FIBA EuroCup Challenge

History

In 2002, FIBA Europe abolished its two main club tournaments, the FIBA Saporta Cup and the FIBA Korac Cup, and invited European teams to join their two newly formed competitions, the FIBA Europe Champions Cup and the FIBA Europe Regional Challenge Cup, which would function as FIBA's premium and secondary-tier tournaments, respectively, in an attempt to compete against the newly formed EuroLeague, already run by ULEB since 2001.

However, the revived Champions Cup never became a true rival to the ULEB Euroleague, and FIBA therefore decided that a pan-European competition, on top of the previous season's regional competition, would be organised for the 2003–04 season. The FIBA Europe League was launched in 2003, as its top competition and the FIBA Europe Champions Cup ultimately merged with FIBA's second-tier tournament, the FIBA Europe Regional Challenge Cup, to form the FIBA Europe Cup, which instead functioned as FIBA Europe's second-tier tournament, and the fourth-tier overall on the European pyramid.

The competition was played during the 2002–03 to 2006–07 seasons. It was variously known as the FIBA Europe Championship Cup / FIBA Europe Regional Challenge Cup (2002–03), the FIBA Europe Cup (2003–05), and the FIBA EuroCup Challenge (2005–07).

Overall during those five seasons, several historic European clubs played in the competition, such as ASK Riga, Fenerbahçe, Split, Khimki Moscow Region, EKA AEL, Bayer Giants Leverkusen, Azovmash Mariupol, PAOK Thessaloniki, Hapoel Jerusalem, Rytas, Ventspils, Ural Great Perm, Belenenses, Academic, UNICS Kazan, Prokom, Dinamo Bucharest, Benetton Fribourg, etc.

Names of the competition

• FiBA Europe Champions Cup / FIBA Europe Regional Challenge Cup: (2002–2003)
• FIBA Europe Cup: (2003–2005)
• FIBA EuroCup Challenge: (2005–2007)

Finals

Finals MVP

Titles by club

Winning rosters

FIBA Europe Regional Challenge Cup:

North Conference:

• 2002–03 UKRMariupol

Volodymyr Gurtovyy, Andriy Kapinos, Andriy Botichev, Oleksandr Skutyelnik, Igor Kharchenko, Sergiy Moskalenko, Petro Podtykan, Yevhenii Annienkov, Dmytro Briantsev (Head Coach: Andrij Podkovyrov)

South Conference:

• 2002–03 CYPEKA AEL Limassol Dimitris Prokopiou, Marcos Asonitis, Georgios Kouzapas, Michalis Kounounis, Davor Kurilic, Konstantinos Perentos, Ranko Velimirovic, David Michael Van Dyke, Christos Spyrou, Duane Woodward (Head Coach: Dragan Raca).

FIBA Europe Cup:

• 2003–04 DEU Mitteldeutscher Wendell Alexis, Manuchar Markoishvili, Paul Burke, Marijonas Petravičius, Misan Nikagbatse, Sebastian Machowski, Stephen Arigbabu, Jonas Elvikis, Per Ringstrom, Chauncey Leslie, Peter Fehse, Paul Bayer, Michael Krikemans (Head Coach: Henrik Dettmann)
• 2004–05 ROM Asesoft Ploiești Cătălin Burlacu, Ivan Krasic, Nikola Bulatović, Vladimir Kuzmanović, Paul Helcioiu, Marko Rakočević, Rares Apostol, Antonio Alexe, Levente Szijarto, Predrag Materić, Nicolae Toader, Marko Peković, Adrian Blidaru, Saša Ocokoljić (Head Coach: Mladjen Jojic)

FIBA EuroCup Challenge:

• 2005–06 RUS Ural Great Perm Derrick Alston, Terrell Lyday, Vasily Karasev, Jurica Golemac, Jasmin Hukić, Andre Hutson, Andrei Trushkin, Egor Vyaltsev, Vadim Panin, Evgeni Kolesnikov, Aleksandr Dedushkin, Arseni Kuchinsky, Vyacheslav Shushakov, Artem Kuzyakin (Head Coach: Sharon Drucker)
• 2006–07 RUS Samara Nikita Shabalkin, Omar Cook, Georgios Diamantopoulos, Kelvin Gibbs, Evgeni Voronov, Pavel Agapov, Gennadi Zelenskiy, Yaroslav Strelkin, Oleg Baranov, Pavel Ulyanko, Taras Osipov, Anton Glazunov, Alexei Kiryanov, Valeri Likhodey (Head Coach: Valeri Tikhonenko)

References

References

1. "The FIBA Europe League Is Born!".
2. FIBA Europe. "FIBA Europe and ULEB".
3. FIBA Europe. "All Participants In FIBA Europe 2002/2003 Club Competitions Finalised".
4. "FIBA EuroCup Challenge: All-Time Winners".
5. FIBA Europe. "FIBA Europe announcement detailing the 2002-2003 European competitions".
6. "Basketball European National Club Competitions".
7. FIBA Europe. "INTERVIEW WITH LEMESOS’ DUANE WOODWARD".
8. "FIBA Europe Regional Challenge Cup 2002-03".