The 2000–01 Euroleague was the inaugural basketball season of the EuroLeague, under ULEB and its newly formed Euroleague Basketball Company authority. Overall it was the 44th season of the premier competition for European men's professional basketball clubs overall. Initially not recognised or sanctioned by FIBA and considered a breakaway competition. It started on October 16, 2000, with a regular season game between hosts Real Madrid Teka and Olympiacos, which was held at the Raimundo Saporta Pavilion, in Madrid, Spain,^[1] and it ended with the last championship finals game on May 10, 2001, which was held at the PalaMalaguti arena, in Bologna, Italy.

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Quick Facts Euroleague, Season ...

Euroleague
Season	2000–01
Number of teams	24
Finals
Champions	Kinder Bologna (2nd title)
Runners-up	Tau Cerámica
Finals MVP	Manu Ginóbili
Awards
Regular Season MVP	Dejan Tomašević
Statistical leaders
Points Alphonso Ford 26.0 Rebounds Dejan Tomašević 11.5 Assists Ivica Marić 5.9 Index Rating Dejan Tomašević 30.9
← 1999–2000 2000–01 SuproLeague 2001–02 →

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This season did not feature all of the top-tier level European club basketball teams, as some of them opted to compete in the 2000–01 FIBA SuproLeague competition instead, after the row erupted between the previous EuroLeague governing body, FIBA, and the newly established Euroleague Basketball Company. It was the first time in European basketball that several clubs did not qualify to a European competition based on performance, but instead wild cards were given. Top clubs also signed licences with the right to participate in upcoming seasons regardless of their domestic league ranking.

A total of 24 teams competed for the EuroLeague title, which was in the end won by Kinder Bologna. Dejan Tomašević was the EuroLeague Regular season MVP, and Manu Ginóbili was the EuroLeague Finals MVP.

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 1999–2000 season. Euroleague Basketball Company was created by ULEB clubs in 2000. At the time the leagues of ULEB were Spain, Italy, Greece, Belgium, Portugal, England and Switzerland.^[2] However against the will of their domestic leagues clubs from Lithuania, Croatia, Russia, Israel and Slovenia opted for the Euroleague competition despite the fact their leagues were not members of ULEB.

FIBA had never trademarked the "EuroLeague" name and had no legal recourse on the usage of that name, so they had to find a new name for their league. The following 2000–01 season started with two top European professional club basketball competitions: FIBA SuproLeague (renamed from the FIBA EuroLeague) and Euroleague.

Top clubs were split between the two leagues: Panathinaikos, Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv, CSKA Moscow, and Efes Pilsen stayed with FIBA, while Olympiacos, Kinder Bologna, Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Tau Cerámica, and Benetton Treviso joined Euroleague Basketball. Lugano Tigers the Swiss champions were the last team to join the ULEB side and enter the competition.

On 11 July 2000 in Thessaloniki during the ULEB Assembly format changes and dates were set for the new competition ^[3] The Official List of the teams will include a minimum of 12 and a maximum of 16 players. Ten players will be allowed on the bench while 2 USA players per team were permitted. There was no Final Four but a best of three series in the Final.

Andrea Bassani (ex-General Manager of the Italian League) was appointed in the Assembly as the Manager of Marketing and Media of the Euroleague.

A total of 24 teams from 14 countries participate in the competition.

Teams

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

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

More information Regular season ...

Regular season
Paf Bologna (1st)	AEK (4th)	Cibona VIP (1st)	Opel Skyliners (3rd)
Benetton Treviso (2nd)	Peristeri (5th)	Zadar (2nd)	Union Olimpija (3rd)
Kinder Bologna (3rd)	Real Madrid Teka (1st)	Žalgiris (2nd)	Region Wallone Spirou (4th)
Müller Verona (4th)	FC Barcelona (2nd)	Budućnost (1st)	Ovarense Aerosoles (1st)
PAOK (2nd)	Adecco Estudiantes (3rd)	Hapoel Jerusalem (WC)	Lugano Snakes (1st)
Olympiacos (3rd)	Tau Cerámica (4th)	Saint Petersburg Lions (WC)	Haribo London Towers (1st)

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The first phase was a regular season, in which the competing teams were drawn into four groups, each containing six teams. Each team played every other team in its group at home and away, resulting in 10 games for each team in the first stage. The top 4 teams in each group advanced to the next round, The Top 16. The complete list of tiebreakers is provided in the lead-in to the Regular Season results.

If one or more clubs were level on won-lost record, tiebreakers were 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 were 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 A

More information Pos, Team ...

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Qualification		PAF	PER	ZAL	EST	LUG	ZAD
1	Paf Bologna	10	8	2	812	760	+52	Advance to Playoffs		—	71–69	91–85	81–72	81–66	81–77
2	Peristeri	10	7	3	841	786	+55			83–70	—	74–92	91–81	85–68	92–73
3	Žalgiris	10	6	4	866	816	+50			73–56	86–73	—	77–80	105–89	97–85
4	Adecco Estudiantes	10	4	6	820	821	−1			76–90	86–91	87–77	—	97–76	93–81
5	Lugano Snakes	10	3	7	777	914	−137			72–100	80–91	95–87	77–76	—	75–74
6	Zadar	10	2	8	840	859	−19			87–91	79–92	86–87	80–72	118–79	—

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Source: Euroleague

Group B

More information Pos, Team ...

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Qualification		KIN	AEK	TAU	CIB	SPL	RWC
1	Kinder Bologna	10	9	1	835	734	+101	Advance to Playoffs		—	81–66	76–73	106–88	84–78	106–87
2	AEK	10	8	2	805	746	+59			78–77	—	64–52	83–75	84–73	97–73
3	Tau Cerámica	10	6	4	749	700	+49			59–65	85–65	—	92–66	97–88	76–64
4	Cibona	10	3	7	773	832	−59			69–74	72–81	62–60	—	75–70	85–70
5	Saint Petersburg Lions	10	2	8	778	840	−62			78–82	69–90	79–81	92–90	—	83–77
6	Region Wallone Spirou	10	2	8	769	857	−88			58–80	89–97	71–74	100–91	80–68	—

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Source: Euroleague

Group C

More information Pos, Team ...

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Qualification		OLY	RMB	UOL	BEN	JER	OVA
1	Olympiacos	10	7	3	861	738	+123	Advance to Playoffs		—	91–84	82–70	82–73	102–69	101–67
2	Real Madrid Teka	10	7	3	859	789	+70			75–73	—	82–70	64–75	104–64	116–94
3	Union Olimpija	10	7	3	823	752	+71			69–73	88–79	—	78–74	95–68	102–79
4	Benetton Treviso	10	6	4	847	777	+70			95–87	87–88	69–71	—	78–71	106–81
5	Hapoel Jerusalem	10	3	7	784	881	−97			83–70	74–87	76–88	79–104	—	106–71
6	Ovarense Aerosoles	10	0	10	746	983	−237			53–100	73–80	70–92	76–86	82–94	—

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Source: Euroleague

Group D

More information Pos, Team ...

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Qualification		FCB	PAO	POD	VER	LON	SKY
1	FC Barcelona	10	8	2	856	757	+99	Advance to Playoffs		—	58–67	92–75	96–84	82–76	86–60
2	PAOK	10	7	3	846	773	+73			91–102	—	89–72	97–94	70–58	100–70
3	Budućnost	10	7	3	844	819	+25			77–85	83–71	—	77–73	101–83	79–73
4	Müller Verona	10	6	4	920	854	+66			94–90	102–88	86–91	—	102–76	90–70
5	Haribo London Towers	10	1	9	775	878	−103			82–97	61–93	88–95	89–98	—	86–61
6	Opel Skyliners	10	1	9	696	856	−160			51–68	73–80	79–94	80–97	79–76	—

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Source: Euroleague

In May 2001, Europe had two continental champions, Maccabi Tel Aviv of the FIBA SuproLeague and Kinder Bologna of Euroleague Basketball Company's EuroLeague. The leaders of both organizations realized the need to come up with a new single competition. Negotiating from the position of strength ULEB dictated proceedings, and FIBA essentially had no choice but to agree to their terms. As a result, the EuroLeague was fully integrated under Euroleague Basketball Company's umbrella, and teams that competed in the FIBA SuproLeague during the 2000–01 season joined it as well. It is today officially admitted that European basketball had two champions that year, Maccabi of the FIBA SuproLeague and Kinder Bologna of the Euroleague Basketball Company's EuroLeague.

A year later, Euroleague Basketball Company and FIBA decided that Euroleague Basketball's EuroLeague competition would be the main basketball tournament on the continent, to be played between the top level teams of Europe. FIBA Europe would also organize a European league for third-tier level teams, known as the FIBA Europe League competition, while Euroleague Basketball would also organize its own second-tier level league, combining FIBA's long-time Korać Cup and Saporta Cup competitions into one new competition, the EuroCup. In 2005, Euroleague Basketball and FIBA decided to cooperate with each other, and did so jointly until 2016.

In essence, the authority in European professional basketball was divided over club-country lines. FIBA stayed in charge of national team competitions (like the FIBA EuroBasket, the FIBA World Cup, and the Summer Olympics), while Euroleague Basketball took over the European professional club competitions. From that point on, FIBA's Korać Cup and Saporta Cup competitions lasted only one more season before folding and merged to the FIBA Europe Champions Cup in 2002 which was when Euroleague Basketball launched the ULEB Cup.

• 2000–01 FIBA SuproLeague
• 2000–01 FIBA Saporta Cup
• 2000–01 FIBA Korać Cup