FIBA: The New System for European Competitions
The 24 Teams in 96-97 Ero-League
Spain: Barcelona, Caja San Fernando (Sevilla), Estudiantes (Madrid)
Greece: Olympiakos (Piraeus), Panathinaikos (Athens), Panionios (Athens)
Italy: Buckler (Bologna), Teamsystem (Bologna), Stefanel (Milano)
France: Pau-Orthez, Limoges, Villeurbanne
Turkey: Efes Pilsen (Istanbul), Ulker (Istanbul)
Russia: CSKA (Moscow), Dynamo (Moscow)
Croatia: Cibona (Zagreb), Croatia Insurance (Split)
Germany: Bayer (Leverkusen), Alba (Berlin)
Israel: Maccabi (Tel Aviv)
Slovenia: Smelt Olimpija (Liubljana)
Belgium: Charlesroi
Yugoslavia: Partizan (Belgrade)
The New System
EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP
1st round
---------
Foreign players bust be declared by 16/9 (#1 of 3).
Dates: 19/9, 26/9, 3/10, 10/10, 17/10, 7/11, 14/11, 21/11, 5/12, 12/12/96.
The 24 teams are separated in 4 groups (A, B, C, D) of 6 teams. Each team plays all the other
teams in the same group twice (total of 10 games for each team).
2nd round
---------
Foreign players may be changed between 13/12/96 and 6/1/97 (#2 of 3).
Dates: 9/1, 16/1, 23/1, 6/2, 13/2, 20/2/97.
The 24 teams form 4 new groups:
A1, A2, A3, B4, B5, B6 form group E
B1, B2, B3, A4, A5, A6 form group F
C1, C2, C3, D4, D5, D6 form group G
D1, D2, D3, C4, C5, C6 form group H
Each team plays all the 3 teams that hasn't already played (total of 6 games for each team) and
carries over the results from the previous group (it is NOT clear whether a team carries ONLY
the results against the 2 teams that followed them in the same new group, or against ALL the 5
teams in the original group).
In the first case (carrying results ONLY against 2 teams), we may have extreme situations when
it may be in the interest of a team to LOSE a game in the original group, in order to carry 4
WINS in the new group, instead of WINNING and carrying 4 LOSSES in the new group!
The top 4 teams from each group advance. The bottom team from each group loses a European
League birth for its country.
3rd round
---------
Foreign players may be changed between 21/2/97 and 3/3/97 (#3 of 3).
Dates: 6/3, 11/3, 13/3/97.
The 16 teams play best-of-3 series, alternating courts (that is 1-1-1, and not 1-2 as until
now):
I E1-H4
II E2-H3
III H2-E3
IV H1-E4
V F1-G4
VI F2-G3
VII G2-F3
VIII G1-F4
Quarterfinals
-------------
Dates: 27/3, 1/3, 3/3/97.
The 8 teams play best-of-3 series, alternating courts. The home-court advantage is based
on the results in Round 2.
1 Winner I - Winner VI
2 Winner V - Winner II
3 Winner IV - Winner VII
4 Winner VIII - Winner III
Final 4
-------
Dates: 22/4, 24/4/97, at Rome (and NOT Bologna for 2 reasons: the court is small and probably 1
or 2 teams from Bologna will be participating - that's good, not like FIBA's gift to Taugres!)
The 4 teams will play single elimination games, as until now:
Winner 1 - Winner 4
Winner 2 - Winner 3
The provision that teams from the same country play against each-other in the semifinals, most
probably stands.
teams points
Points awarded: 6 for 6th position in groups E-H 4 24
7.5 for 5th position in groups E-H 4 30
9 for reaching the round of 16 8 72
18 for reaching the quarterfinals 4 72
36 for 4th place 1 36
54 for 3rd place 1 54
72 for 2nd place 1 72
144 for 1st place 1 144
TOTAL: 24 504
RENEWAL OF TEAMS IN THE EUROPEAN LEAGUE
The teams that represent a country are chosen EACH year by the federation of this country using
its OWN criteria. So the European Champion MAY be out of next year's European League, while a
team that finishes last in a group, MAY be rechosen by its country for next year's league.
The teams that finish last in the 4 groups E-H lose a European League berth FOR THEIR COUNTRY.
The semifinalists of the EUROPEAN CUP gain a European League berth FOR THEIR COUNTRY.
A country can NOT have MORE THAN 3 TEAMS in the European League.
In the event that one or more of the European Cup semifinalists can not give their country one
more berth (because it has already 3 teams in the European League), then the spots will be
given to the top COUNTRIES in the YEARLY FIBA ratings that do not have 3 teams in the European
Cup. For a country to win a spot in such a way, it must satisfy one more condition: it MUST
have a team that reached the QUARTERFINALS of the European Cup. However, the following case is
not clearly addressed:
Let's say that 2 spots are to be awarded in this way. Country A is #1 in the ratings among the
countries not having already 3 teams in the European League, and country B is #2. Country A
has TWO teams in the European Cup quarterfinals, and Country B ONE. Country A has only ONE
team in the European League.
Does country A get BOTH spots, or country A and country B each get 1 spot?
EUROPEAN CUP
1st round
---------
Dates: 17/9-10/12/96
48 teams will participate. The 48 teams will be separated into 8 groups (A-H) of 6 teams. The
4 top teams from each group, a total of 32, will advance, and then they will play 4 best-of-2
series until they are 2 left which will play in the final:
2nd round to Semifinals
-----------------------
Dates: 14/1-1/4/97
2nd round
---------
Group A Group B
I E3-F2 I B3-A2
II G4-H1 II D4-C1
III A3-B2 III F3-E2
IV C4-D1 IV H4-G1
V D3-C2 V G3-H2
VI B4-A1 VI E4-F1
VII H3-G2 VII C3-D2
VIII F4-E1 VIII A4-B1
3rd round
---------
For both Groups A and B:
i I-II
ii III-IV
iii V-VI
iv VII-VIII
Quarterfinals
--------------
For both Groups A and B:
1 i-ii
2 iii-iv
Semifinals
-----------
Dates:
For both Groups A and B:
x 1-2
Final
-----
Date: 15/4/97, at Lefkosia (Nicosia).
xA-xB
teams points
Points awarded: 2 for 6th position in the group 8 16
2.5 for 5th position in the group 8 20
3 for reaching the round of 32 16 48
6 for reaching the round of 16 8 48
12 for reaching the quarterfinals 4 48
24 for reaching the semifinals 2 48
48 for reaching the final 1 48
96 for winning the European Cup 1 96
TOTAL: 48 372
KORAC CUP
Preliminary round
-----------------
Dates: Early fall 1996
Up to 128 teams will participate. Some of the up to 128 teams will play best-of-2 series
to reduce their number to 64.
1st round
---------
Dates: 2/10-20/11/96
The 64 teams will form 16 groups (A-P) of 4 teams each, and the 2 top teams from each group, a
total of 32, will advance, and then they will play 5 best-of-2 series all the way (from 32 teams
to 1).
2nd round to Semifinals
-----------------------
Dates: 14/1-1/4/97
2nd round
---------
Group A Group B
I B2-A1 I A2-B1
II D2-C1 II C2-D1
III F2-E1 III E2-F1
IV H2-G1 IV G2-H1
V J2-I1 V I2-J1
VI L2-K1 VI K2-L1
VII N2-M1 VII M2-N1
VIII P2-O1 VIII O2-P1
3rd round
---------
For both Groups A and B:
i I-II
ii III-IV
iii V-VI
iv VII-VIII
Quarterfinals
--------------
For both Groups A and B:
1 i-ii
2 iii-iv
Semifinals
-----------
For both Groups A and B:
x 1-2
Finals
------
Date: 26/3, 2/4/97 (the order of teh 2 finals is not specified at my source)
xA-xB
teams points
Points awarded: 0.5 for participating 64 32
1 for finishing 4th in the group 16 16
1.5 for finishing 3rd in the group 16 24
2 for reaching the round of 32 16 32
4 for reaching the round of 16 8 32
8 for reaching the quarterfinals 4 32
16 for reaching the semifinals 2 32
32 for reaching the final 1 32
64 for winning the Korac Cup 1 64
TOTAL: 128 296
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Authors
Stathis Avgoustiniatos / eavgoust@mit.edu / June 1996