008–09 season, was the first in which preliminary rounds were conducted. That year saw two preliminary rounds held, the first involving 16 teams, and the second involving the eight winners, plus eight teams that had received byes into that round. The survivors of the second preliminary round joined 24 direct qualifiers in the Regular Season. This season also saw the introduction of the Last 16 group phase, and proved to be the last for the Final Eight.

The last stage of the EuroCup, the EuroCup Finals, was reduced from eight teams to four, starting with the 2009–10 season. This stage was directly analogous to the EuroLeague Final Four, and like that stage of the EuroLeague, consisted of one-off knockout semifinals, followed by a single-game final. Unlike the EuroLeague Final Four, in which the third-place game and final are held two days after the semifinals, the corresponding games of the EuroCup were held the day after the semifinals.

In the 2012–13 season, the final was decided by a single game format, after double-legged semifinals and quarterfinals. For the 2013–14 season, the competition increased from 32 to 48 teams in the Regular Season phase. Another innovation that started in the 2013–14 season, was that the clubs were divided into two regional conferences, the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference, for the Regular Season phase. The size of the groups grew to six teams, where the first three qualified teams joined the Last 32 stage. In addition, the eight EuroLeague clubs that did not qualify for the EuroLeague Top 16 phase, joined the remaining 24 EuroCup teams and the Finals were decided by a double-legged series.

For the 2014–15 season, the competition contained 36 teams at the group stage. There were 6 groups, each containing 6 teams. The 36 teams consisted of the 7 teams that were eliminated in the 2014–15 Euroleague season qualification rounds, and 29 teams that qualified directly to the 2014–15 EuroCup, either through 2013–14 season results, or through wild cards. The top four teams from each of the Regular Season groups with the eight EuroLeague clubs that did not qualify for the EuroLeague Top 16 phase qualified to join the Last 32 stage. For the 2015–16 season, the competition contained 36 clubs automatically entered into the Regular Season and the eight EuroLeague clubs that did not qualify for the EuroLeague Top 16 phase qualified to join the Last 32 stage.

Arena standards

Effective as of the 2012–13 season, all EuroCup clubs must host their home games in arenas that have a regular seating capacity of at least 2,500 (all seated), and an additional minimum capacity of 200 VIP seats available. By comparison, EuroLeague licensed clubs host their home games in arenas that seat at least 10,000 people, while EuroLeague associated clubs must have arenas that seat 5,000.

Results

Year		Final				Semifinalists
		Champion	Score	Second place		Third place	Score	Fourth place
2002–03 Details		Template:Flagicon Valencia	168–154 (78–90 / 78–76)	Template:Flagicon Krka		Template:Flagicon Adecco Estudiantes and Template:Flagicon Joventut
2003–04 Details		Template:Flagicon Hapoel Jerusalem	83–72	Template:Flagicon Real Madrid		Template:Flagicon Adecco Estudiantes and Template:Flagicon Reflex
2004–05 Details		Template:Flagicon Rytas Vilnius	78–74	Template:Flagicon Makedonikos		Template:Flagicon Hemofarm and Template:Flagicon Valencia
2005–06 Details		Template:Flagicon Dynamo Moscow	73–60	Template:Flagicon Aris		Template:Flagicon Hemofarm and Template:Flagicon Hapoel Jerusalem
2006–07 Details		Template:Flagicon Real Madrid	87–75	Template:Flagicon Rytas Vilnius		Template:Flagicon FMP and Template:Flagicon UNICS
2007–08 Details		Template:Flagicon Joventut	79–54	Template:Flagicon Girona		Template:Flagicon Dynamo	84–67	Template:Flagicon Galatasaray
2008–09 Details		Template:Flagicon Rytas Vilnius	80–74	Template:Flagicon Khimki		Template:Flagicon Hemofarm and Template:Flagicon Bilbao
2009–10 Details		Template:Flagicon Valencia	67–44	Template:Flagicon Alba		Template:Flagicon Bilbao	76–67	Template:Flagicon Panellinios
2010–11 Details		Template:Flagicon UNICS	92–77	Template:Flagicon Cajasol		Template:Flagicon Cedevita	59–57	Template:Flagicon Benetton
2011–12 Details		Template:Flagicon Khimki	77–68	Template:Flagicon Valencia		Template:Flagicon Rytas Vilnius	71–62	Template:Flagicon Saint Petersburg
2012–13 Details		Template:Flagicon Lokomotiv Kuban	75–64	Template:Flagicon Bilbao		Template:Flagicon Budivelnyk and Template:Flagicon Valencia
2013–14 Details		Template:Flagicon Valencia	165–140 (80–67 / 73–85)	Template:Flagicon UNICS		Template:Flagicon Crvena zvezda and Template:Flagicon Nizhny Novgorod
2014–15 Details		Template:Flagicon Khimki	174–130 (66–91 / 83–64)	Template:Flagicon Gran Canaria		Template:Flagicon Banvit and Template:Flagicon UNICS
2015–16 Details		Template:Flagicon Galatasaray	140–133 (66–62 / 78–67)	Template:Flagicon Strasbourg		Template:Flagicon Trento and Template:Flagicon Gran Canaria
2016–17 Details		Template:Flagicon Unicaja	2–1 (68–62 / 79–71 / 58–63)	Template:Flagicon Valencia		Template:Flagicon Hapoel Jerusalem and Template:Flagicon Lokomotiv Kuban
2017–18 Details		Template:Flagicon Darüşşafaka	2–0 (78–81 / 67–59)	Template:Flagicon Lokomotiv Kuban		Template:Flagicon Bayern Munich and Template:Flagicon Reggio Emilia
2018–19 Details		Template:Flagicon Valencia	2–1 (89–75 / 95–92 / 89–63)	Template:Flagicon Alba		Template:Flagicon Andorra and Template:Flagicon UNICS
2019–20 Details		Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
2020–21 Details		Template:Flagicon Monaco	2–0 (89–87 / 83–86)	Template:Flagicon UNICS		Template:Flagicon Gran Canaria and Template:Flagicon Virtus
2021–22 Details		Template:Flagicon Virtus Bologna	80–67	Template:Flagicon Bursaspor		Template:Flagicon Andorra and Template:Flagicon Valencia
2022–23 Details		Template:Flagicon Gran Canaria	71–67	Template:Flagicon Türk Telekom		Template:Flagicon Joventut and Template:Flagicon Prometey
2023–24 Details		Template:Flagicon Paris	2–0 (77–64 / 81–89)	Template:Flagicon Bourg		Template:Flagicon Beşiktaş and Template:Flagicon London Lions
2024–25 Details		Template:Flagicon Hapoel Tel Aviv	2–0 (74–65 / 94–103)	Template:Flagicon Dreamland Gran Canaria		Template:Flagicon Bahçeşehir Koleji and Template:Flagicon Valencia Basket

Awards

Template:Main article After a given EuroCup season, before the finals, annual EuroCup awards are handed out to players and coaches. These awards include:

• Most Valuable Player
• Finals MVP
• Rising Star
• Coach of the Year
• All-EuroCup Team

Performance by club

File:EuroCup Basketball regular season.svg

Map of countries, teams from which have reached the regular season of the EuroCup Basketball.

  Country that has been represented in the regular season

  Not represented

Template:Main article A total number of 179 clubs from 30 countries have participated in the competition. {{#section-h:EuroCup Basketball records and statistics|By club}}

Performance by country

Template:Main article {{#section-h:EuroCup Basketball records and statistics|By country}}

Statistical leaders and individual high performances

All-time leaders

	Average		Totals
Points	Template:Flagicon Igor Rakočević	19.05	Template:Flagicon Bojan Dubljević	1,217
Rebounds	Template:Flagicon Vladimir Golubović	8.39	Template:Flagicon Vladimir Veremeenko	609
Assists	Template:Flagicon Omar Cook	6.44	Template:Flagicon Stefan Marković	491
Steals	Template:Flagicon Jerry McCullough	2.82	Template:Flagicon Mire Chatman	167
Blocks	Template:Flagicon Andre Riddick	1.77	Template:Flagicon Andre Riddick	147
Index Ratings	Template:Flagicon Michael Wright	22.14	Template:Flagicon Mire Chatman	1,472

Highest attendance records

• 24,232 attendance for Red Star Belgrade in a 79–70 win over Budivelnyk Kyiv, at Kombank Arena, Belgrade, on 26 March 2014.
• 22,736 attendance for Red Star Belgrade in a 63–52 win over UNICS Kazan, at Kombank Arena, Belgrade, on 2 April 2014.

Sponsors

Title sponsor

• BKT

Premium partners

• Turkish Airlines
• Tempobet (only in Germany)
• Fonbet (only in Russia)
• Nesine (only in Turkey)
• betfair (only in Spain)
• sportingbet (only in Greece)
• Adidas

Global partners

• Spalding
• Odeabank (only in Turkey)
• Head & Shoulders (only in Turkey)
• SEK (only in Turkey)
• Oscar Mayer (only in Spain)
• Endesa (only in Spain)

Source:

See also

Men's competitions

• EuroLeague
• Basketball Champions League
• FIBA Europe Cup

Women's competitions

• EuroLeague Women
• EuroCup Women
• FIBA Europe SuperCup Women