The 2008–09 FIBA EuroChallenge was the sixth edition of Europe's third-tier level transnational men's 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 ...

FIBA EuroChallenge Tournament, and the first under the FIBA EuroChallenge name, organized by

FIBA Europe FIBA Europe is the administrative body for basketball in Europe, within the FIBA, International Basketball Federation (FIBA), which includes all List of men's national basketball teams#FIBA Europe, 50 national European basketball federations. ...

. It was also the first season that eliminated teams from 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 ...

would transfer to a

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 ...

competition after the 2000 conflict between

ULEB Union of European Leagues of Basketball (ULEB; ) is a sports organization within basketball created for growth of professional basketball in Europe.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 ...

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 Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna, known for sponsorship reasons as Virtus Segafredo Bologna, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna. The club was founded in 1929, which makes it the oldest club in Italy and one ...

won its first EuroChallenge title after defeating Cholet in the Final of the Final Four, which was hosted 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 ...

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

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

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

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

*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

Group G

Group H

Top 16

Group I

Group J

Group K

Group L

Quarterfinals

Final Four

The Final Four will be the last stage of EuroChallenge 2008–09. The event will take place at the Futurshow Station, in

External links

FIBA EuropeEuropean Basketball website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eurochallenge 2008-09

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...