Leaders Cup

Leaders Cup

Sport	Basketball
Founded	2003
No. of teams	8
Country	France
Continent	Europe
Most recent champion(s)	Monaco (1st title)
Most titles	Pau-Orthez (4 titles)
TV partner(s)	Sport+
Related competitions	LNB Pro A French Cup Match des Champions
Official website	LNB.fr (French)

The Leaders Cup is an annual cup competition for French professional basketball teams. Created in 2003, it is organized by the Ligue Nationale de Basketball (LNB), which also organizes the top two division French basketball leagues (Pro A, and Pro B).

Inspired by the Spanish Copa del Rey, the Final Eight format has always been used. At the end of the first half of the regular season, the top eight teams (or the top seven teams and the tournament's host team) from the first division French LNB Pro A League qualify. The eight teams play-off at one venue over four days, eventually producing a winner. The Final Eight is one of the highlights of the French basketball calendar. The winner of the competition is entitled to a spot to compete at the FIBA Europe EuroChallenge competition.

History

Tournoi des As (1988 – 1993)

The Tournoi des As (Tournament of Aces) is the ancestor competition of the current Semaine des As from 1988 to 1993. At the end of the season, the 4 top teams from the French League qualified. Over 2 days competition, the first of the regular season was opposed to the fourth and the second to the third through semi-finals games. The 2 losing teams of the first day would meet for the third place spot while the two semi-finals winner would compete for the title.

Semaine des As (2003 – 2012)

Interrupted for ten years, the cup is returning in 2003 and is largely inspired from the Spanish Copa del Rey format. The first edition was organised in Pau, France. The competition is traditionally organized in February and the top eight teams at the end of half-season play-off over four days. The competition has often been highly disputed, producing a different winner every year except in 2009, when Le Mans won its second title, after the 2006 edition.

Leaders Cup (2013 – present)

Gravelines beat Strasbourg, by a score of 77-69, in the first edition of the competition under the Leaders Cup name.

Results

Season	Winner	Score	Runners-up	Venue	Location	MVP
Tournoi des As
1988	Limoges	88–85	Cholet
1989	Mulhouse	82–80	Cholet
1990	Limoges	87–84	Cholet
1991	Orthez	68–65	Limoges
1992	Pau-Orthez	83–75	Limoges
1993	Pau-Orthez	71–58	Cholet
Semaine des As
2003	Pau-Orthez	101–80	Le Havre	Palais des Sports de Pau	Pau
2004	Dijon	62–60	Le Mans	Palais des Sports de Mulhouse	Mulhouse
2005	Nancy	112–76	Gravelines	Maison des Sports de C-F	Clermont-Ferrand
2006	Le Mans	78–60	JL Bourg-en-Bresse	Palais des Sports de Dijon	Dijon	Eric Campbell
2007	Roanne	87–82	Le Mans	Palais des Sports Jean Weille	Nancy	Marc Salyers
2008	Cholet	67–40	Vichy	Palais des Sports de Toulon	Toulon	Nando de Colo
2009	Le Mans	74–64	Orléans	Salle des Docks Océane	Le Havre	David Bluthenthal
2010	ASVEL	70–69	Orléans	Astroballe	Villeurbanne	Mindaugas Lukauskis
2011	Gravelines	79–71	Chalon-sur-Saône	Palais des Sports de Pau	Pau	Yannick Bokolo
2012	Élan Chalon	73–66	Gravelines	Halle André-Vacheresse	Roanne	Blake Schilb
Leaders Cup
2013	Gravelines	77–69	Strasbourg	Disneyland Paris	Paris	Ludovic Vaty
2014	Le Mans	74–64	Nanterre	Disneyland Paris	Paris	João Paulo Batista
2015	Strasbourg	60–58	Le Mans	Disneyland Paris	Paris	Antoine Diot
2016	Monaco	99–74	Élan Chalon	Disneyland Paris	Paris	Jamal Shuler

Titles by team

Team	Winners	Runners-up	Winning Years
Pau-Orthez	4	0	1991, 1992, 1993, 2003
Le Mans	3	3	2006, 2009, 2014
Limoges	2	2	1988, 1990
Gravelines	2	2	2011, 2013
Cholet	1	4	2008
Élan Chalon	1	2	2012
Strasbourg	1	1	2015
Mulhouse	1	0	1989
Dijon	1	0	2004
Nancy	1	0	2005
Roanne	1	0	2007
ASVEL	1	0	2010
Monaco	1	0	2016
Orléans	0	2
Le Havre	0	1
JL Bourg-en-Bresse	0	1
Vichy	0	1
Nanterre	0	1

See also

• French Basketball Cup
• Match des Champions
• LNB Pro A

External links

• (French) French League Official Site