The conflict between EuroLeague, EuroCup, Basketball Champions League, and Euro Cup explained

Bilbao Basket, basketball club in the Basque city north of Spain, has won their first ever European title, the FIBA Euro Cup. Bilbao claims the title after winning 72-65 in the first leg and losing by just two points in the second leg, 84-82, to Greek side PAOK Salonika.

It happens that Bilbao Basket wins FIBA Euro Cup (FIBA's second tier European club competition) while football club Athletic Club, also from Bilbao, is favourite to win the Europa League, UEFA's second tier European club competition (although they need to triumph first over Manchester United in semi-finals).

However, in reality, it's not a clear parallelism. FIBA Euro Cup is closer to the fourth tier of European basketball club competitions. That is due to the conflict between FIBA Europe, administrative body for basketball in Europe and organisers of the EuroBasket, and EuroLeague basketball, the competition run by ECA, a private corporation, created 25 years ago, that has garnered the most support in the largest European clubs, like Panathinaikos, Olympiacos, Real Madrid, Barcelona, or Fenerbahçe (currently in the playoffs).

Euroleague is undoubtedly the largest basketball competition in Europe, the equivalent to NBA in the US. Its second tier competition is called... EuroCup Basketball.

Behind them, it would be FIBA's Basketball Champions League, and its second tier, and "fourth" overall in importance, would be the FIBA Euro Cup that Bilbao has just won.

A conflict seemingly never ending... that could get even more complicated if NBA finally launches its European branch, as they have announced recently.