European Champions' Cup Teams Divided
The Euroleague (or historically called, the European Champions' Cup) was originally established by FIBA and it operated under its umbrella from 1958 until the summer of 2000, concluding with the 1999–00 season. That was when Euroleague Basketball (Company) was created.
Amazingly, FIBA had never trademarked the "Euroleague" name and Euroleague Basketball simply used it without any legal ramifications because FIBA had no legal recourse to do anything about it, so they had to find a new name for their league. Thus, the following 2000–2001 season started with 2 separate top European professional club basketball competitions: the FIBA SuproLeague (previously known as the FIBA Euroleague) and the brand new Euroleague 2000–01 season.
The rift in European professional club basketball initially showed no signs of letting up. Top clubs were also split between the two leagues: Panathinaikos, Maccabi Tel Aviv, CSKA Moscow and Efes Pilsen stayed with FIBA, while Olympiacos Piraeus, Kinder Bologna, Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Baskonia and Benetton Treviso joined Euroleague Basketball.
Read more about this topic: FIBA Supro League
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