1971–72 FIBA European Champions Cup

The 1971–72 FIBA European Champions Cup was the 15th installment of the European top-tier level professional basketball club competition FIBA European Champions Cup (now called EuroLeague). The Final was held at the Yad Eliyahu Arena, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on March 23, 1972. It was won by Ignis Varese, who defeated Jugoplastika, by a result of 70–69.

1971–72 FIBA European Champions Cup
LeagueFIBA European Champions Cup
SportBasketball
Final
ChampionsItaly Ignis Varese
  Runners-upSocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Jugoplastika
FIBA European Champions Cup seasons

Competition system

edit
  • 23 teams (European national domestic league champions, plus the then current title holders), playing in a tournament system, played knock-out rounds on a home and away basis. The aggregate score of both games decided the winner.
  • The 8 teams qualified for the Quarterfinals were divided into two groups of four. Every team played against the other three in its group in consecutive home-and-away matches, so that every two of these games counted as a single win or defeat (point difference being a decisive factor there). In case of a tie between two or more teams after this group stage, the following criteria were used: 1) one-to-one games between the teams; 2) basket average; 3) individual wins and defeats.
  • The group winners and the runners-up of the Quarterfinal Group Stage qualified for the Semifinals. The final was played at a predetermined venue.

First round

edit
Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Amicale Steinsel   130–192   Panathinaikos 63–98 67–94
Tapion Honka   164–138   Alvik 73–60 91–78
Jeunesse Sportivo Alep   0–4*   17 Nëntori 0–2 0–2
Al-Gezira   141–196   Jugoplastika 66–84 75–112
İTÜ   176–179   Radio Koch Wien 91–84 85–95
Lourenço Marques   147–172   ASVEL 72–77 75–95
Virum   90–234   Real Madrid 43–120 47–114
FUS   124–179   Bus Fruit Lier 64–82 63–123

*Jeunesse Sportivo Alep withdrew before the first leg and 17 Nëntori received a forfeit (2–0) in both games.

Second round

edit
Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Panathinaikos   161–154   Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv 81–73 80–81
Tapion Honka   153–188   Slavia VŠ Praha 80–87 73–101
17 Nëntori   135–175   Jugoplastika 77–90 58–85
Radio Koch Wien   173–172   ASVEL 101–85 72–87
TuS 04 Leverkusen   140–197   Real Madrid 77–84 63–113
Fribourg Olympic   127–209   Bus Fruit Lier 73–99 54–110
Levi's Flamingo's   –*   Academic 92–94 92–105

*Academic qualified for the next stage of the competition as the winner of this match-up, but the Bulgarian club later withdrew alleging that most of their international players has been summoned to play a series of Communist Bloc tournaments (the real reason was to prepare the Pre-Olympic Tournament though). Later, FIBA fined Akademik for this intentional withdrawal and invited Levi's Flamingo's to take their place in the Quarter finals group stage.

Automatically qualified to the group stage

Quarterfinals group stage

edit

The quarterfinals were played with a round-robin system, in which every Two Game series (TGS) constituted as one game for the record.

Key to colors
     Top two places in each group advance to Semifinals

Group A

edit
Team Pld Pts W L PF PA PD
1.   Ignis Varese 3 6 3 0 553 488 +65
2.   Real Madrid 3 5 2 1 516 500 +16
3.   Radio Koch Wien 3 4 1 2 499 559 -60
4.   Levi's Flamingo's 3 3 0 3 541 562 -21

Group B

edit
Team Pld Pts W L PF PA PD
1.   Jugoplastika 3 6 3 0 510 474 +36
2.   Panathinaikos 3 4 1 2 484 489 -5
3.   Slavia VŠ Praha 3 4 1 2 484 506 -22
4.   Bus Fruit Lier 3 4 1 2 494 503 -9

Semifinals

edit
Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Ignis Varese   139–133   Panathinaikos 69–55 70–78
Real Madrid   158–161   Jugoplastika 89–81 69–80

Final

edit

March 23, Sports Palace at Yad Eliyahu, Tel Aviv

Team 1  Score  Team 2
Ignis Varese   70–69   Jugoplastika

Ignis: Edoardo Rusconi, Ottorino Flaborea (13 pts), Graziano Malachin, Walter Vigna, Marino Zanatta (4), Paolo Vittori, Aldo Ossola (4), Dino Meneghin (21), Tony Gennari (8), Ivan Bisson, Manuel Raga (20).
Jugoplastika: Peterka, Grašo, Manović (5 pts), Grgin, D.Tvrdić, Macura, R.Tvrdić (8), L.Tvrdić (2), Šolman (20), Krstulović, Prug (8), Skansi (26).

1971–72 FIBA European Champions Cup
Champions
 
Ignis Varese
2nd Title

Awards

edit

References

edit
edit