The 2008–09 Euroleague was the 9th season of the professional basketball competition for elite clubs throughout Europe, organised by Euroleague Basketball Company, and it was the 52nd season of the premier competition for European men's clubs overall. The season, which featured 24 teams from 13 countries, culminated in the 2008–09 Euroleague Final Four at the new O₂ World arena in Berlin, Germany.^[1] It was won by Panathinaikos, who defeated in the final, the defending champions, CSKA Moscow.

Quick Facts Euroleague, Season ...

Euroleague
The Final Four was held in the O2 World in Berlin
Season	2008–09
Duration	22 October 2008 – 3 May 2009
Number of games	188
Number of teams	24
Regular season
Season MVP	Juan Carlos Navarro
Finals
Champions	Panathinaikos 5th title
Runners-up	CSKA Moscow
Third place	FC Barcelona
Fourth place	Olympiacos
Final Four MVP	Vassilis Spanoulis
Awards
Rising Star	Novica Veličković
Best Defender	Dimitris Diamantidis
Coach of the Year	Duško Vujošević
Statistical leaders
Points Igor Rakočević 18.0 Rebounds Mirsad Türkcan 8.6 Assists Theodoros Papaloukas 5.2 Index Rating D'or Fischer 21.5
← 2007–08 2009–10 →

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While the general structure of the competition was identical to that used in recent seasons, changes were made to the format for two of its phases, the Regular Season and Quarterfinals.

More information Country (League), Teams ...

Country (League)	Teams	Teams (ranking in 2007-08 national championship)
Spain (ACB)	5 [2]	Tau Cerámica (1)	FC Barcelona (2)	DKV Joventut (SF)	Unicaja Málaga (SF)	Real Madrid (QF)
Italy (Lega A)	4	Montepaschi Siena (1)	Lottomatica Roma (2)	Air Avellino (SF)	Armani Jeans Milano (SF)
Greece (ESAKE A1)	3	Panathinaikos (1)	Olympiacos (2)	Panionios Forthnet (3)
Turkey (TBL)	2	Fenerbahçe Ülker (1)	Efes Pilsen (SF)
France (LNB Pro A)	2	Nancy (1)	Le Mans (SF)
Lithuania (LKL)	1	Žalgiris (1)
Germany (BBL)	1	Alba Berlin (1)
Croatia (A1 Liga)	1	Cibona (SF)
Russia (Superleague A)	1	CSKA Moscow (1)
Israel (BSL)	1	Maccabi Electra (2)
Slovenia (SKL)	1	Union Olimpija (1)
Serbia (KLS)	1	Partizan (1)
Poland (PLK)	1	Asseco Prokom Sopot (1)

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• DKV Joventut qualified as ULEB Cup winners.

Regular Season

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. This was the first year for this particular format; previously, the competing teams were split into three groups of eight teams each, with the top five teams in each group plus the best sixth-place team advancing.

If two or more clubs finished level on won-lost record, tiebreakers were applied in the following order:^[3]

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
4. Points scored in all group matches
5. Sum of quotients of points scored and points allowed in each group match

Games were played from October 22, 2008 to January 15, 2009.^[4]

Top 16

The surviving teams were then divided into four groups of four teams each, and again a round-robin system was adopted resulting in 6 games each, with the top 2 teams advancing to the quarterfinals. Tiebreakers are identical to those used in the Regular Season. Games began on January 28 and ended March 12.

Quarterfinals

In the quarterfinals, the top placed teams from each Top 16 group played second placed teams from a different group in a best-of-five playoff series, with the winners of those series advancing to the Final Four. This was the first season in which the quarterfinals were best-of-five; previously, they had been best-of-three. The quarterfinal matches were played from March 24 until April 9.

Final Four format

The culminating stage of the Euroleague in which the four remaining teams played a semifinal match and the winners of those advance to the final. The losers played in a third-place playoff. The team which was victorious in the Final (Panathinaikos) would be Euroleague champion. The Final Four semifinals were played May 1, with the third-place game and final on May 3.

The regular season began on October 20, 2008 and concluded on January 15, 2009.

More information Team, Pld ...

Group A Team Pld W L PF PA Diff 1. Unicaja Málaga 10 8 2 771 698 +73 2. Olympiacos 10 6 4 815 748 +67 3. Maccabi Electra 10 6 4 815 811 +4 4. Cibona VIP 10 5 5 760 772 -12 5. Air Avellino 10 3 7 754 814 -60 6. Le Mans 10 2 8 747 819 -72

Group B Team Pld W L PF PA Diff 1. FC Barcelona 10 9 1 813 650 +163 2. Montepaschi Siena 10 8 2 835 750 +85 3. Panathinaikos 10 7 3 763 707 +56 4. Asseco Prokom Sopot 10 2 8 675 734 -59 5. Žalgiris 10 2 8 716 812 -96 6. Nancy 10 2 8 706 855 -149

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More information Team, Pld ...

Group C Team Pld W L PF PA Diff 1. Tau Cerámica 10 8 2 916 808 +108 2. Lottomatica Roma 10 6 4 814 786 +28 3. Fenerbahçe Ülker 10 6 4 779 755 +24 4. Alba Berlin 10 4 6 691 748 -57 5. DKV Joventut 10 4 6 800 810 -10 6. Union Olimpija 10 2 8 725 818 -93

Group D Team Pld W L PF PA Diff 1. CSKA Moscow 10 7 3 774 644 +130 2. Real Madrid 10 6 4 740 707 +33 3. Armani Jeans Milano 10 5 5 734 745 -11 4. Partizan 10 5 5 706 687 +19 5. Efes Pilsen 10 4 6 713 762 -49 6. Panionios Forthnet 10 3 7 668 790 -122

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The Top 16 stage was played from January 28 to March 12, 2009.

The draw was conducted on January 19 at Euroleague Basketball Company headquarters in Barcelona. The group winners in the Regular Season were drawn from one pot, the runners-up from one pot, the teams in 3rd place from one pot and those in 4th place from one pot. Teams that played in the same group in the Regular Season could not meet again in the Top 16. Also, teams from the same country could not be drawn into the same pool unless it was necessary to prevent teams from the same Regular Season group from being drawn together.

More information Team, Pld ...

Group E Team Pld W L PF PA Diff 1. Olympiacos 6 5 1 496 446 +50 2. Tau Cerámica 6 4 2 556 474 +82 3. Armani Jeans Milano 6 2 4 455 529 -74 4. Asseco Prokom Sopot 6 1 5 444 502 -58

Group F Team Pld W L PF PA Diff 1. FC Barcelona 6 5 1 508 429 +79 2. Real Madrid 6 5 1 505 487 +18 3. Maccabi Electra 6 2 4 459 481 -22 4. Alba Berlin 6 0 6 427 502 -75 *FC Barcelona wins the group over Real Madrid by the head-to-head point differential.

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More information Team, Pld ...

Group G Team Pld W L PF PA Diff 1. Panathinaikos 6 5 1 503 428 +72 2. Partizan 6 4 2 420 434 -14 3. Unicaja Málaga 6 2 4 484 461 +23 4. Lottomatica Roma 6 1 5 441 525 -84

Group H Team Pld W L PF PA Diff 1. CSKA Moscow 6 5 1 454 377 +77 2. Montepaschi Siena 6 4 2 472 456 +16 3. Cibona VIP 6 2 4 423 456 -33 4. Fenerbahçe Ülker 6 1 5 384 444 -60

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Team 1 hosted Games 1 and 2, plus Game 5 if necessary. Team 2 hosted Game 3, and Game 4 if necessary.

More information Team 1, Agg. ...

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg	3rd leg	4th leg	5th leg
Olympiacos	3–1	Real Madrid	88–79	79–73	63–71	78–75
Regal FC Barcelona	3–2	Tau Cerámica	75–84	85–62	62–69	84–63	78–62
Panathinaikos	3–1	Montepaschi Siena	90–85	79–84	72–53	91–84
CSKA Moscow	3–0	Partizan	56–47	77–50	67–56

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The Final Four was played on May 1 and on May 3. Semifinal games were played on Friday, while the third-place playoff and Final were played on Sunday. The event was hosted at the O2 World in Berlin. It was the first time the event was held in Berlin.

	Semifinals May 1				Final May 3
	Regal FC Barcelona	78
	CSKA Moscow	82
					CSKA Moscow	71
					Panathinaikos	73
	Olympiacos	82
	Panathinaikos	84
					Third place
					Regal FC Barcelona	95
					Olympiacos	79

• ULEB Eurocup 2008–09
• EuroChallenge 2008–09