2008–09 FIBA EuroChallenge

EuroChallenge
Champions	Virtus Bologna 1st title
Runners-up	Cholet
Third place	Triumph Lyubertsy
Fourth place	AEL Limassol
Teams	32
Duration	25 November 2008 – 26 April 2009
Awards
Final Four MVP	Keith Langford
Statistical leaders
Points	Austin Nichols 19.6
Rebounds	Abdullahi Kuso 8.8
Assists	Dontaye Draper 6.2

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. In the previous year it was known as FIBA EuroCup.
Teams of the EuroChallenge 2008–09

Teams

Already Qualified
Country (League)	Teams	Teams
Russia (Superleague A)	4	Ural Great	Triumph Lyubertsy	Lokomotiv Rostov	CSK VVS Samara
Belgium (Ethias League)	3	Base Oostende	Dexia Mons-Hainaut	Liege Basket
Germany (BBL)	3	Telekom Baskets Bonn	Deutsche Bank Skyliners	EWE Baskets
Ukraine (SuperLeague)	3	BC Kyiv	Khimik	Sumykhimprom Sumy
Cyprus (Division 1)	2	Keravnos	Proteas EKA AEL
Estonia (KML)	2	BC Kalev/Cramo	Tartu Ülikool/Rock
France (LNB)	2	Cholet Basket	Hyères-Toulon
Netherlands (FEB)	2	EiffelTowers Den Bosch	EclipseJet MyGuide A'dam
Greece (ΕΣΑΚΕ)	1	Olympia Larissa
Israel (Ligat HaAl)	1	Hapoel Jerusalem
Italy (Lega)	1	Virtus Bologna
Latvia (LBL)	1	BK Ventspils
Lithuania (LKL)	1	BC Siauliai
Austria (OBL)	1	Allianz Swans Gmunden
Poland (PLK)	1	Czarni Słupsk
Spain (ACB)	1	Cajasol
Turkey (TBL)	1	Galatasaray Café Crown
Switzerland (LNBA)	1	Benetton Fribourg

Format

In all there are 40 teams from 21 countries, plus sixteen unknown teams from the ULEB Eurocup 2008-09 first preliminary round and second preliminary round. The competition is jointly run by FIBA Europe.

First Qualifying Round

The competition starts from the first qualifying round. Thirty two teams will participate in this round. These teams will be paired in two-legged matches, with winners decided on two matches aggregate score. The eight winners advance to the second qualifying round, losers are eliminated. First matches will be played on October 14, while second on October 21–22.

Second Qualifying Round

Winners from the first round advance to the second qualifying round. Teams will played with each other, with all those teams from first qualifying round. Matches are also two-legged and decided on aggregate score, with the winners are advancing to the EuroChallenge Regular Season and the losers are eliminated. First matches will be played on November 4 and second on November 11.

Regular season

EuroChallenge Regular Season is the main phase of FIBA EuroChallenge tournament. Eight winners from the second qualifying round, eight automatic qualifiers and sixteen teams from 2008–09 Eurocup Basketball First preliminary round and Second preliminary round (eight losers from the first round and eight losers from the second). The teams are divided into eight groups of four teams each, with each group playing a double round-robin schedule. The first and second-place teams in each group advance to the Top 16. The Regular Season matches will be held from November 25, 2008 until January 13, 2009.

Top 16

As in the Euroleague and for the first time Top 16 will be held. The top two places from each group from the regular season will advance to the Top 16. There are four groups with four teams in each. The matches are also double round-robin. The top two places from each group advance to the Quarter Final Round. The matches must be played from January 27 to March 10, 2009.

Quarter Final Round

Eight winners from the Top 16 will play each other in quarter-final phase. The games will be played in a best-of-three playoff series (third game will be played if necessary). The quarter-final winners advance to the Final Four. First and second games will be played on March 17 and March 19, third game will be played on March 25 (if necessary).

Final four

The Final Four is the culminating stage of EuroChallenge, in which the quarter-final winners play in a knockout tournament. The winning semifinalists advance to the final, while the losers play a third-place game immediately before the final. The Final Four winner becomes 2008–09 FIBA EuroChallenge champion, and also receives an automatic berth in the 2009–10 Eurocup Basketball (although it is possible that the team may qualify for the Euroleague through its domestic league).

The Final Four was held at Futurshow Station in Bologna, with the semifinals on April 24 and the third-place game and final on April 26.

Qualifying rounds

Thirty-two teams will participate in the first round and sixteen in the second.

First qualifying round

#	Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
B	BK Prostějov	134-148	KK Zagreb	61-69	73-79
C	KK AMAK SP	148-145	Zlatorog Laško	70-76	78-69
D	CSU Asesoft	147-145	Spartak	79-76	68-69
E	U Mobitelco Cluj	132-163	EWE Baskets	60-86	72-77
F	Svendborg Rabbits	168-180	HKK Široki	92-100	76-80
H	MBC Mykolaiv	138-151	DB Skyliners	68-75	70-76
I	Energy Invest Rustavi	160-200	Sumykhimprom	81-110	79-90
J	Spartak Pleven	153-176	Antalya BB BK	83-87	70-89
K	APOEL	113-135	JA Vichy	52-66	61-69
L	CSU Sibiu	144-186	Banvit Bandırma	67-74	77-112
M	Cedevita Zagreb	150-157	Hyères-Toulon	92-82	58-75
N	Körmend	171-201	EiffelTowers Den Bosch	71-88	100-113
O	BC Donetsk	120-134	AEL	65-65	55-79
P	Bakken Bears	119-164	Liege Basket	55-67	64-97

Second qualifying round

#	Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
	EiffelTowers Den Bosch	166-130	KK AMAK SP	94-66	72-64
	HKK Široki	155-164	Sumykhimprom	73-73	82-91
	CSK VSS	149-136	KK Zagreb	80-60	69-76
	DB Skyliners	127-125	Antalya BB BK	60-60	67-65
	Hyères-Toulon	170-154	CSU Asesoft	103-77	67-77
	EWE Baskets	150-120	KK Borac	76-46	74-74
	Liege Basket	154-137	JA Vichy	74-67	80-70
	Banvit Bandırma	165-189	AEL	93-100	72-89

Regular season

Regular Season begins from November 25, 2008.

Group A

	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	Diff
1.	Belgacom Liege	6	6	0	492	433	+59
2.	Cajasol	6	3	3	480	405	+75
3.	BK Ventspils	6	2	4	436	509	−73
4.	Energa Czarni	6	1	5	462	523	−61

Group B

	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	Diff
1.	Ural Great	6	5	1	498	433	+65
2.	Telekom Baskets Bonn	6	3	3	417	413	+4
3.	SAOS Hyères	6	3	3	478	485	−7
4.	Keravnos	6	1	5	434	496	−62

Group C

	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	Diff
1.	Cholet Basket	6	6	0	485	410	+75
2.	Lokomotiv Rostov	6	4	2	460	424	+36
3.	BC Sumykhimprom	6	1	5	471	513	−42
4.	Benetton Olympic	6	1	5	384	453	−69

Group D

	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	Diff
1.	Proteas EKA AEL	6	4	2	519	456	+63
2.	EiffelTowers	6	4	2	501	480	+21
3.	BC Siauliai	6	4	2	484	497	−13
4.	Allianz Swans	6	0	6	428	499	−71

Group E

	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	Diff
1.	EWE Baskets Oldenburg	6	4	2	469	451	+18
2.	EclipseJet MyGuide	6	3	3	435	447	−12
3.	Hapoel Jerusalem	6	3	3	397	377	+20
4.	Olympia Larissa	6	2	4	357	383	−26

Group F

	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	Diff
1.	Dexia	6	4	2	514	451	+63
2.	Galatasaray CC İstanbul	6	4	2	483	447	+36
3.	KK Zagreb	6	2	4	443	492	−49
4.	Khimik	6	2	4	449	499	−50

Group G

	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	Diff
1.	Virtus Bologna	6	5	1	472	444	+28
2.	CSK-VVS	6	3	3	440	439	+1
3.	Base Oostende	6	2	4	490	487	+3
4.	Tartu Rock	6	2	4	451	483	−32

Group H

	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	Diff
1.	BC Triumph	6	4	2	441	405	+36
2.	BC Kyiv	6	4	2	440	393	+47
3.	D. Bank Skyliners	6	2	4	375	425	−50
4.	BC Kalev/Cramo	6	2	4	431	464	−33

Top16

The Top 16 phase begins from January 27, 2009.

Group I

	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	Diff
1.	Cholet Basket	6	5	1	450	408	+42
4.	Telekom Baskets Bonn	6	3	3	415	425	–10
3.	Belgacom Liege	6	2	4	410	432	–22
4.	EiffelTowers	6	2	4	433	443	–10

Group J

	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	Diff
1.	Virtus Bologna	6	4	2	479	444	+35
2.	BC Kyiv	6	4	2	446	399	+47
3.	EWE Baskets	6	3	3	456	470	–14
4.	Galatasaray CC İstanbul	6	1	5	478	546	–68

Group K

	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	Diff
1.	Proteas EKA AEL	6	5	1	472	421	+51
2.	Ural Great	6	3	3	453	453	0
3.	Cajasol	6	2	4	417	418	–1
4.	Lokomotiv Rostov	6	2	4	399	449	–50

Group L

	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	Diff
1.	BC Triumph	6	5	1	472	431	+41
2.	EclipseJet MyGuide	6	4	2	481	461	+20
3.	Dexia	6	3	3	495	482	+13
4.	CSK-VVS	6	0	6	429	503	–74

Quarterfinals

Bracket

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg	3rd leg*
Cholet Basket	2-1	BC Kyiv	68-52	72-77	80-74
Virtus Bologna	2-0	Telekom Baskets Bonn	86-76	106-91
Proteas EKA AEL	2-0	EclipseJet MyGuide	82-72	83-72
BC Triumph	2-1	Ural Great	100-102	91-65	78-63

* if necessary

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.

	Semi-finals				Final
	April 24 - Bologna
	Cholet Basket	81
	BC Triumph	78
					April 26 - Bologna
					Cholet Basket	75
					Virtus Bologna	77
					Third place
	April 24 - Bologna			April 26 - Bologna
	Virtus Bologna	83		BC Triumph	94
	Proteas EKA AEL	69			Proteas EKA AEL	82

Individual Statistics

Points

Rank	Name	Team	Games	Points	PPG
1.	Austin Nichols	SAOS Hyères	10	196	19.60

Rebounds

Rank	Name	Team	Games	Rebounds	RPG
1.	Abdullahi Kuso	BC Sumykhimprom	10	88	8.80

Assists

Rank	Name	Team	Games	Assists	APG
1.	Dontaye Draper	Base Oostende	9	56	6.22

See also

• 2008–09 Eurocup Basketball
• 2008–09 Euroleague

External links

• FIBA Europe
• European Basketball website