Euroleague
Current season, competition or edition: 2016–17 EuroLeague
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| Sport | Basketball |
|---|---|
| Founded | 9 June 2000 |
| CEO | Jordi Bertomeu |
| President | Jordi Bertomeu |
| Motto | I Feel Devotion |
| No. of teams | 16 |
| Countries |
FIBA Europe member associations |
| Headquarters | Barcelona, Spain |
| Continent | Europe |
| Most recent champion(s) |
CSKA Moscow (7th title) |
| Most titles |
Real Madrid (9 titles) |
| TV partner(s) | List of broadcasters |
| Level on pyramid | 1st tier |
| Related competitions |
EuroCup |
| Official website | Euroleague.net |
EuroLeague, known as the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level tier and most important professional club basketball competition in Europe, with teams from up to 18 different countries, members of FIBA Europe. For sponsorship reasons, for five seasons starting with 2010–11, it is named the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. The competition is controlled by the privately held Euroleague Basketball, which is headquartered in Barcelona, Spain, and features clubs that come from a Europe-wide consortium of leading professional basketball leagues, called ULEB.
The FIBA European Champions Cup was originally established by FIBA and it operated under its umbrella from 1958 until the summer of 2000, concluding with the 1999–00 season. That was when Euroleague Basketball was created.
FIBA had never trademarked the "EuroLeague" name, even though it had used that name for the competition since 1996. Euroleague Basketball simply appropriated the name, and since FIBA had no legal recourse to do anything about it, it was forced to find a new name for its championship series. Thus, the following 2000–2001 season started with 2 separate top European professional club basketball competitions: the FIBA SuproLeague (previously known as the FIBA EuroLeague) and the brand new Euroleague 2000–01 season.
The rift in European professional club basketball initially showed no signs of letting up. Top clubs were also split between the two leagues: Panathinaikos, Maccabi Elite, CSKA Moscow and Efes Pilsen stayed with FIBA, while Olympiacos, Kinder Bologna, Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Tau Cerámica and Benetton Treviso joined Euroleague Basketball.
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