1997–98 FIBA EuroLeague

The 1997–98 FIBA EuroLeague was the 41st installment of the European top-tier level professional club competition for basketball clubs (now called simply EuroLeague). It began on September 18, 1997, and ended on April 23, 1998. The competition's Final Four was held at Palau Sant Jordi, Barcelona, with Kinder Bologna defeating AEK in the EuroLeague Final, in front of 11,900 spectators.

1997–98 FIBA EuroLeague
The Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona hosted the final Four
Season	1997–98
Dates	September 18, 1997 – April 23, 1998
Teams	24
Finals
Champions	Kinder Bologna (1st title)
Runners-up	AEK
Third place	Benetton Treviso
Fourth place	Partizan Zepter
Final Four MVP	Zoran Savić
Statistical leaders
Points Peja Stojaković 20.9 Rebounds Dejan Tomašević 9.6 Assists Willie Anderson 4.4
← 1996–97 1998–99 →

Benetton Treviso finished in the third position, while Partizan finished fourth.

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.

Country ranking

For the 1997–1998 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 1994–95 to 1996–97.

Country ranking for 1997–1998 FIBA EuroLeague

Rank Country Points Teams Notes 1 Spain 279.667 3 2 Greece 275.000 3 Italy 190.833 4 France 117.500 5 Turkey 96.667 2 +1, Ulker got wild card 6 Russia 70.542 Lost one berth 7 Germany 55.389 Lost one berth 8 Croatia 50.833 9 Israel 43.048 1 +1, Hapoel Jerusalem got wild card 10 Slovenia 38.833 11 Yugoslavia 25.000 12 Portugal 23.071 13 Belgium 22.500 0 14 Poland 21.206 15 Lithuania 19.416 16 Ukraine 15.762 17 Hungary 9.667 18 Czech Republic 7.139 19 Slovakia 6.555

Rank Country Points Teams Notes 20 Macedonia 6.111 0 21 Austria 5.445 22 Sweden 5.333 23 Cyprus 4.333 24 England 4.167 25 Latvia 3.722 26 Switzerland 3.083 27 Bulgaria 2.694 28 Romania 2.389 29 Finland 1.861 30 Bosnia and Herzegovina 1.778 31 Estonia 1.500 32 Netherlands 1.500 33 Georgia 1.500 34 Luxembourg 1.444 35 Albania 1.361 36 Denmark 0.167 37 Moldova 0.111 38 Belarus 0.056

Note

Team allocation

The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:

• 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.: League position after Playoffs
• WC: Wild card

Regular season
FC Barcelona Banca Catalana (1st)	Benetton Treviso (1st)	Efes Pilsen (1st)	Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv (1st)
Real Madrid Teka (2nd)	Teamsystem Bologna (2nd)	Türk Telekom PTT (2nd)	Hapoel Jerusalem (WC)
Estudiantes (3rd)	Kinder Bologna (3rd)	Ülker (WC)	Alba Berlin (1st)
Olympiacos (1st)	PSG Racing (1st)	Cibona (1st)	Union Olimpija (1st)
AEK (2nd)	Pau-Orthez (3rd)	Split (2nd)	Partizan Zepter (1st)
PAOK (3rd)	Limoges CSP (4th)	CSKA Moscow (1st)	FC Porto (1st)

Preliminary round

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		OLY	EFE	MAC	CSK	RMA	LIM
1	Olympiacos	10	7	3	722	702	+20	17	Advance to Group E		—	61–60	71–76	86–74	82–75	69–57
2	Efes Pilsen	10	6	4	718	674	+44	16			67–70	—	81–69	71–63	78–81	65–64
3	Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv	10	5	5	747	739	+8	15			73–87	61–70	—	87–69	87–82	78–62
4	CSKA Moscow	10	5	5	763	756	+7	15	Advance to Group F		77–58	77–73	71–63	—	90–77	83–70
5	Real Madrid Teka	10	4	6	787	793	−6	14			77–78	66–76	68–76	101–93	—	75–62
6	Limoges CSP	10	3	7	662	735	−73	13			66–60	62–77	78–77	70–66	71–85	—

Source: FIBA Europe

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		BEN	EST	PAO	TTA	SPL	POR
1	Benetton Treviso	10	9	1	782	664	+118	19	Advance to Group F		—	98–58	65–57	71–66	85–70	76–67
2	Estudiantes	10	6	4	753	747	+6	16			58–73	—	78–60	71–73	77–73	86–63
3	PAOK	10	6	4	729	672	+57	16			65–62	72–76	—	72–63	89–60	84–50
4	Türk Telekom PTT	10	5	5	711	716	−5	15	Advance to Group E		67–84	80–88	73–66	—	78–69	79–62
5	Split	10	4	6	747	768	−21	14			72–77	86–69	74–76	72–56	—	88–82
6	FC Porto	10	0	10	688	843	−155	10			84–91	69–92	71–88	61–76	79–83	—

Source: FIBA Europe

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		KIN	FCB	PAU	PAR	ÜLK	HAP
1	Kinder Bologna	10	9	1	773	655	+118	19	Advance to Group G		—	83–70	72–79	77–72	94–64	73–51
2	FC Barcelona Banca Catalana	10	7	3	828	793	+35	17			71–84	—	85–62	87–71	89–80	68–65
3	Pau-Orthez	10	5	5	739	750	−11	15			65–67	94–95	—		77–76	73–65
4	Partizan Zepter	10	4	6	793	807	−14	14	Advance to Group H		49–74	106–110	86–72	—	95–86	79–59
5	Ülker	10	3	7	734	769	−35	13			66–68	67–65	67–64	80–81	—	74–56
6	Hapoel Jerusalem	10	2	8	680	773	−93	12			68–81	81–88	67–79	88–84	80–74	—

Source: FIBA Europe

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		AEK	TEA	CIB	ALB	UOL	PSG
1	AEK	10	6	4	683	653	+30	16	Advance to Group H		—	80–57	70–55	79–80	74–65	57–52
2	Teamsystem Bologna	10	6	4	753	788	−35	16			70–67	—	77–75	80–73	77–61	93–77
3	Cibona	10	5	5	741	732	+9	15			67–63	87–92	—	98–84	78–75	61–73
4	Alba Berlin	10	5	5	752	754	−2	15	Advance to Group G		60–67	95–79	74–73	—	82–74	79–71
5	Union Olimpija	10	4	6	701	716	−15	14			71–74	89–68	59–76	78–72	—	59–76
6	PSG Racing	10	4	6	668	655	+13	14			76–52	84–60	65–71	55–53	66–69	—

Source: FIBA Europe

Qualification round

(The individual scores and standings of the first round are accumulated in the second round)

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

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

Group E

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		OLY	EFE	MAC	SPL	TTA	POR
1	Olympiacos	16	12	4	1176	1098	+78	28	Advance to Play Offs		—			90–79	64–60	73–54
2	Efes Pilsen	16	12	4	1232	1106	+126	28				—		86–75	74–68	80–71
3	Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv	16	11	5	1236	1152	+84	27					—	78–69	87–76	88–69
4	Split	16	5	11	1185	1243	−58	21			60–53	82–93	73–75	—
5	Türk Telekom PTT	16	5	11	1131	1185	−54	21			80–82	69–83	67–79		—
6	FC Porto	16	0	16	1071	1356	−285	16			63–92	67–98	59–82			—

Source: FIBA Europe

Group F

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		BEN	CSK	PAO	EST	RMA	LIM
1	Benetton Treviso	16	12	4	1213	1100	+113	28	Advance to Play Offs		—	83–77			65–56	96–70
2	CSKA Moscow	16	9	7	1217	1159	+58	25			82–65	—	78–48	74–68
3	PAOK	16	9	7	1119	1083	+36	25				61–58	—		63–59	85–76
4	Estudiantes	16	8	8	1171	1191	−20	24				78–85		—	68–65	68–62
5	Real Madrid Teka	16	7	9	1187	1165	+22	23			82–54		63–58	75–64	—
6	Limoges CSP	16	6	10	1099	1199	−100	22			69–68		77–75	83–72		—

Source: FIBA Europe

Group G

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		KIN	ALB	FCB	UOL	PSG	PAU
1	Kinder Bologna	16	11	5	1234	1175	+59	27	Advance to Play Offs		—	81–66		72–62	69–52
2	Alba Berlin	16	10	6	1193	1167	+26	26			85–69	—	81–78			66–55
3	FC Barcelona Banca Catalana	16	9	7	1236	1131	+105	25				77–78	—	84–65	78–77
4	Union Olimpija	16	9	7	1209	1173	+36	25			76–60		92–60	—		71–68
5	PSG Racing	16	8	8	1177	1175	+2	24			62–72		69–68		—	70–51
6	Pau-Orthez	16	1	15	1123	1297	−174	17				94–75		76–77	61–64	—

Source: FIBA Europe

Group H

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		AEK	TEA	CIB	PAR	ÜLK	HAP
1	AEK	16	11	5	1123	1055	+68	27	Advance to Play Offs		—			68–76	81–73	65–51
2	Teamsystem Bologna	16	10	6	1206	1232	−26	26				—		85–82	80–74	79–60
3	Cibona	16	10	6	1245	1204	+41	26					—	84–66	91–86	81–79
4	Partizan Zepter	16	6	10	1234	1261	−27	22			71–73	76–66	70–78	—
5	Ülker	16	5	11	1201	1242	−41	21			63–70	83–69	88–82		—
6	Hapoel Jerusalem	16	2	14	1090	1243	−153	18			68–83	69–74	83–88			—

Source: FIBA Europe

Playoffs

Bracket

Teams in bold advanced to the next round. The numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding, the numbers to the right indicate the result of games including result in bold of the team that won in that game, and the numbers furthest to the right indicate the number of games the team won in that round.

	Eight-Finals								Quarter-Finals								Semi-Finals					Final
	E1	Olympiacos	74	60		0
	H4	Partizan Zepter	78	72		2
									Partizan Zepter		87	52	89	2
									CSKA Moscow		72	77	77	1
	F2	CSKA Moscow	81	63	88	2
	G3	FC Barcelona Banca Catalana	79	75	76	1
																	Partizan Zepter		61
																	Kinder Bologna		83
	G1	Kinder Bologna	86	67		2
	F4	Estudiantes	62	62		0
									Kinder Bologna		64	58		2
									Teamsystem Bologna		52	56		0
	H2	Teamsystem Bologna	96	72	68	2
	E3	Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv	93	88	65	1
																						Kinder Bologna		58
																						AEK		44
	F1	Benetton Treviso	81	70		2
	G4	Union Olimpija	79	61		0
									Benetton Treviso		67	58	76	2
									Efes Pilsen		57	59	68	1
	E2	Efes Pilsen	75	102		2
	H3	Cibona	59	98		0
																	Benetton Treviso		66
																	AEK		69
	H1	AEK	76	62		2																Third Place
	E4	Split	46	54		0
									AEK		88	82		2								Partizan Zepter		89
									Alba Berlin		68	58		0								Benetton Treviso		96
	G2	Alba Berlin	77	60	104	2
	F3	PAOK	75	81	71	1

Eight-Finals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg	3rd leg
CSKA Moscow	2–1	FC Barcelona Banca Catalana	81–79	63–75	88–76
Olympiacos	0–2	Partizan Zepter	74–78	60–72
Teamsystem Bologna	2–1	Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv	96–93	72–88	68–65
Kinder Bologna	2–0	Estudiantes	86–62	67–62
Efes Pilsen	2–0	Cibona	75–59	102–98
Benetton Treviso	2–0	Union Olimpija	81–79	70–61
Alba Berlin	2–1	PAOK	77–75(o)	60–81	104–71
AEK	2–0	Split	76–46	62–54

Quarter-Finals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg	3rd leg
Partizan Zepter	2–1	CSKA Moscow	87–72	52–77	89–77
Kinder Bologna	2–0	Teamsystem Bologna	64–52	58–56
Benetton Treviso	2–1	Efes Pilsen	67–57	58–59	76–68
AEK	2–0	Alba Berlin	88–68	82–58

Final four

Main article: 1998 FIBA EuroLeague Final Four

Semifinals

April 21, Palau Sant Jordi, Barcelona

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Partizan Zepter	61–83	Kinder Bologna
Benetton Treviso	66–69	AEK

3rd place game

April 23, Palau Sant Jordi, Barcelona

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Partizan Zepter	89–96	Benetton Treviso

Final

April 23, Palau Sant Jordi, Barcelona

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Kinder Bologna	58–44	AEK

1997–98 FIBA EuroLeague Champions
Kinder Bologna 1st Title

Final standings

	Team
	Kinder Bologna
	AEK
	Benetton Treviso
	Partizan Zepter

Awards

All official awards of the 1997–98 FIBA EuroLeague.

FIBA EuroLeague Final Four MVP

• Zoran Savić ( Kinder Bologna)

FIBA EuroLeague All-Final Four Team

First Team<
Antoine Rigaudeau	Kinder Bologna
Sasha Danilović	Kinder Bologna
Henry Williams	Benetton Treviso
Dejan Tomašević	Partizan Zepter
Zoran Savić (MVP)	Kinder Bologna

FIBA EuroLeague Top Scorer

• Peja Stojaković ( PAOK)

FIBA EuroLeague Finals Top Scorer

• Antoine Rigaudeau ( Kinder Bologna)

Statistics

Individual statistics

Points

Rank	Name	Team	Games	Points	PPG
1.	Peja Stojaković	PAOK	16	335	20.9
2.	Harun Erdenay	Ülker	16	321	20.1
3.	Oded Kattash	Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv	19	372	19.6

Source: FIBAEurope

Rebounds

Rank	Name	Team	Games	Rebounds	RPG
1.	Dejan Tomašević	Partizan Zepter	23	221	9.6
2.	Mirsad Türkcan	Efes Pilsen	21	194	9.2
3.	Conrad McRae	PAOK	19	167	8.8

Source: FIBAEurope

Assists

Rank	Name	Team	Games	Assists	APG
1.	Willie Anderson	AEK	12	53	4.4
2.	Petar Naumoski	Efes Pilsen	17	71	4.2
3.	Aleksandar Đorđević	FC Barcelona B.Catalana	18	74	4.1

Source: FIBAEurope

Other statistics

Category	Player	Team	Games	Average
Steals	David Rivers	Teamsystem Bologna	21	2.9
Turnovers	Michael Anderson	Ülker	16	3.1
Minutes	Petar Naumoski	Efes Pilsen	17	39.9
FT %	Valeriy Dayneko	CSKA Moscow	22	87.8%
2-Point %	Radisav Ćurčić	Hapoel Jerusalem	16	63.6%
3-Point %	Roger Esteller	FC Barcelona B.Catalana	19	52.1%

Individual game highs

Category	Player	Team	Statistic	Opponent
Points	Aleksandar Đorđević	FC Barcelona B.Catalana	39	Partizan Zepter (Nov 12, 1997)
Rebounds	Kevin Rankin	Ülker	19	AEK (Jan 14, 1998)
Assists	Henrik Rödl	Alba Berlin	12	Teamsystem Bologna (Nov 6, 1997)
	Aleksandar Đorđević	FC Barcelona B.Catalana		Ülker (Dec 11, 1997)
Steals	Marcus Webb	CSKA Moscow	11	PAOK (Jan 8, 1998)

Team statistics

Category	Team	Average
Points	FC Barcelona B.Catalana	79.1
Rebounds	Estudiantes	30.8
Assists	Alba Berlin	14.3
Steals	CSKA Moscow	11.7
Turnovers	FC Porto	15.8
FT %	Hapoel Jerusalem	75.1%
2-Point %	Real Madrid Teka	57.9%
	Benetton Treviso
3-Point %	Olympiacos	40.7%

See also

• 1997–98 FIBA EuroCup
• 1997–98 FIBA Korać Cup

External links

• 1997–98 FIBA EuroLeague
• 1997–98 FIBA EuroLeague
• Eurobasket.com 1997–98 FIBA EuroLeague
• 97-98 awards