FIBA EuroCup Challenge

FIBA EuroCup Challenge

Sport	Basketball
Founded	2002
Ceased	2007
Motto	We Are Basketball
No. of teams	16
Continent	Europe
Last champion(s)	CSK VVS Samara (1st title)
Most titles	Aris Mitteldeutscher Asesoft Ploiești Ural Great Perm CSK VVS Samara (1 title each)
Level on pyramid	4
Promotion to	FIBA EuroChallenge - (3rd tier)
Official website	FIBA EuroCup EuroChallenge

The FIBA EuroCup Challenge was the 4th-tier level (it was the 3rd-tier level during the inaugural 2002–03 season), transnational professional continental club basketball competition in Europe. It was run and organized by FIBA Europe. The league was founded in 2002, and ceased in 2007. Each season's finalists were promoted to the next season's more prestigious 3rd-tier level competition, the FIBA EuroChallenge.

History

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

Names of the competition

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

The finals

Year		Final				Third and fourth place
		Champion	Score	Second place
2002–03 Details		Aris	84–83	Prokom Trefl Sopot		Ventspils	Hemofarm
2003–04 Details		Mitteldeutscher	84–68	SAOS Dijon		Tuborg Pilsener	Dynamo Moscow Region
2004–05 Details		Asesoft Ploiești	75–74	Lokomotiv Rostov		Dynamo Moscow Region	Bandırma Banvit
2005–06 Details		Ural Great Perm	154–147 80–67 / 74–80	Khimik		Olympia Larissa	Lappeenrannan NMKY
2006–07 Details		CSK VVS Samara	184–166 83–85 / 101–81	Keravnos		Pizza Express Apollon	Dnipro

Finals MVP

Season	Player	Pos.	Club
2002–03	Will Solomon	PG/SG	Aris
2003–04	Marijonas Petravičius	PF/C	Mitteldeutscher
2004–05	Vladimir Kuzmanović	SG	Asesoft Ploieşti
2005–06	Derrick Alston	PF/C	Ural Great Perm
2006–07	Nikita Shabalkin	SF / PF	CSK VVS Samara

Titles by club

Rank	Club	Titles	Runner-up	Champion years
1	Aris	1	0	2002–03
	Mitteldeutscher	1	0	2003–04
	Asesoft Ploieşti	1	0	2004–05
	Ural Great Perm	1	0	2005–06
	CSK VVS Samara	1	0	2006–07
6	Prokom Trefl Sopot	0	1
	Dijon	0	1
	Lokomotiv Kuban	0	1
	Khimik	0	1
	Keravnos	0	1
Total		5	5

Winning rosters

FIBA Europe Champions Cup:

• 2002–03 Aris

Willie Solomon, Ryan Stack, Ivan Grgat, Fedor Likholitov, Prodromos Nikolaidis, Ioannis Lappas, Ioannis Gagaloudis, Dimitar Angelov, Miroslav Raičević, Dimitrios Charitopoulos, Nikos Orfanos, Kostas Kakaroudis, Dimitris Merachtsakis (Head Coach: Vangelis Alexandris)

FIBA Europe Cup:

• 2003–04 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 Asesoft Ploieşti

Catalin 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 Ural Great Perm

Derrick Alston, Terrell Lyday, Vasili 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 CSK VVS 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)

External links

• FIBA EuroCup Challenge Homepage
• linguaspor