The 1997 Euroleague Women was the inaugural edition of the competition, a refoundation of the FIBA Women's European Champions Cup, FIBA Europe's premier competition for women's basketball clubs. Running from 2 October 1996 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 Getafe141311183952
2France Valenciennes Olympic141131108992
3Slovakia Ružomberok141131093955
4Turkey Galatasaray1477945963
5Hungary Pécs14599761076
6Germany Wildcats Aschaffenburg144109791017
7Italy Ahena143118851063
8Croatia Croatia Zagreb142129391090

Group B

# Team Pld W L PF PA
1France Bourges141131035855
2Czech Republic Brno1410411551119
3Italy Pool Comense1410411611069
4Germany Wuppertal14951053957
5Greece Sporting Athens147710591010
6Slovenia Ježica143119191052
7Israel Elitzur Ramla143119631062
8Ukraine Dynamo Kyiv143118681059

Quarter-finals

Team #1 Agg. Team #2 1st 2nd 3rd
Pool Getafe Spain0–2Germany Wuppertal78–8966–89
Valencienns Olympic France1–2Italy Pool Comense82–7455–10868–81
Bourges France2–0Turkey Galatasaray83–3372–68
Brno Czech Republic0–2Slovakia Ružomberok59–8757–63

Final four

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
8 April
 
 
Germany Wuppertal87
 
10 April
 
Slovakia Ružomberok66
 
Germany Wuppertal 52
 
8 April
 
France Bourges 71
 
Italy Comense58
 
 
France Bourges68
 
Third place
 
 
10 April
 
 
Slovakia Ružomberok75
 
 
Italy Comense58

References

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