Lottomatica Roma
Pallacanestro Virtus Roma, also known for sponsorship reasons as Lottomatica Virtus Roma, is an Italian basketball club founded in 1960.
The club was founded originally as the result between the merger of two existing Roman sides in the lower divisions; San Saba and Gruppo Borgo Cavalleggeri, taking the name Virtus Aurelia. Only a short while after its foundation, the name was changed into the final and current Pallacanestro Virtus Roma.
The Euroleague is currently contested in four phases.
The first phase is the regular season, in which 24 teams, divided into three groups of eight, participate. Each team plays two games (home-and-home) against every other team in its group. At the end of the regular season, the field is cut from 24 to 16; the surviving teams are divided into four groups.
The second phase, known as the Top 16, then begins. As in the regular season, each Top 16 group is contested in a double round-robin format.
The third phase, the quarterfinal round, has been played since the 2004-05 season. Before, only the group winners advanced to the Final Four (see below). Now, the first- and second-place teams from each group advance. In the quarterfinal round, the first-place team from each group is matched against a second-place team from another group in a best-of-three series, with two of the three possible games scheduled at the first-place team's home court.
The Final Four, held at a predetermined site, features the winners of the four quarterfinal series in one-off knockout matches. The semifinal losers play for third place; the winners play for the championship.
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