1997–98 FIBA EuroCup

1997–98 FIBA EuroCup
1997–98 FIBA EuroCup
League	FIBA EuroCup
Sport	Basketball
Final
Champions	Žalgiris
Runners-up	Stefanel Milano
Finals MVP	Saulius Štombergas
FIBA EuroCup seasons
	← 1996–97 1998–99 →

The 1997–98 FIBA EuroCup was the thirty-second edition of FIBA's 2nd-tier level European-wide professional club basketball competition. it occurred between September 16, 1997, and April 14, 1998. The final was held at Pionir Hall, Belgrade, Yugoslavia. In the final, Žalgiris defeated Stefanel Milano, in front of 5,000 spectators.

Competition system

48 teams (national domestic cup champions, plus the best qualified teams from the most important European national domestic leagues), entered a preliminary group stage, divided into eight groups of six teams each, and played a round-robin. The final standings were based on individual wins and defeats. In the case of a tie between two or more teams, after the group stage, the following criteria were used to decide the final classification: 1) number of wins in one-to-one games between the teams; 2) basket average between the teams; 3) general basket average within the group.
The top four teams from each group qualified for a 1/16 Final Playoff (X-pairings, home and away games), where the winners advanced further to 1/8 Finals, 1/4 Finals, and 1/2 Final.
The Final was played at a predetermined venue.

Country ranking

For the 1997–1998 FIBA EuroCup, the countries are allocated places according to their place on the FIBA country rankings, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 1994–95 to 1996–97.^[1]

Country ranking for 1997–1998 FIBA EuroCup

Rank	Country	Points	Teams	Notes
1	Spain	279.667	2
2	Greece	275.000
3	Italy	190.833
4	France	117.500
5	Turkey	96.667
6	Russia	70.542
7	Germany	55.389
8	Croatia	50.833
9	Israel	43.048
10	Slovenia	38.833
11	Yugoslavia	25.000
12	Portugal	23.071
13	Belgium	22.500
14	Poland	21.206
15	Lithuania	19.416
16	Ukraine	15.762
17	Hungary	9.667	1	+1, Marc-Kormend got wild card
18	Czech Republic	7.139		+1, USK Erpet Praha got wild card
19	Slovakia	6.555

Rank	Country	Points	Teams	Notes
20	Macedonia	6.111	1	+1, MZT got wild card
21	Austria	5.445
22	Sweden	5.333
23	Cyprus	4.333
24	England	4.167
25	Latvia	3.722
26	Switzerland	3.083		-1, Fribourg Olympic withdrew
27	Bulgaria	2.694		-1, Slavia Sofia withdrew
28	Romania	2.389		-1, Dinamo București withdrew
29	Finland	1.861
30	Bosnia and Herzegovina	1.778
31	Estonia	1.500
32	Netherlands	1.500
33	Georgia	1.500	0
34	Luxembourg	1.444
35	Albania	1.361
36	Denmark	0.167
37	Moldova	0.111
38	Belarus	0.056

Team allocation

The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:

1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc.: League position after eventual Playoffs
CW: Cup winners
WC: Wild card

Regular season
Festina Joventut (4th)	Bayer 04 Leverkusen (3rd)	Spirou (1st)	Rabotnički (1st)
Cáceres (10th)	Tatami Rhöndorf (5th)	Sunair Oostende (CW)	MZT Skopje (WC)
Panathinaikos (5th)	Zrinjevac (3rd)	Mazowzanka (1st)	Slovakofarma Pezinok (1st)
Apollon Achaia Clauss (7th)	Zagreb (6th)	Śląsk Wrocław (CW)	UKJ SÜBA Sankt Pölten (1st)
Stefanel Milano (5th)	Maccabi Ironi Ra`anana (3rd)	Žalgiris (1st)	Plannja Basket (1st)
Polti Cantù (8th)	Hapoel Eilat (4th)	Žemaitijos Lokiai (2nd)	Keravnos (1st)
ASVEL (CW)	Kovinotehna Savinjska Polzela (2nd)	Budivelnyk (1st)	London Towers (1st)
Le Mans (5th)	Pivovarna Laško (4th)	BIPA-Moda Odesa (2nd)	ASK Brocēni (1st)
Tofaş (4th)	FMP Železnik (CW)	Danone-Honvéd (1st)	Torpan Pojat (1st)
Fenerbahçe (5th)	Beobanka (3rd)	Marc-Körmend (WC)	Sloboda Dita (1st)
Avtodor Saratov (2nd)	Oliveirense (2nd)	ICEC Opava (1st)	Kalev Talinn (2nd)
Samara (3rd)	Portugal Telecom (3rd)	USK Erpet Praha (WC)	Libertel Dolphins EBBC (1st)

Preliminary group stage

Key to colors
	Qualified to Round of 32
	Eliminated

Group A

	Team	Pld	Pts	W	L	PF	PA	PD
1.	Festina Joventut	10	19	9	1	884	782	+102
2.	Tofaş	10	17	7	3	793	698	+95
3.	BIPA-Moda Odesa	10	17	7	3	731	644	+87
4.	Torpan Pojat	10	15	5	5	738	735	+3
5.	Žemaitijos Lokiai	10	12	2	8	734	854	−120
6.	Rabotnički	10	10	0	10	653	820	−167

Group B

	Team	Pld	Pts	W	L	PF	PA	PD
1.	Le Mans	10	17	7	3	794	792	+2
2.	Śląsk Wrocław	10	16	6	4	760	751	+9
3.	Pivovarna Laško	10	16	6	4	800	783	+17
4.	Fenerbahçe	10	15	5	5	783	763	+20
5.	ASK Brocēni	10	15	5	5	879	832	+47
6.	ICEC Opava	10	11	1	9	745	840	−95

Group C

	Team	Pld	Pts	W	L	PF	PA	PD
1.	Žalgiris	10	17	7	3	777	672	+105
2.	ASVEL	10	17	7	3	677	642	+35
3.	Mazowzanka	10	16	6	4	827	790	+37
4.	Zagreb	10	16	6	4	776	704	+72
5.	Kalev	10	14	4	6	690	737	−47
6.	MZT Aerodrom	10	10	0	10	634	836	−202

Group D

	Team	Pld	Pts	W	L	PF	PA	PD
1.	Cáceres	10	16	6	4	836	767	+69
2.	Samara	10	16	6	4	801	774	+27
3.	FMP Železnik	10	16	6	4	793	719	+74
4.	Keravnos	10	15	5	5	681	743	−62
5.	Oliveirense	10	14	4	6	713	787	−74
6.	Plannja	10	13	3	7	819	853	−34

Group E

	Team	Pld	Pts	W	L	PF	PA	PD
1.	Stefanel Milano	10	18	8	2	840	729	+111
2.	Beobanka	10	17	7	3	784	716	+68
3.	Hapoel Eilat	10	17	7	3	805	787	+18
4.	Tatami Rhöndorf	10	15	5	5	765	814	−49
5.	Danone-Honvéd	10	12	2	8	721	779	−58
6.	London Towers	10	11	1	9	692	782	−90

Group F

	Team	Pld	Pts	W	L	PF	PA	PD
1.	Spirou	10	18	8	2	855	710	+145
2.	Apollon Patras	10	17	7	3	910	795	+115
3.	Zrinjevac	10	16	6	4	836	822	+14
4.	Kovinotehna Savinjska Polzela	10	15	5	5	859	842	+17
5.	Libertel Dolphins EBBC	10	13	3	7	761	889	−128
6.	USK Erpet Praha	10	11	1	9	730	893	−163

Group G

	Team	Pld	Pts	W	L	PF	PA	PD
1.	Polti Cantù	10	19	9	1	916	762	+154
2.	Sunair Oostende	10	17	7	3	860	820	+40
3.	Marc-Körmend	10	16	6	4	822	807	+15
4.	Bayer 04 Leverkusen	10	15	5	5	820	884	−64
5.	Portugal Telecom	10	13	3	7	863	873	−10
6.	Sloboda Dita	10	10	0	10	735	870	−135

Group H

	Team	Pld	Pts	W	L	PF	PA	PD
1.	Panathinaikos	10	19	9	1	865	645	+220
2.	Avtodor Saratov	10	18	8	2	879	834	+45
3.	Maccabi Ironi Ra`anana	10	15	5	5	778	784	−6
4.	Slovakofarma Pezinok	10	14	4	6	756	856	−100
5.	SÜBA Sankt Pölten	10	12	2	8	707	802	−95
6.	Budivelnyk	10	12	2	8	695	759	−64

Round of 32

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Fenerbahçe	150–162	Festina Joventut	78–75	72–87
Pivovarna Laško	157–170	Tofaş	79–85	78–85
BIPA-Moda Odesa	143–171	Śląsk Wrocław	74–84	69–87
Torpan Pojat	144–131	Le Mans	77–69	67–62
Keravnos	101–130	Žalgiris	61–57	40–73
FMP Železnik	136–145	ASVEL	71–66	65–79
Mazowzanka	150–164	Samara	78–94	72–70
Zagreb	151–146	Cáceres	98–63	53–83
Kovinotehna Savinjska Polzela	111–168	Stefanel Milano	56–98	55–70
Zrinjevac	114–119	Beobanka	59–59	55–60
Hapoel Eilat	180–173	Apollon Patras	101–84	79–89
Tatami Rhöndorf	177–159	Spirou	83–77	94–82
Slovakofarma Pezinok	154–166	Polti Cantù	95–87	59–79
Maccabi Ironi Ra`anana	155–156	Sunair Oostende	86–82	69–74
Marc-Körmend	159–184	Avtodor Saratov	83–85	76–99
Bayer 04 Leverkusen	135–169	Panathinaikos	64–86	71–83

Round of 16

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
ASVEL	164–152	Festina Joventut	82–74	82–78
Samara	127–125	Torpan Pojat	77–74	50–51
Tofaş	131–133	Žalgiris	66–62	65–71
Śląsk Wrocław	142–131	Zagreb	76–60	66–71
Sunair Oostende	140–162	Stefanel Milano	68–80	72–82
Avtodor Saratov	160–126	Tatami Rhöndorf	71–50	89–76
Beobanka	163–136	Polti Cantù	88–58	75–78
Hapoel Eilat	148–164	Panathinaikos	80–78	68–86

Quarterfinals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
ASVEL	128–129	Stefanel Milano	58–67	70–62
Avtodor Saratov	181–175	Samara	92–65	89–110
Žalgiris	137–119	Beobanka	78–65	59–54
Panathinaikos	143–119	Śląsk Wrocław	82–58	61–61

Semifinals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Panathinaikos	138–144	Stefanel Milano	77–58	61–86
Žalgiris	159–151	Avtodor Saratov	96–74	63–77

Final

April 14, Hala Pionir, Belgrade

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Žalgiris	82–67	Stefanel Milano

1997–98 FIBA EuroCup Champions
Žalgiris 1st title

Awards

FIBA Saporta Cup Finals MVP

Saulius Štombergas ( Žalgiris)

References

^ "Linguasport – FIBA Country Ranking (B)". www.linguasport.com. Retrieved 2020-05-31.

External links

[1] "Linguasport – FIBA Country Ranking (B)". www.linguasport.com. Retrieved 2020-05-31.

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