The 2002–03 ULEB Cup was the inaugural season of Europe's secondary level professional club basketball tournament, the ULEB Cup, which is organised by Euroleague Basketball. The 2003 ULEB Cup Finals were played between Pamesa Valencia and Krka, and won by Valencia, their first title in a European-wide competition. As the winners of the 2002–03 ULEB Cup, Valencia qualified for the European top-tier level 2003–04 Euroleague.
Team allocation A total of 24 teams from 10 countries, instead of the initial 32, participated in the 2002–03 ULEB Cup. The majority of champion teams that could not play in the Euroleague chose to compete in the 2002–03 FIBA Europe Champions Cup, apart from the champions of Russia, Netherlands and Belgium. The inaugural ULEB Cup also didn't feature teams from Greece, Lithuania and Israel as they chose to play in FIBA's competition.
Distribution The table below shows the default access list. Teams entering in this roundTeams advancing from previous roundRegular season(32 teams)4 best-placed teams from Spain 4 best-placed teams from Italy 4 best-placed teams from Greece 3 best-placed teams from France 3 best-placed teams from Adriatic 2 best-placed teams from Germany 2 best-placed teams from Belgium 2 best-placed teams from Portugal 1 best-placed team from Turkey 1 best-placed team from Israel 1 best-placed team from Russia 1 best-placed team from Yugoslavia 1 best-placed team from Poland 1 best-placed team from Switzerland 1 best-placed team from Great Britain 1 best-placed team from NetherlandsElimination rounds(16 teams)4 group winners from the regular season 4 group runners-up from the regular season 4 group third-placed teams from the regular season 4 group fourth-placed teams from the regular season
Teams League positions after Playoffs of the previous season shown in parentheses:
Regular season Adecco Estudiantes Eurocellulari Roseto RheinEnergie Köln Pivovarna Laško Pamesa Valencia Metis Varese Telekom Baskets Bonn Zadar Jabones Pardo Fuenlabrada Snaidero Udine Opel Skyliners Ricoh Astronauts Caprabo Lleida Cholet Telindus Oostende Ural Great DKV Joventut Élan Sportif Chalon Spirou Charleroi FMP Železnik Generali Group Trieste Gravelines Krka Darüssafaka
Round and draw dates The schedule of the competition was as follows. PhaseRoundDraw dateFirst legSecond legRegular seasonRound 116 July 200215 October 2002Round 222 October 2002Round 329 October 2002Round 45 November 2002Round 512 November 2002Round 63 December 2002Round 710 December 2002Round 817 December 2002Round 97 January 2003Round 1014 January 2003Elimination roundsEighthfinals15 January 20034 February 200311 February 2003Quarterfinals25 February 20034 March 2003Semifinals18 March 200325 March 2003Finals15 April 200324 April 2003
Regular season In each group, teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The four first qualified teams advanced to the elimination rounds, while the two last teams were eliminated.
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Elimination rounds In the elimination rounds, teams played against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis, with the overall cumulative score determining the winner of a round. Thus, the score of one single game can be tied.
In the draw for the elimination rounds, the four group winners and four group runners-up were seeded, and the four group third-placed teams and four group fourth-placed teams were unseeded. The seeded teams were drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. Teams from the same group or the same country could not be drawn against each other.
Bracket
Source: ULEB Cup
Eighthfinals
The first legs were played on 4 February, and the second legs were played on 11 February 2003.
Quarterfinals The first legs were played on 25 February, and the second legs were played on 4 March 2003.
Semifinals The first legs were played on 18 March, and the second legs were played on 25 March 2003.
Finals
The first leg was played on 15 April, and the second leg was played on 24 April 2003.
Awards
Finals MVP PlayerTeam Dejan Tomašević Pamesa Valencia
References
External links Official website