The 2012âÂÂ13 Euroleague was the 13th season of the modern era of Euroleague Basketball and the third under the title sponsorship of the Turkish Airlines. Including the competition's previous incarnation as the FIBA Europe Champions Cup, this was the 56th season of the premier competition for European men's clubs. The season started on 11 October 2012 and finished on 12 May 2013.
The Final Four was held at The O2 Arena in London. The championship game was won by Olympiacos, who defeated Real Madrid 100âÂÂ88. Olympiacos became the third team since the introduction of the Final Four format to win two Euroleague championships in a row and the second team in Euroleague Basketball Company era (2000âÂÂ01 Euroleague season to present) to become back-to-back Euroleague champions.
A total of 31 teams participated in the 2012âÂÂ13 Euroleague. There were three routes to participation in the Euroleague:
On 31 May 2012, the Euroleague published the official License Allocation criteria.
On 31 May 2012 the new Euroleague license allocation criteria were announced. Twenty-three teams directly joined the regular season, while one more team joined it from the qualifying rounds. Eight teams fought for the last berth, and Mapooro Cantù got the final spot.
The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round (TH: Euroleague title holders):
The qualifying rounds were played in a knock-out tournament consisting of eight teams in a single-venue tournament format. The winner advanced to the Euroleague Regular Season. The qualifying rounds were played between 25 and 28 September at the PalaDesio in Desio, Italy.
The draws for the 2012âÂÂ13 Turkish Airlines Euroleague were held on Friday, 6 July. The draws determined the qualifying-round matchups and regular-season groups for the Euroleague, as well as the qualifying rounds for the Eurocup and the regular-season for the EuroChallenge.
Teams were seeded into six pots of four teams in accordance with the Club Ranking, based on their performance in European competitions during a three-year period.
Two teams from the same country could not be drawn together in the same Regular Season group.
The regular season began on 11 October 2012.
If teams were level on record at the end of the Regular Season, tiebreakers were applied in the following order:
The Top 16 began on 27 December 2012.
If teams were level on record at the end of the Top 16, tiebreakers were applied in the following order:
On 12 May 2012 it was announced the Final Four would be hosted at The O2 Arena in London, United Kingdom.