The 2008–09 FIBA EuroChallenge was the sixth edition of Europe's third-tier level transnational men's professional club basketball FIBA EuroChallenge Tournament, and the first under the FIBA EuroChallenge name, organized by FIBA Europe. It was also the first season that eliminated teams from the ULEB Cup would transfer to a FIBA competition after the 2000 conflict between ULEB and FIBA. Additionally the formerly known ULEB Cup would be now renamed to EuroCup from 2008 and onwards.
A total number of 32 teams participated in the regular season and a total of 40 teams competed including the qualifying rounds. Virtus Bologna won its first EuroChallenge title after defeating Cholet in the Final of the Final Four, which was hosted in Bologna.
Format In all there are 40 teams from 21 countries, plus sixteen teams from the 2008–09 Eurocup Basketball first preliminary round and second preliminary round. The competition is jointly run by FIBA Europe.
Teams The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round (TH: title holders;):
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc.: League position after eventual Playoffs EC: Transferred from Eurocup
QR: Losers from qualifying rounds
WC: Wild card
+Regular season Ural Great (EC QR2) Base Oostende (EC QR2) Cajasol (EC QR2) Hapoel Migdal Jerusalim (EC QR2) Triumph Lyubertsy (EC QR1) Dexia Mons-Hainaut (4th) Cholet (EC QR1) Galatasaray (EC QR2) Lokomotiv Rostov (7th) Tartu Rock (EC QR1) Benetton Olympic Fribourg (EC QR2) Olympia Larissa (8th) Kyiv (EC QR2) Kalev/Cramo (2nd) Allianz Swans Gmunden (EC QR2) Keravnos (1st) Khimik (3rd) Šiauliai (EC QR1) Telekom Bonn (EC QR1) Virtus Bologna (15th) Energa Czarni Slupsk (EC QR1) Ventspils (3rd) EclipseJet MyGuide Amsterdam (EC QR1) +Qualifying rounds CSK VVS-Samara (9th) Hyeres-Toulon (6th) Antalya BB (6th) Široki (3rd) Spartak Saint Petersburg (11th) JA Vichy (7th) Banvit (8th) Borac Nektar (5th) Sumykhimprom (5th) EWE Baskets Oldenburg (5th) APOEL (2nd) Zagreb (4th) MBC Mykolaiv (6th) Deutsche Bank Skyliners (6th) Proteas EKA AEL (3rd) Cedevita (5th) Donetsk (WC) Bakken Bears (1st) Asesoft (1st) Zlatorog Laško (4th) Prostejov (3rd) Svendborg Rabbits (2nd) U-Mobilteco Cluj (2nd) AMAK SP (5th) Spartak Pleven (4th) Eiffel Towers Den Bosch (2nd) CSU Sibiu (3rd) Energy Invest Rustavi (1st) Belgacom Liege (5th) Körmend (2nd)
Qualifying rounds Thirty-two teams will participate in the first round and sixteen in the second.
First qualifying round
Second qualifying round
Regular season
Group A
LIE CAJ VEN SLU LIE69-6289-8489-64 CAJ78-7998-5189-75 VEN54-7378-7094-88 SLU91-9353-8391-75
Group B
URA TBB HYE KER URA82-5484-7685-64 TBB64-7071-6178-55 HYE94-8372-8687-76 KER81-9473-6485-88
Group C
CHO LOK SUM BEN CHO76-72100-7779-52 LOK65-6699-7266-65 SUM81-8284-8990-73 BEN63-8261-6970-67
Group D
AEL DEN ŠIA GMU AEL95-77102-7686-62 DEN87-7696-8277-70 ŠIA77-7582-8089-76 GMU77-8575-8468-78
Group E
OLD AMS JER LAR OLD78-6279-7076-73 AMS76-7373-7468-64 JER81-8881-8320-0* LAR89-7577-7354-71 *Due to the war situation in Gaza Strip, Olympia refused to travel to Israel and Hapoel Jerusalim were declared winners by forfeit (20-0)
Group F
DEX GAL ZAG KHI DEX91-6599-6982-76 GAL80-6887-7294-51 ZAG66-8478-8288-78 KHI95-9087-7562-70
Group G
VIR CSK OOS TAR VIR75-6970-6995-85 CSK72-7086-7258-66 OOS76-8798-7587-73 TAR73-7558-8092-82
Group H
TRI KYI DBS KAL TRI67-6476-5875-69 KYI66-6578-4690-75 DBS77-7158-6661-57 KAL81-8782-7677-75
Top 16
Group I
CHO TBB LIE DEN CHO71-5471-7885-68 TBB68-7179-6484-77 LIE70-8059-6781-68 DEN70-7283-6367-58
Group J
VIR KYI OLD GAL VIR68-6481-8293-77 KYI57-6964-5495-62 OLD73-6473-8685-93 GAL91-10473-8082-89
Group K
AEL URA CAJ LOK AEL102-7588-7874-60 URA83-5761-7269-60 CAJ56-6476-8174-61 LOK69-8786-8463-61
Group L
TRI AMS DEX CSK TRI76-7576-7386-67 AMS68-8587-7584-69 DEX83-6886-93101-85 CSK65-8170-7473-77
Quarterfinals Team 1Team 21st leg2nd leg3rd leg Cholet 2–1 Kyiv 68–52 72–77 80–74 Virtus Bologna 2–0 Telekom Baskets Bonn 86–76 106–91 Proteas EKA AEL 2–0 82–72 83–72 Triumph Lyubertsy 2–1 Ural Great 100–102 91–65 78–63
Final Four
The Final Four will be the last stage of EuroChallenge 2008–09. The event will take place at the Futurshow Station, in Bologna.
See also 2008–09 Eurocup Basketball 2008–09 Euroleague
External links FIBA Europe European Basketball website