MIES (Switzerland) - ASK Riga will forever hold a place in the archives of basketball history as the Soviet club was crowned the winner of the first FIBA European Champions Cup in 1958 - the birth of what has evolved into today's EuroLeague and one of FIBA's 90 most influential and iconic moments.

ASK Riga, located in present day Latvia, defeated Bulgarian side Academic Sofia 170-152 in a two-leg aggregate Finals to claim the first trophy with superstar Janis Krumins leading the way and the legendary Alexander Gomelsky patrolling the sidelines as head coach.

The idea for the competition was born in 1957 and was based on the recently-started football European Cup, which had seen much success already just two years into its existence as the forerunner of the UEFA Champions League. FIBA Secretary General William Jones ordered the Czechoslovakian Federation to write up a first draft of the new league in the spring of 1957, and the world body approved to have the competition start in early 1958 with 23 league champions and a direct elimination system.

Eventually, there would be 22 teams starting the competition with the first knockout rounds played regionally. The first game in the history of the competition was played on February 22, 1958 between Royal IV CSA of Belgium and BBC Etzella of Ettelbruck, Luxembourg and ended with Royal winning 82-43.

Political and financial disputes going on at the time caused a number of games to be forfeited, including the Semi-Finals as the Francoist Spain government did not permit Real Madrid to travel to the Soviet Union to face ASK Riga. The opponents for Academic in the Semi-Finals were Budapest Honved of Hungary. Riga would go on to capture the next two league titles as well and finish runners-up in 1960-61 to finish the golden era of the club.

The book "Historia de la Copa de Europa" by Carlos Jimenez and Susy Calvon states that some 125,000 fans were present at the 39 games in the first season - an average of about 3,200 per game. It was clear that the league was well-received already back in its beginning. European basketball has evolved in leaps and bounds since then - growing to four different continental club competitions with more than 130 clubs.

FIBA