2008–09 FIBA EuroChallenge
| FIBA EuroChallenge | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | 2008–09 | |||||||||
| Duration | 25 November 2008 – 26 April 2009 | |||||||||
| Teams | 32 | |||||||||
| Finals | ||||||||||
| Champions |  Virtus Bologna (1st title) | |||||||||
| Runners-up |  Cholet | |||||||||
| Third place |  Triumph Lyubertsy | |||||||||
| Fourth place |  Proteas EKA AEL | |||||||||
| Final Four MVP |  Keith Langford | |||||||||
| Statistical leaders | ||||||||||
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← 2007–08 2009–10 → | ||||||||||
The 2008–09 FIBA EuroChallenge was the sixth edition of Europe's third-tier level transnational men's professional club basketball FIBA EuroChallenge Tournament, and the first under the FIBA EuroChallenge name, organized by FIBA Europe. It was also the first season that eliminated teams from the ULEB Cup would transfer to a FIBA competition after the 2000 conflict between ULEB and FIBA. Additionally the formerly known ULEB Cup 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 won its first EuroChallenge title after defeating Cholet in the Final of the Final Four, which was hosted in Bologna.
Format
[edit]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 FIBA Europe.
Teams
[edit]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
| Ural Great (EC QR2) |
 Base Oostende (EC QR2) |
 Cajasol (EC QR2) |
 Hapoel Migdal Jerusalim (EC QR2) |
| Triumph Lyubertsy (EC QR1) |
Dexia Mons-Hainaut (4th) |
Cholet (EC QR1) |
 Galatasaray (EC QR2) |
| Lokomotiv Rostov (7th) |
 Tartu Rock (EC QR1) |
 Benetton Olympic Fribourg (EC QR2) |
 Olympia Larissa (8th) |
 Kyiv (EC QR2) |
Kalev/Cramo (2nd) |
 Allianz Swans Gmunden (EC QR2) |
Keravnos (1st) |
| Khimik (3rd) |
 Šiauliai (EC QR1) |
 Telekom Bonn (EC QR1) |
Virtus Bologna (15th) |
 Energa Czarni Slupsk (EC QR1) |
 Ventspils (3rd) |
 EclipseJet MyGuide Amsterdam (EC QR1) |
| CSK VVS-Samara (9th) |
Hyeres-Toulon (6th) |
Antalya BB (6th) |
 Široki (3rd) |
| Spartak Saint Petersburg (11th) |
JA Vichy (7th) |
Banvit (8th) |
Borac Nektar (5th) |
| Sumykhimprom (5th) |
EWE Baskets Oldenburg (5th) |
APOEL (2nd) |
 Zagreb (4th) |
| MBC Mykolaiv (6th) |
Deutsche Bank Skyliners (6th) |
Proteas EKA AEL (3rd) |
Cedevita (5th) |
| Donetsk (WC) |
 Bakken Bears (1st) |
 Asesoft (1st) |
 Zlatorog Laško (4th) |
 Prostejov (3rd) |
Svendborg Rabbits (2nd) |
U-Mobilteco Cluj (2nd) |