The 2002–03 ULEB Cup was the inaugural season of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

's secondary level professional club

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 ...

tournament, the

ULEB Cup EuroCup Basketball, commonly known as the EuroCup and currently called BKT EuroCup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual professional basketball club competition organized by Euroleague Basketball. The league is regarded as Euroleague Basketbal ...

, which is organised by

Euroleague Basketball Euroleague Basketball, run by Euroleague Commercial Assets (ECA), is a private company that runs and operates men's professional basketball club competitions in Europe, the first-tier level EuroLeague, and the second-tier level EuroCup. It has ...

. 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 The 2003–04 Euroleague was the fourth season of the professional basketball competition for elite clubs throughout Europe, organised by Euroleague Basketball Company, and it was the 47th season of the premier competition for European men's cl ...

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 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 ...

chose to compete in the

2002–03 FIBA Europe Champions Cup The 2002–03 FIBA Europe Champions Cup was the first edition of Europe's 3rd-tier level transnational competition for men's professional basketball clubs, the FIBA Europe Champions Cup, following the merger of the FIBA Korać Cup and FIBA Saport ...

, apart from the champions of Russia, Netherlands and Belgium. The inaugural

also didn't feature teams from Greece, Lithuania and Israel as they chose to play in

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 ...

's competition.

Distribution

The table below shows the default access list.

Teams

League positions after Playoffs of the previous season shown in parentheses:

Round and draw dates

The schedule of the competition was as follows.

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
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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.