1972–73 FIBA European Champions Cup

The 1972–73 FIBA European Champions Cup was the 16th installment of the European top-tier level professional basketball club competition FIBA European Champions Cup (now called EuroLeague). The Final was held at the Country Hall du Sart Tilman, in Liège, Belgium, on March 22, 1973. It was won by Ignis Varese for the second time in a row. They defeated CSKA Moscow in the finals, by a result of 71–66.

1972–73 FIBA European Champions Cup
League	FIBA European Champions Cup
Sport	Basketball
Final
Champions	Ignis Varese
Runners-up	CSKA Moscow

Competition system

• 27 teams (European national domestic league champions, plus the then current title holders), playing in a tournament system, played knock-out rounds on a home and away basis. The aggregate score of both games decided the winner.
• The eight teams qualified for the quarterfinals were divided into two groups of four. Every team played against the other three in its group in consecutive home-and-away matches, so that every two of these games counted as a single win or defeat (point difference being a decisive factor there). In case of a tie between two or more teams after the group stage, the following criteria were used: 1) one-to-one games between the teams; 2) basket average; 3) individual wins and defeats.
• The group winners and the runners-up of the Quarterfinal Group Stage qualified for the semifinals. The final was played at a predetermined venue.

First round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
TuS 04 Leverkusen	160–165	Simmenthal Milano	73–75	87–90
Wienerberger	137–126	İTÜ	81–68	56–58
Etzella	152–160	Epping Avenue	81–91	71–69
Íþróttafélag Reykjavíkur	102–210	Real Madrid	65–117	37–93
Alvik	144–190	Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv	74–103	70–87
Honvéd	144–169	Bus Fruit Lier	85–77	59–92
FUS Rabat	139–193	ASVEL	65–82	74–111
FC Porto	149–202	Slavia VŠ Praha	81–93	68–109
Jeunesse Sportivo Alep	0–4*	Partizani Tirana	0–2	0–2
Levi's Flamingo's	164–179	Crvena zvezda	88–72	74–107
Dinamo București	172–132	Knorr Stars Honka	95–58	77–74
Academic	154–141	Panathinaikos	76–57	78–84

*Jeunesse Sportivo Alep withdrew before the first leg and Partizani Tirana received a forfeit (2–0) in both games.

Second round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Stade Français Genève	172–242	CSKA Moscow	92–121	80–121
Simmenthal Milano	175–156	Wienerberger	93–76	82–80
Epping Avenue	109–229	Real Madrid	62–119	47–110
Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv	162–146	Bus Fruit Lier	97–74	65–72
ASVEL	148–153	Slavia VŠ Praha	66–63	82–90
Partizani Tirana	157–193	Crvena zvezda	83–94	74–99
Dinamo București	141–133	Academic	72–75	69–58

Automatically qualified to the group stage

• Ignis Varese (title holder)

Quarterfinals group stage

The quarterfinals were played with a round-robin system, in which every Two Game series (TGS) constituted as one game for the record.

Key to colors

Top two places in each group advance to Semifinals

Group A Team Pld Pts W L PF PA PD 1. Simmenthal Milano 3 6 3 0 552 512 +40 2. Crvena zvezda 3 5 2 1 521 533 -12 3. Real Madrid 3 4 1 2 485 487 -2 4. Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv 3 3 0 3 550 576 -26

Group B Team Pld Pts W L PF PA PD 1. CSKA Moscow 3 6 3 0 510 453 +57 2. Ignis Varese 3 5 2 1 503 475 +28 3. Dinamo București 3 4 1 2 469 505 -36 4. Slavia VŠ Praha 3 3 0 3 489 538 -49

Semifinals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Simmenthal Milano	169–212	Ignis Varese	72–97	100–115
Crvena zvezda	173–198	CSKA Moscow	90–98	83–100

Final

March 22, Country Hall du Sart Tilman, Liège

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Ignis Varese	71–66	CSKA Moscow

1972–73 FIBA European Champions Cup Champions
Ignis Varese 3rd Title

Awards

FIBA European Champions Cup Finals Top Scorer

• Sergei Belov ( CSKA Moscow)