1960–61 FIBA European Champions Cup

1960–61 FIBA European Champions Cup
1960–61 FIBA European Champions Cup
League	FIBA European Champions Cup
Sport	Basketball
Finals
Champions	CSKA Moscow
Runners-up	Rīgas ASK
FIBA European Champions Cup seasons
	← 1959–60 1961–62 →

The 1960–61 FIBA European Champions Cup was the fourth season of the European top-tier level professional basketball club competition FIBA European Champions Cup (now called EuroLeague). It was won by CSKA Moscow, after they defeated Rīgas ASK, the reigning three-time defending champions, and the first major dynasty of European professional club basketball . CSKA lost the first game 66–61, but won the second 87–62, and thus became the fourth straight European champions from the Soviet Union League.

Competition system

24 teams. European national domestic league champions, plus the then current FIBA European Champions Cup title holders only, playing in a tournament system. The Finals were a two-game home and away aggregate.

First round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Urania Genève Sport	107–164	Idrolitina Bologna	62–68	45–96
Wissenschaft	110–171	Levski-Spartak	54–85	56–86
USC Heidelberg	125–180	Legia Warsaw	67-91	58-89
Galatasaray	137–96	Olympiacos	72-41	65-55
Sparta Bertrange	75–137	Engelmann Wien	27-53	48-84
Sporting	92–149	Antwerpse	51-62	41-87
KFUM Söder	98–142	OKK Beograd	50-53	48-89
The Wolves Amsterdam	106–153	Spartak Praha Sokolovo	52-57	54-96
Étoile Charleville-Mézières	110–100	Casablancais	55-47	55-53

Second round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Galatasaray	79–93	Hapoel Tel Aviv	40–39	39–54
Étoile Charleville-Mézières	63–163	CSKA Moscow	28-68	35-95
Levski-Spartak	114–138	Legia Warsaw	67-62	47-76
Engelmann Wien	100–159	Real Madrid	53-85	47-74
Antwerpse	68–47	OKK Beograd	66-47	2-0*
Torpan Pojat	103–133	Spartak Praha Sokolovo	56-65	47-68
Idrolitina Bologna	124–126	CCA București	70–56	54–70

*The second leg was cancelled after the Yugoslavian police refused to guarantee the safety of the Belgian team, whose members received serious threats upon arrival to Belgrade, as a result of the mysterious death of Patrice Lumumba, Prime Minister of Congo, on February 11, 1961. The Soviet government, an ally to Lumumba, blamed the Belgian secret service as the instigator of his murder in the former Belgian colony, and this translated into several riots in the communist countries against the Belgian interests. Since the second leg could not be played, Antwerpse received a 2–0 w.o. in this game and qualified for the next round.^[1]

Automatically qualified to the quarter-finals

Rīgas ASK (title holder)

Quarterfinals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Rīgas ASK	162–134	Hapoel Tel Aviv	84–60	78–74
Spartak Praha Sokolovo	107–115	CCA București	60–50	47–65
Legia Warsaw	145–183	CSKA Moscow	72-98	73-85
Antwerpse	128–177	Real Madrid	62-89	66-88