23 teams. European national domestic league champions, plus the then current FIBA European Champions Cup title holders only, playing in a tournament system. The Final was a single game, played on a neutral court.
*While they were eligible as the national champions to do so, ÍR never intended to participate in the tournament due to high costs involved and thus didn't register for it nor pay the participation fees. A letter by the Icelandic Basketball Association which informed FIBA on which Icelandic teams where eligible to participate in official FIBA tournaments was mistakenly taken as a confirmation of their participation.[1][2] Due to the mistake, Real Madrid went through with a walkover.