It started on October 16, 2000, with a regular season game between hosts Real Madrid Teka and Olympiacos, which was held at the Raimundo Saporta Pavilion, in Madrid, Spain,[1] and it ended with the last championship finals game on May 10, 2001, which was held at the PalaMalaguti arena, in Bologna, Italy.

This season did not feature all of the top-tier level European club basketball teams, as some of them opted to compete in the 2000–01 FIBA SuproLeague competition instead, after the row erupted between the previous EuroLeague governing body, FIBA, and the newly established Euroleague Basketball Company.

Top clubs also signed licences with the right to participate in upcoming seasons regardless of their domestic league ranking.

A total of 24 teams competed for the EuroLeague title, which was ultimately won by Kinder Bologna.

At the time the leagues of ULEB were Spain, Italy, Greece, Belgium, Portugal, England and Switzerland.

Top clubs were split between the two leagues: Panathinaikos, Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv, CSKA Moscow, and Efes Pilsen stayed with FIBA, while Olympiacos, Kinder Bologna, Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Tau Cerámica, and Benetton Treviso joined Euroleague Basketball.

Lugano Tigers the Swiss champions were the last team to join the ULEB side and enter the competition.

On 11 July 2000 in Thessaloniki during the ULEB Assembly format changes and dates were set for the new competition [3] The Official List of the teams will include a minimum of 12 and a maximum of 16 players.

The team of officials will be made up of 45 referees who have signed guaranteed contracts for three years with no age restriction.

Negotiating from the position of strength ULEB dictated proceedings, and FIBA essentially had no choice but to agree to their terms.