The 1965–66 FIBA European Champions Cup was the ninth season of the European top-tier level professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

club competition FIBA European Champions Cup (now called

EuroLeague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

). It was won by Simmenthal Milano, for the first time in its history, the first of the club's three

championships. Simmenthal defeated Slavia VŠ Praha, by a score of 77–72, in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

of the first ever Champions Cup Final Four held in the EuroLeague competition, with two venues used: a venue in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, and the Palazzo dello sport arena in

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

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. The Italian team, featuring future the Basketball Hall of Fame member

Bill Bradley William Warren Bradley (born July 28, 1943) is an American politician and former professional basketball player. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was a United States Senate, United States senator from New ...

, defeated the favorites and former champs,

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, in the semifinal, by a score of 57–68.

Competition system

26 teams. European national domestic league champions, plus the then current FIBA European Champions Cup title holders only, playing in a tournament system. The competition culminated in a Final Four.

First round

*Series decided over a third game after having tied aggregate score after the two home-away games.

Second round

*Series decided over a third game after having tied aggregate score after the two home-away games.

Quarterfinals group stage

For the first time in the competition history, the quarterfinals were played with a round-robin system, in which every Two Game series (TGS) constituted as one game for the record. A third decisive game was played if the aggregate score of the first two games was tied.

Standings

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Group B

Games

Standings

Final four

Semifinals

March 31,

March 30, Palazzo dello sport,

3rd place game

April 1,

Final

April 1, Palazzo dello sport,

Final standings

Awards

FIBA European Champions Cup Finals Top Scorer

* Jiří Zídek Sr. ( Slavia VŠ Praha)

References

External links

1965–66 FIBA European Champions Cup
* *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fiba European Champions Cup 1965-66 1965-66

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French language, French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. FIBA defines the rules of basketball, specifies the Basketball equipment ...