1996–97 FIBA EuroLeague

1996–97 FIBA EuroLeague
League	FIBA EuroLeague
Sport	Basketball
Regular Season
Top scorer	Carlton Myers (Teamsystem Bologna)
Final Four
Champions	Olympiacos
Runners-up	FC Barcelona Banca Catalana
Final Four MVP	David Rivers (Olympiacos)

The 1996–97 FIBA EuroLeague was the 40th installment of the European top-tier level professional club competition for basketball clubs (now called simply EuroLeague). It was organized by FIBA Europe. It began on September 19, 1996, and ended on April 24, 1997. The competition's Final Four was held at Rome.

In the previous 5 seasons of the competition, the competition's official name was FIBA European League, or shortened to FIBA EuroLeague. This season was the first edition of the competition that took the shortened name of FIBA EuroLeague, as the league's official name.

Competition system

24 teams (the national domestic league champions from the best leagues, and a variable number of other clubs from the most important national domestic leagues). The competition culminated in a Final Four.

Teams

Country ranking

For the 1996-1997 EuroLeague, the countries are allocated places according to their place on the FIBA country rankings, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 1993–94 to 1995–96.[1]

Country ranking for 1996-1997 FIBA EuroLeague

Rank	Country	Points	Teams
1	Spain	321.667	3
2	Greece	299.667
3	Italy	216.667
4	France	123.238
5	Turkey	93.333	2
6	Russia	66
7	Croatia	63
8	Germany	61.389
9	Israel	50.905	1
10	Slovenia	41.333
11	Belgium	29
12	FR Yugoslavia	26
13	Portugal	24.5	0
14	Lithuania	19
15	Ukraine	15.389
16	Poland	12.111
17	North Macedonia	11.778
18	Hungary	10.5
19	Slovakia	8.889

Rank	Country	Points	Teams
20	Czech Republic	8.389	0
21	Austria	6.556
22	Switzerland	6.056
23	England	5.389
24	Cyprus	5
25	Sweden	4.722
26	Bulgaria	4
27	Latvia	3.667
28	Romania	2.778
29	Bosnia and Herzegovina	2.5
30	Luxembourg	2.167
31	Netherlands	1.944
32	Georgia	1.833
33	Finland	1.667
34	Estonia	1.5
35	Albania	1.444
36	Iceland	0.889
37	Belarus	0.278
38	Denmark	0.167

Team allocation

Regular season
FC Barcelona Banca Catalana (1st)	Stefanel Milano (1st)	Efes Pilsen (1st)	Bayer 04 Leverkusen (1st)
Caja San Fernando (2nd)	Teamsystem Bologna (2nd)	Ülker (2nd)	Alba Berlin (2nd)
Estudiantes Argentaria (3rd)	Kinder Bologna (3rd)	CSKA Moscow (1st)	Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv (1st)
Olympiacos (1st)	Pau-Orthez (1st)	Dynamo Moscow (2nd)	Smelt Olimpija (1st)
Panathinaïkos (2nd)	ASVEL (2nd)	Cibona (1st)	Spirou Charleroi (1st)
Panionios Ethniki Asfalistiki (3rd)	Limoges CSP (3rd)	Croatia Osiguranje (2nd)	Partizan (1st)

First round

Group A

	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	Diff
1.	Stefanel Milano	10	7	3	775	727	+48
2.	CSKA Moscow	10	6	4	761	734	+27
3.	Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv	10	6	4	798	773	+26
4.	Ülker	10	4	6	780	767	+13
5.	Limoges CSP	10	4	6	731	723	+8
6.	Panionios Ethniki Asfalistiki	10	3	7	711	830	-119

	MIL	CSK	MAC	ÜLK	LIM	PAN
MIL	X	87-74	85-88	67-65	79-66	90-66
CSK	70-55	X	89-80	71-76	74-65	96-66
MAC	78-68	77-78	X	71-65	69-77	69-57
ÜLK	67-73	73-76	84-80	X	99-91	87-69
LIM	74-85	83-66	62-69	84-80	X	78-75
PAN	79-86	72-67	69-74	84-71	92-77	X

Group B

	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	Diff
1.	Teamsystem Bologna	10	7	3	773	742	+31
2.	Estudiantes Argentaria	10	6	4	798	821	-23
3.	Cibona	10	6	4	713	679	+34
4.	Alba Berlin	10	6	4	755	723	+22
5.	Olympiacos	10	5	5	770	711	+59
6.	Spirou Charleroi	10	0	10	699	832	-133

	TSB	EST	CIB	ALB	OLY	SPI
TSB	X	100-86	54-66	82-72	81-72	87-78
EST	66-75	X	78-71	82-75	87-78	94-72
CIB	64-72	81-66	X	78-68	63-61	75-66
ALB	81-64	78-79	79-71	X	62-61	94-73
OLY	96-80	110-78	62-61	64-67	X	87-60
SPI	61-78	75-82	73-77	69-79	72-79	X

Group C

	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	Diff
1.	Panathinaïkos	10	8	2	736	693	+43
2.	Smelt Olimpija	10	7	3	753	669	+84
3.	ASVEL	10	7	3	738	718	+20
4.	FC Barcelona Banca Catalana	10	4	6	767	734	+33
5.	Croatia Osiguranje	10	4	6	630	705	-75
6.	Bayer 04 Leverkusen	10	0	10	704	809	-105

	PAO	OLI	ASV	FCB	CRO	BAY
PAO	X	75-67	66-72	79-75	72-50	87-79
OLI	74-76	X	73-60	77-65	81-53	86-70
ASV	74-80	70-69	X	91-90	78-59	72-64
FCB	77-58	70-71	78-81	X	68-70	90-71
CRO	58-65	53-66	73-61	65-75	X	86-79
BAY	67-78	77-89	66-79	71-79	60-63	X

Group D

	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	Diff
1.	Efes Pilsen	10	8	2	793	735	+58
2.	Partizan	10	6	4	777	762	+15
3.	Kinder Bologna	10	5	5	798	773	+25
4.	Pau-Orthez	10	5	5	780	767	+13
5.	Caja San Fernando	10	4	6	731	723	+8
6.	Dynamo Moscow	10	2	8	711	830	-119

	EFE	PAR	KIN	PAU	CAJ	DYN
EFE	X	93-77	75-60	78-76	69-66	87-84
PAR	76-72	X	78-70	84-75	66-72	97-64
KIN	75-89	100-83	X	86-74	93-75	89-74
PAU	80-78	73-77	89-83	X	85-79	94-71
CAJ	68-70	72-67	72-64	61-69	X	91-61
DYN	73-82	71-72	64-78	70-65	79-75	X

Second round

(The individual scores and standings of the First stage are accumulated in the Second stage)

If one or more clubs are level on won-lost record, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:

Head-to-head record in matches between the tied clubs
Overall point difference in games between the tied clubs
Overall point difference in all group matches (first tiebreaker if tied clubs are not in the same group)
Points scored in all group matches
Sum of quotients of points scored and points allowed in each group match

Key to colors
	Top four places in each group advance to Playoff

Group E

	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	Diff
1.	Stefanel Milano	16	11	5	1234	1175	+59
2.	Alba Berlin	16	10	6	1193	1167	+26
3.	Olympiacos	16	9	7	1236	1131	+105
4.	Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv	16	9	7	1209	1173	+32
5.	CSKA Moscow	16	8	8	1178	1175	+3
6.	Spirou Charleroi	16	1	15	1123	1297	-174

	MIL	ALB	OLY	MAC	CSK	SPI
MIL	X	80-91	73-71	X	X	73-63
ALB	68-78	X	X	70-65	78-76	X
OLY	87-84	X	X	69-60	82-51	X
MAC	X	78-62	82-78	X	X	87-70
CSK	X	67-69	70-79	X	X	80-66
SPI	68-71	X	X	90-82	67-72	X

Group F

	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	Diff
1.	Teamsystem Bologna	16	12	4	1262	1163	+99
2.	Cibona	16	10	6	1166	1126	+40
3.	Estudiantes Argentaria	16	9	7	1309	1284	+25
4.	Limoges CSP	16	8	8	1226	1235	-9
5.	Ülker	16	5	11	1196	1243	-47
6.	Panionios Ethniki Asfalistiki	16	4	12	1162	1325	-163

	TSB	CIB	EST	LIM	ÜLK	PAN
TSB	X	X	X	90-76	69-61	94-58
CIB	X	X	X	72-66	82-81	85-58
EST	X	X	X	68-70	97-63	92-70
LIM	81-70	85-61	91-85	X	X	X
ÜLK	73-78	73-77	78-74	X	X	X
PAN	72-88	84-76	91-95	X	X	X

Group G

	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	Diff
1.	Panathinaikos	16	13	3	1218	1134	+84
2.	ASVEL	16	12	4	1225	1188	+37
3.	Smelt Olimpija	16	10	6	1219	1119	+100
4.	Caja San Fernando	16	7	9	1203	1194	+9
5.	Pau-Orthez	16	6	10	1240	1251	-11
6.	Dynamo Moscow	16	3	13	1140	1310	-170

	PAO	ASV	OLI	CAJ	PAU	DYN
PAO	X	X	X	90-71	75-71	71-67
ASV	X	X	X	83-81	67-65	82-52
OLI	X	X	X	67-70	96-86	80-72
CAJ	78-87	91-68	81-76	X	X	X
PAU	66-78	95-97	77-71	X	X	X
DYN	88-81	86-90	64-76	X	X	X

Group H

	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	Diff
1.	Efes Pilsen	16	12	4	1250	1156	+94
2.	Partizan	16	9	7	1257	1228	+29
3.	FC Barcelona Banca Catalana	16	8	8	1244	1225	+19
4.	Kinder Bologna	16	7	9	1274	1259	+15
5.	Croatia Osiguranje	16	7	9	1055	1124	-69
6.	Bayer 04 Leverkusen	16	2	14	1175	1312	-137

	EFE	PAR	FCB	KIN	CRO	BAY
EFE	X	X	96-70	X	74-64	91-68
PAR	X	X	91-87	X	71-82	89-76
FCB	69-67	75-73	X	73-72	X	X
KIN	X	X	92-103	X	73-57	90-100
CRO	78-56	76-75	X	68-70	X	X
BAY	72-73	70-81	X	85-79	X	X

Top 16

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg	3rd leg
Cibona	1–2	Smelt Olimpija	61–58	66–69	61–62
Stefanel Milano	2–1	Kinder Bologna	67–59	76–83	78–76
Partizan	1–2	Olympiacos	71–81	61–60	69–74
Panathinaikos	2–0	Limoges CSP	68–67	70–55
Alba Berlin	0–2	FC Barcelona Banca Catalana	77–95	62–72
Teamsystem Bologna	2–0	Caja San Fernando	73–70	79–75
ASVEL	2–1	Estudiantes Argentaria	97–74	77–79	75–71
Efes Pilsen	2–1	Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv	76–67	65–78	84–69

Quarterfinals

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg	3rd leg
Stefanel Milano	1–2	Smelt Olimpija	94–90	69–73	61–77
Teamsystem Bologna	1–2	FC Barcelona Banca Catalana	70–65	73–75	62–87
Efes Pilsen	1–2	ASVEL	87–71	70–80	57–62
Panathinaikos	0–2	Olympiacos	49–69	57–65

Final four

Semifinals

April 22, Palaeur, Rome

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Olympiacos	74–65	Smelt Olimpija
FC Barcelona Banca Catalana	77–70	ASVEL

3rd place game

April 24, Palaeur, Rome

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Smelt Olimpija	86–79	ASVEL

Final