1996–97 EuroLeague Women

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.List of finals, 1959-91 in FIBA Europe's website 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.Results in FIBA Europe's website Preliminary round Group A #TeamPldWLPFPA1ESP Pool Getafe 14 13 1 1183 9522FRA Valenciennes Olympic 14 11 3 1108 9923SVK Ružomberok 14 11 3 1093 955 4TUR Galatasaray 14 7 7 945 963 5HUN Pécs 14 5 9 976 10766GER Wildcats Aschaffenburg 14 4 10 979 10177ITA Ahena 14 3 11 885 10638CRO Croatia Zagreb 14 2 12 939 1090 Group B #TeamPldWLPFPA1FRA Bourges 14 11 3 1035 8552CZE Brno 14 10 4 1155 11193ITA Pool Comense 14 10 4 1161 10694GER Wuppertal 14 9 5 1053 957 5GRE Sporting Athens 14 7 7 1059 10106SVN Ježica 14 3 11 919 10527ISR Elitzur Ramla 14 3 11 963 10628UKR Dynamo Kyiv 14 3 11 868 1059 Quarter-finals Team #1Agg.Team #21st2nd3rdPool Getafe Spain 0–2 Germany Wuppertal 78–8966–89Valencienns Olympic FRA 1–2 ITA Pool Comense 82–7455–10868–81Bourges FRA 2–0 TUR Galatasaray 83–3372–68Brno CZE 0–2 SVK Ružomberok 59–8757–63 Final four Larissa, Greece 8 April GER Wuppertal 87 SVK Ružomberok 66 8 April ITA Comense 58 FRA Bourges 68 10 April GER Wuppertal 52 FRA Bourges 71 10 April SVK Ružomberok 75 ITA Comense 58 References Category:EuroLeague Women seasons