2002–03 FIBA Europe Regional Challenge Cup

The 2002–03 FIBA Europe Regional Challenge Cup was the one-season international European competition for men's professional basketball clubs, organised by FIBA.^[1] Although it was marketed at the time by FIBA as the 2nd-tier level European club basketball tournament,^[2] most would consider it Europe's 4th-tier level competition, after the Euroleague, ULEB Cup and the FIBA Europe Champions Cup. The aim of this tournament was to provide competitive international play for clubs that would otherwise be unable to participate in international basketball. The tournament which featured 4 domestic champions was divided in two conferences: "North" (which consisted of 17 teams) and "South" (which consisted of 11 teams).^[3] The season started on 30 October 2002, and ended on 13 February 2003. There were two champions - Azovmash from Ukraine and AEL Limassol from Cyprus. Prior to the commencement of the 2003–04 basketball season, an agreement between FIBA Europe and ULEB basketball was reached regarding the management of Europe's transnational leagues. As a result, the Regional Challenge Cup merged with the Champions Cup to form the FIBA Europe Cup, which was thereafter renamed FIBA EuroCup Challenge.^[3]

2002–03 FIBA Europe Regional Challenge Cup
Season	2002–03
Teams	28
Finals
Champions	Azovmash (North) AEL Limassol (South)
2003–04 FECC →

Teams allocation

• 1st, 2nd, etc.: Club's domestic league position after playoffs.

Conference North

Regular season
Asker Aliens (1st)	Bayer Giants Leverkusen (4th)	NTD Servis-Devon
Ulriken Eagles (2nd)	DJK Würzburg (9th)	ECM Nymburk (3rd)
Kongsberg Penguins (4th)	Kaposvari Klima-Vill (3rd)	TTÜ-A. Le Coq (1st)
Tromsø Storm (5th)	Albacomp UPC (5th)	Dinamo Tbilisi (2nd)
Honka Playboys (1st)	Azovmash (3rd)	ESO Lučenec (3rd)
Lappeenrannan NMKY (6th)	Khimik (1st, HL)

Conference South

Regular season
EKA AEL Limassol (3rd)	Igokea (5th)	Nikol Fert (3rd)
Apollon Limassol (4th)	Hercegovac (6th)	Žito Vardar (5th)
ENAD Nicosia (6th)	Brotnjo (7th)	West Petrom Arad (1st)
Zrinjevac (7th)	Hapoel Galil Elyon (7th)

Conference North

Regular season

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Khimik	4	4	0	428	294	+134	8	Advance to conference play-offs
2	Dinamo Tbilisi	4	2	2	397	346	+51	6
3	NTD Servis-Devon	4	0	4	295	480	−185	4

Source: FIBA Europe

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Kaposvari Klima-Vill	6	5	1	584	471	+113	11	Advance to conference play-offs
2	Bayer Giants Leverkusen	6	4	2	537	518	+19	10
3	ECM Nymburk	6	3	3	550	523	+27	9
4	Asker Aliens	6	0	6	444	600	−156	6

Source: FIBA Europe

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Albacomp UPC	6	5	1	576	450	+126	11	Advance to conference play-offs
2	ESO Lučenec	6	3	3	473	481	−8	9
3	DJK Würzburg	6	3	3	451	440	+11	9
4	Ulriken Eagles	6	1	5	410	509	−99	7

Source: FIBA Europe

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Azovmash	4	4	0	413	268	+145	8	Advance to conference play-offs
2	Lappeenrannan NMKY	4	2	2	323	314	+9	6
3	Tromsø Storm	4	0	4	269	423	−154	4

Source: FIBA Europe

Group E

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Honka Playboys	4	3	1	310	275	+35	7	Advance to conference play-offs
2	TTÜ-A. Le Coq	4	3	1	336	302	+34	7
3	Kongsberg Penguins	4	0	4	266	335	−69	4

Source: FIBA Europe

Play-offs

The winner of the play-offs qualified for the FIBA Europe Regional Challenge Cup Final Four.

	Quarterfinals						Semifinals						Final
	Khimik		78	92
							11 February – Mariupol
	Honka Playboys		83	62
							Khimik			62
							Azovmash			95
	Dinamo Tbilisi		91	95
													12 February – Mariupol
	Azovmash		106	111
													Azovmash			88
													Bayer Giants Leverkusen			61
	Bayer Giants Leverkusen		87	94
							11 February – Mariupol
	Albacomp UPC		92	81
							Bayer Giants Leverkusen			91
							Kaposvari Klima-Vill			74			Third place
	ESO Lučenec		69	59
													12 February – Mariupol
	Kaposvari Klima-Vill		70	89
													Khimik			59
													Kaposvari Klima-Vill			86

2002–03 FIBA North Regional Challenge Cup
Azovmash 1st title

Conference South

Regular season

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Hapoel Galil Elyon	4	4	0	350	280	+70	8	Advance to conference play-offs
2	Hercegovac	4	1	3	297	313	−16	5
3	ENAD Nicosia	4	1	3	239	293	−54	5

Source: Linguasport^[usurped]

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Igokea	6	5	1	580	430	+150	11	Advance to conference play-offs
2	West Petrom Arad	6	3	3	406	418	−12	9
3	Apollon Limassol	6	3	3	405	427	−22	9
4	Žito Vardar	6	1	5	431	475	−44	7

Source: Linguasport^[usurped]

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	EKA AEL Limassol	6	6	0	499	441	+58	12	Advance to conference play-offs
2	Zrinjevac	6	3	3	457	470	−13	9
3	Brotnjo	6	2	4	446	436	+10	8
4	Nikol Fert	6	1	5	441	496	−55	7

Source: Linguasport^[usurped]

Play-offs

The winner of the play-offs qualified for the FIBA Europe Regional Challenge Cup Final Four.

	Quarterfinals						Semifinals						Final
	Apollon Limassol		86	67
							12 February – Limassol
	Hapoel Galil Elyon		86	65
							Apollon Limassol			52
							EKA AEL Limassol			73
	EKA AEL Limassol		97	95
													13 February – Limassol
	Brotnjo		74	78
													EKA AEL Limassol			92
													Igokea			82
	Zrinjevac		83	99
							12 February – Limassol
	Igokea		89	120
							Igokea			79
							West Petrom Arad			64			Third place
	Hercegovac		100	52
													13 February – Limassol
	West Petrom Arad		75	81
													Apollon Limassol			79
													West Petrom Arad			65

2002–03 FIBA South Regional Challenge Cup
AEL Limassol 1st title

Finals

Year		Final				Third and fourth place
		Champion	Score	Second place		3rd	4th
2002–03 Details		North Conf. South Conf. Mariupol EKA AEL	North Conf. South Conf. 88 –61 92–82	North Conf. South Conf. Bayer Leverkusen Igokea		North Conference South Conf. Kaposvári Pizza Express Apollon	North Conf. South Conf. Khimik West Petrom Arad

Finals MVP

Season	Player	Pos.	Club
2002–03	Duane Woodward[4]	PG/SG	EKA AEL

Winning rosters

FIBA Europe Regional Challenge Cup:

North Conference:

• 2002–03 Azovmash Mariupol^[5]

Volodymyr Gurtovyy, Andriy Kapinos, Andriy Botichev, Oleksandr Skutyelnik, Igor Kharchenko, Sergiy Moskalenko, Petro Podtykan, Yevhenii Annienkov, Dmytro Briantsev (Head Coach: Andrij Podkovyrov)^[5]

South Conference:

• 2002–03 EKA AEL Limassol^[5]

Dimitris Prokopiou, Marcos Asonitis, Georgios Kouzapas, Michalis Kounounis, Davor Kurilic, Konstantinos Perentos, Ranko Velimirovic, David Michael Van Dyke, Christos Spyrou, Duane Woodward (Head Coach: Dragan Raca).^[5]

See also

• 2002-03 FIBA Europe Champions Cup
• FIBA Europe Conference South
• FIBA Europe Conference North