2000–01 Euroleague
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, and it ended with the last championship finals game on May 10, 2001, which was held at the PalaMalaguti arena, in Bologna, Italy.
| 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 | |||||||||||||
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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.