# 2003–04 Euroleague

The 2003–04 Euroleague was the fourth season of the professional basketball competition for elite clubs throughout Europe, organised by Euroleague Basketball Company, and it was the 47th season of the premier competition for European men's clubs overall. The 2003–04 season featured 24 competing teams from 13 countries. The final of the competition was held in Nokia Arena, Tel Aviv, Israel, with hosts Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv, defeating Skipper Bologna, by a score of 118-74.

## Team allocation
### Distribution

The table below shows the default access list.
| | Teams entering in this round |
| Regular season (24 teams) | 4 best-placed teams from: Italy 3 best-placed teams from: Spain 2 best-placed teams from: Greece France Turkey Slovenia The champion teams from: Croatia Germany Israel Lithuania Poland Russia Yugoslavia 2 Wild Cards |
| Top 16 (16 teams) | 3 group winners from the regular season 3 group runners-up from the regular season 3 group third-placed teams from the regular season 3 group fourth-placed teams from the regular season 3 group fifth-placed teams from the regular season 1 group sixth-placed team from the regular season |
| Final four (4 teams) | 4 group winners from the top 16 |

### Teams

The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round (TH: EuroLeague title holders)
* 1st, 2nd, etc.: League position after Playoffs
* WC: Wild card
Regular season :
| Benetton Treviso (1st) | Unicaja Málaga (3rd) | Adecco ASVEL (2nd) | ALBA Berlin (1st) |
| Skipper Bologna (2nd) | Tau Cerámica (6th)$^{WC}$ | Krka (1st) | Maccabi Elite (1st) |
| Lottomatica Roma (3rd) | Panathinaikos (1st) | Union Olimpija (2nd) | Žalgiris (1st) |
| Montepaschi Siena (4th) | AEK (2nd) | Efes Pilsen (1st) | Idea Śląsk (3rd)$^{WC}$ |
| FC Barcelona (1st)$^{TH}$ | Olympiacos (4th)$^{WC}$ | Ülker (2nd) | CSKA Moscow (1st) |
| Pamesa Valencia (2nd) | Pau-Orthez (1st) | Cibona VIP (2nd)$^{WC}$ | Partizan Mobtel (1st) |

## Regular season

The first phase was a regular season, in which the competing teams were drawn into three groups, each containing eight teams. Each team played every other team in its group at home and away, resulting in 14 games for each team in the first stage. The top 5 teams in each group and the best sixth-placed team advanced to the next round. The complete list of tiebreakers was provided in the lead-in to the Regular Season results.
If one or more clubs were level on won-lost record, tiebreakers were applied in the following order:
* Head-to-head record in matches between the tied clubs
* Overall point difference in games between the tied clubs
* Overall point difference in all group matches (first tiebreaker if tied clubs were not in the same group)
* Points scored in all group matches
* Sum of quotients of points scored and points allowed in each group match
Key to colors :
* Top five places in each group, plus highest-ranked sixth-place team, advanced to Top 16
| Group A Team Pld W L PF PA Diff 1. FC Barcelona 141221086937+149 2. Cibona VIP 148611221101+21 3. Ülker 148610231050-27 4. Union Olimpija 146810931123-30 5. Pau-Orthez 146811411130+11 6. AEK 146810661099-33 7. Partizan Mobtel 146810811078+3 8. Lottomatica Roma 144109971091-94 | Group B Team Pld W L PF PA Diff 1. CSKA Moscow 141131118984+134 2. Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv 1411312611169+92 3. Skipper Bologna 148612061173+33 4. Montepaschi Siena 1486114211420 5. Panathinaikos 147711411113+28 6. Žalgiris 146810831068+15 7. Unicaja Málaga 1441010511111-60 8. Krka 142129471189-242 |

### Group C

| | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | Diff |
| 1. | Efes Pilsen | 14 | 10 | 4 | 1066 | 1002 | +64 |
| 2. | Benetton Treviso | 14 | 10 | 4 | 1185 | 1067 | +118 |
| 3. | Pamesa Valencia | 14 | 9 | 5 | 1149 | 1089 | +60 |
| 4. | Tau Cerámica | 14 | 9 | 5 | 1183 | 1127 | +56 |
| 5. | Olympiacos | 14 | 7 | 7 | 1109 | 1108 | +1 |
| 6. | Idea Śląsk Wrocław | 14 | 6 | 8 | 1110 | 1163 | -53 |
| 7. | Alba Berlin | 14 | 3 | 11 | 1075 | 1170 | -95 |
| 8. | Adecco ASVEL | 14 | 2 | 12 | 982 | 1133 | -151 |

## Top 16

The surviving teams were divided into four groups of four teams each, and again a round robin system was adopted resulting in 6 games each, with the top team advancing to the Final Four. Tiebreakers were identical to those used in the Regular Season.
This was the last season in which teams advanced directly from the Top 16 to the Final Four. A quarterfinal round was introduced in the 2004–05 season.
The draw was held in accordance with Euroleague rules.
The teams were placed into four pools, as follows:
Level 1: The three group winners, plus the top-ranked second-place team
* CSKA Moscow, FC Barcelona, Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv, Efes Pilsen
Level 2: The remaining second-place teams, plus the top two third-place teams
* Skipper Bologna, Pamesa Valencia, Benetton Treviso, Cibona
Level 3: The remaining third-place team, plus the three fourth-place teams
* Union Olimpija, Ülker, Montepaschi Siena, Tau Cerámica
Level 4: The fifth-place teams, plus the top ranked sixth-place team
* Pau-Orthez, Panathinaikos, Olympiacos, Žalgiris
Each Top 16 group included one team from each pool. The draw was conducted under the following restrictions:
* No more than two teams from the same Regular Season group could be placed in the same Top 16 group.
* No more than two teams from the same country could be placed in the same Top 16 group.
* If there is a conflict between these two restrictions, (1) would receive priority.
Another draw was held to determine the order of fixtures. In the case of two teams from the same city in the Top 16 (Panathinaikos and Olympiacos, Efes Pilsen and Ülker) they were scheduled so that every week only one team would be at home.
Key to colors :
* Top place in each group advanced to Final four
| Group D Team Pld W L PF PA Diff 1. CSKA Moscow 651477436+41 2. Tau Cerámica 642505477+28 3. Cibona VIP 624422449-27 4. Olympiacos 615436477-41 | Group E Team Pld W L PF PA Diff 1. Skipper Bologna 651484457+27 2. Efes Pilsen 642427390+37 3. Pau-Orthez 624452486−34 4. Union Olimpija 615438468−30 |
| Group F Team Pld W L PF PA Diff 1. Montepaschi Siena 642498461+37 2. Benetton Treviso 642510494+16 3. FC Barcelona 624445452−7 4. Panathinaikos 624460506−46 | Group G Team Pld W L PF PA Diff 1. Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv 642452406+46 2. Pamesa Valencia 642418421-3 3. Žalgiris 633520507+13 4. Ülker 615449505−56 Main article: Euroleague 2003-04 Top 16 Group G |

## Final four
### Semifinals

April 29, Nokia Arena, Tel Aviv
| Team 1 | Score | Team 2 |
| Montepaschi Siena | 102–103 | Skipper Bologna |
| Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv | 93–85 | CSKA Moscow |

### 3rd place game

May 1, Nokia Arena, Tel Aviv
| Team 1 | Score | Team 2 |
| Montepaschi Siena | 94–97 | CSKA Moscow |

### Final

May 1, Nokia Arena, Tel Aviv
| Team 1 | Score | Team 2 |
| Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv | 118–74 | Skipper Bologna |
* 2003–04 Euroleague Champions
* Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv 4th Title

### Final standings

* Team
* Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv
* Skipper Bologna
* CSKA Moscow
* Montepaschi Siena

## Awards
### Top Scorer

* Lynn Greer ( Śląsk Wrocław )

### Regular Season MVP

* Arvydas Sabonis ( Žalgiris )

### Top 16 MVP

* Arvydas Sabonis ( Žalgiris )

### Final Four MVP

* Anthony Parker ( Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv )

### Finals Top Scorer

* Anthony Parker ( Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv ) & Miloš Vujanić ( Skipper Bologna )

### All-Euroleague First Team 2003–04

* Šarūnas Jasikevičius ( Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv )
* Marcus Brown ( CSKA Moscow )
* Dejan Bodiroga ( FC Barcelona )
* Mirsad Türkcan ( CSKA Moscow )
* Arvydas Sabonis ( Žalgiris )

### All-Euroleague Second Team 2003–04

* Miloš Vujanić ( Skipper Bologna )
* Lynn Greer ( Śląsk Wrocław )
* David Vanterpool ( Montepaschi Siena )
* Andrés Nocioni ( Tau Cerámica )
* Nikola Vujčić ( Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv )

## References and notes

* ↑ The venue for each year's Final Four is determined before the previous year's Final Four, before it can possibly be known who will advance.