1997 EuroLeague Women

The 1997 Euroleague Women was the inaugural edition of the competition, a refoundarion of the FIBA Women's European Champions Cup, FIBA Europe's premier competition for women's basketball clubs. Running from 19 February to 10 April 1997, the competition was turned from a European Cup for all national champion clubs to a 16-team semi-closed championship, with champions from lower-seeded national leagues playing instead the second tier Ronchetti Cup; in addition to thirteen national champions the French, German and Italian runners-up were also granted a spot. Other than suppressing the two qualifying rounds, the competition system was the same as that of the 1996 European Cup.

Bourges Basket defeated defending champion BTV Wuppertal to become the first French team to win the competition since the European Cup's foundation in 1959.[1] The Final Four, which took place in Larissa, was contested by the same four teams as the previous edition's, with Ružomberok beating Pool Comense for the bronze.[2]

Preliminary Round

Group A

# Team Pld W L PF PA
1Spain Pool Getafe 14 13 1 1183 952
2France Valenciennes Olympic 14 11 3 1108 992
3Slovakia Ružomberok 14 11 3 1093 955
4Turkey Galatasaray 14 7 7 945 963
5Hungary Pécs 14 5 9 976 1076
6Germany Wildcats Aschaffenburg 14 4 10 979 1017
7Italy Ahena 14 3 11 885 1063
8Croatia Croatia Zagreb 14 2 12 939 1090

Group B

# Team Pld W L PF PA
1France Bourges 14 11 3 1035 855
2Czech Republic Brno 14 10 4 1155 1119
3Italy Pool Comense 14 10 4 1161 1069
4Germany Wuppertal 14 9 5 1053 957
5Greece Sporting Athens 14 7 7 1059 1010
6Slovenia Ježica 14 3 11 919 1052
7Israel Elitzur Ramla 14 3 11 963 1062
8Ukraine Dynamo Kiev 14 3 11 868 1059

Quarter-finals

Team #1 Agg. Team #2 1st 2nd 3rd
Pool Getafe Spain 0–2 Germany Wuppertal 78–8966–89
Valencienns Olympic France 1–2 Italy Pool Comense 82–7455–10868–81
Bourges France 2–0 Turkey Galatasaray 83–3372–68
Brno Czech Republic 0–2 Slovakia Ružomberok 59–8757–63

Final Four

Semi-finals Final
8 April
 Germany Wuppertal  87  
 Slovakia Ružomberok  66  
 
10 March
     Germany Wuppertal  52
   France Bourges  71
Third place
8 April 10 March
 Italy Comense  58  Slovakia Ružomberok  75
 France Bourges  68    Italy Comense  58

References

  1. List of finals, 1959-91 in FIBA Europe's website
  2. Results in FIBA Europe's website
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