EuroLeague facts

Surprising EuroLeague facts and records: Final Fours, legends, coaches and the history of European club basketball since 1958.

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1958 The first European Champions Cup was played in 1958. ASK Riga won it, then won the next two as well.

1988 The Final Four format returned for good in 1988 in Ghent, where Tracer Milano took the title.

9 Željko Obradović has won nine EuroLeague titles as a head coach, with five different clubs.

118:74 Maccabi Tel Aviv won the 2004 final in front of their own fans in Tel Aviv, crushing Skipper Bologna 118-74.

7 Panathinaikos won their seventh European title in Berlin in 2024, beating Real Madrid in the final.

2017 Fenerbahçe became the first Turkish club to win the EuroLeague in 2017, at the Final Four in Istanbul.

19 In the 2012 final Olympiacos came back from 19 points down against CSKA Moscow and won on Georgios Printezis's last-second shot.

2015 Real Madrid won the 2015 Final Four on home soil in Madrid, with Lithuania's Jonas Mačiulis in the squad.

2 Anadolu Efes won back-to-back titles in 2021 and 2022, and Vasilije Micić was Final Four MVP both times.

La Bomba Juan Carlos Navarro's high one-handed floater was so famous it got its own name: la bomba.

2000 Since 2000 the EuroLeague has been run by the clubs themselves through Euroleague Basketball, not by FIBA.

1986 In 1986 Žalgiris, led by Arvydas Sabonis, reached the European Champions Cup final, where they lost to Cibona Zagreb.

22 By 2026 Real Madrid had played 22 EuroLeague finals, more than any other club. Oddly, the record is dead even: 11 wins and 11 defeats.

1964 Soviet clubs won each of the first six European Champions Cups. Real Madrid broke the run in 1964, winning their first title.

1962 In 1962 the final was a single game on neutral ground for the first time, in Geneva. Dinamo Tbilisi beat Real Madrid 90-83.

1966 Future US senator Bill Bradley won the 1966 European Champions Cup with Simmenthal Milano. He was studying at Oxford at the time and flew in for the games.

1948 Legendary Olimpia Milano coach Cesare Rubini won Olympic gold in London in 1948, in water polo. He was later inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

103:99 In the 1969 final in Barcelona, CSKA Moscow finally beat Real Madrid 103-99 after two overtimes.

4 Alexander Gomelsky, known as the father of Soviet basketball, won four European Champions Cups as a coach. The EuroLeague's Coach of the Year award bears his name.

45 In the 1979 final Bosna Sarajevo beat Emerson Varese 96-93, with Žarko Varajić scoring 45 points, still the record for a final. Bosna became the first Yugoslav club to win the cup.

80:79 Maccabi Tel Aviv won their second European Champions Cup in 1981, edging Sinudyne Bologna 80-79 in the final.

69:68 The 1983 Champions Cup final was all-Italian: Ford Cantù beat Billy Milano 69-68 to defend their title.

1984 Coach Valerio Bianchini won the Champions Cup with two clubs: Cantù in 1982 and Banco di Roma in 1984, who beat Barcelona 79-73 in the final.

87:78 Cibona Zagreb won their first European Champions Cup in 1985, beating Real Madrid 87-78 in the final. Their leader, Dražen Petrović, was just 20.

13 Before becoming NBA Coach of the Year, Mike D'Antoni played 13 seasons for Olimpia Milano and won two European Champions Cups. The club retired his number 8.

Pop 84 Jugoplastika Split won three European titles in a row, 1989-1991. For the third one the team played under a new sponsor's name, Pop 84. No club has done it since.

3 Božidar Maljković won the European title with three different clubs: Jugoplastika Split (1989, 1990), Limoges (1993) and Panathinaikos (1996).

1975 Bob McAdoo was NBA MVP in 1975, and late in his career he won two European Champions Cups with Tracer Milano, in 1987 and 1988.

59:55 By 2026 Limoges were still the only French club to have won the EuroLeague. In the 1993 final in Piraeus they beat Benetton Treviso 59-55.

3 Only Toni Kukoč and Vassilis Spanoulis have been named Final Four MVP three times. Kukoč won his third in 1993 even though his team lost the final.

58:44 In 1998 Kinder Bologna beat AEK Athens 58-44, the lowest-scoring final in European Cup history. Zoran Savić was named Final Four MVP.

UCLA Tyus Edney, 1999 Final Four MVP with Žalgiris, was already a US legend: in 1995 he went coast to coast in 4.8 seconds to beat Missouri at the buzzer for UCLA.

5 Barcelona lost five European Cup finals, in 1984, 1990, 1991, 1996 and 1997, before finally winning the title in 2003, at home in Barcelona.

35 In Prague in 2006, CSKA Moscow beat Maccabi 73-69 for their first European title in 35 years. Greek playmaker Theodoros Papaloukas was Final Four MVP.

93:91 The 2007 Final Four was played at OAKA in Athens, and Panathinaikos won the title at home, beating CSKA Moscow 93-91 in the final.

2008 The MVP of the 2008 Final Four in Madrid was CSKA Moscow sharpshooter Trajan Langdon, nicknamed "the Alaskan Assassin". CSKA beat Maccabi 91-77 in the final.

86:68 In Paris in 2010, Barcelona crushed Olympiacos 86-68 in the final, and Juan Carlos Navarro was named Final Four MVP.

6 Dimitris Diamantidis was voted EuroLeague Best Defender six times. In 2011 he was both regular-season and Final Four MVP, and Panathinaikos later retired his number 13.

2012 During the 2011 NBA lockout Andrei Kirilenko returned to CSKA Moscow and was named EuroLeague MVP for the 2011-12 season.

2015 Nemanja Bjelica was EuroLeague MVP with Fenerbahçe in 2015, and in 2022 he won the NBA title with the Golden State Warriors.

2019 Czech big man Jan Veselý was EuroLeague MVP with Fenerbahçe in 2019. Back in 2011 he had been the sixth pick in the NBA draft.

2 Anthony Parker was EuroLeague MVP with Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2005 and 2006, and by 2026 nobody else had won it two seasons in a row. His younger sister is WNBA star Candace Parker.

2014 In 2014 David Blatt's Maccabi Tel Aviv beat Real Madrid 98-86 in overtime in the final in Milan. Weeks later Blatt was named head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

2021 In 2021 Ergin Ataman became the first Turkish coach to win the EuroLeague, with Anadolu Efes. He won three titles in four years, the third with Panathinaikos in 2024.

5 Under Željko Obradović, Fenerbahçe reached five Final Fours in a row, from 2015 to 2019.

9 By 2026 Maccabi Tel Aviv had lost nine European Cup finals, including three in a row from 1987 to 1989.

17 Between 2003 and 2021 CSKA Moscow played in 17 of the 18 Final Fours held. The only one they missed was in 2011.

14 By 2026 Spanish clubs had won 14 European titles, more than any other country. Real Madrid account for 11 of them.

3 Berlin hosted three Final Fours, in 2009, 2016 and 2024, all in the same arena under three different names: O2 World, Mercedes-Benz Arena and Uber Arena.

2023 In 2023 Kaunas became the first city in the Baltic states to host a EuroLeague Final Four, held at Žalgiris Arena.

2020 In 2020 the EuroLeague season was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and for the first time since 1958 no European champion was crowned.

30 In 2016-17 the EuroLeague became a true league: 16 teams played each other twice, 30 rounds in all.

92:85 In 2026 Olympiacos won the title in Athens, in the home arena of arch-rivals Panathinaikos, beating Real Madrid 92-85 in the final. Frenchman Evan Fournier was named MVP.

3 Led by Nikos Galis, Aris Thessaloniki reached three Final Fours in a row from 1988 to 1990, but never made it to the final.

2000 In 2000 Efes Pilsen became the first Turkish club to reach a EuroLeague Final Four, finishing third in Thessaloniki.

4 Valencia won the first ULEB Cup in 2003 and by 2026 had won the EuroCup four times, more than any other club. In 2026 they reached their first EuroLeague Final Four.

83:72 Hapoel Jerusalem beat Real Madrid 83-72 in the 2004 ULEB Cup final to lift the trophy.

2009 Lietuvos Rytas became the first Lithuanian club to win the ULEB Cup in 2005, and in 2009 the first club to win it twice. They also reached the 2007 final in between.

79:54 Joventut Badalona, with young Ricky Rubio and Rudy Fernández, won the 2008 ULEB Cup, crushing Girona 79-54 in the final.

2 Rimas Kurtinaitis coached Khimki to two EuroCup titles, in 2012 and 2015. In the first of those finals they beat Valencia 77-68.

2016 In 2016 Galatasaray won the EuroCup, beating Strasbourg 140-133 on aggregate over a two-legged final.

2018 Paris Basketball was founded only in 2018, yet won the EuroCup in 2024 and made its EuroLeague debut in the 2024-25 season.

3 In the 1960s Czechoslovak clubs reached three European Champions Cup finals: Spartak Brno in 1964 and 1968, Slavia Prague in 1966. They lost all three.

32 The EuroLeague's top scorer trophy is named after Alphonso Ford. He played a whole season while battling leukemia and died in 2004, aged just 32.

7 Between 1979 and 1992 Yugoslav clubs won seven European titles: Bosna once, Cibona twice, Jugoplastika three times and Partizan once.

0 By 2026 neither Real Madrid and Barcelona nor Olympiacos and Panathinaikos had ever met in a EuroLeague final.

6 Lolo Sainz won the European Champions Cup six times with Real Madrid: four as a player in the 1960s and two as head coach, in 1978 and 1980.

Wally American Walter Szczerbiak won three European Champions Cups with Real Madrid (1974, 1978, 1980). His son Wally later became an NBA All-Star.

4 Baskonia, then called Tau Cerámica, reached four straight Final Fours from 2005 to 2008 but never won. By 2026 the club still had no EuroLeague title.

4 Real Madrid are the only club to have won all four of the European Champions Cup, the Saporta Cup, the Korać Cup and the ULEB Cup.

2022 In 2022 Virtus Bologna beat Bursaspor 80-67 in the EuroCup final. The win brought the club back to the EuroLeague.

1974 In 1974 Pedro Ferrándiz won his fourth European Champions Cup with Real Madrid, after 1965, 1967 and 1968. He also won 12 Spanish league titles.

3 Istanbul has hosted the Final Four in three different decades: 1992, 2012 and 2017.

2025 In 2025 Abu Dhabi became the first city in the Arab world to host a EuroLeague Final Four.

2 Benetton Treviso lost both their EuroLeague finals, in 1993 and 2003, but won the Saporta Cup twice, in 1995 and 1999.

4 Montepaschi Siena played in four EuroLeague Final Fours, in 2003, 2004, 2008 and 2011, but never reached the final.

1992 In 1992 CSKA Moscow legend Sergei Belov became the first international player inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

6 By 2026 Olympiacos had lost six EuroLeague finals, in 1994, 1995, 2010, 2015, 2017 and 2023, and won four.

2 Bulgaria's Akademik Sofia reached the first two European Champions Cup finals, in 1958 and 1959, and lost both of them to ASK Riga.

3 The 1963 final between CSKA Moscow and Real Madrid needed a third game, because the two legs ended level on aggregate. CSKA won it 99-80 in Moscow.

1966 The Final Four is older than 1988: the first one was played in Bologna in 1966, and Madrid hosted another in 1967. Then the format vanished for two decades.

23 Jānis Krūmiņš, 2.20 m tall, collected tree resin and had never played basketball until Alexander Gomelsky spotted him at 23. He went on to win three European Cups with ASK Riga.

98:97 In September 1978 Maccabi Tel Aviv beat the reigning NBA champions, the Washington Bullets, 98-97 in Tel Aviv. It was one of the first games between an NBA team and a foreign club.

24 Dan Peterson won the 1987 European Cup with Tracer Milano and then retired from coaching. In January 2011, 24 years later and aged 74, he came back to coach Olimpia again.

2005 Nikola Vujčić of Maccabi Tel Aviv recorded the first triple-double in EuroLeague history in 2005, and another a year later. For more than 12 years he was the only player with one.

1995 Shane Larkin, a EuroLeague champion with Anadolu Efes in 2021 and 2022, is the son of Barry Larkin, baseball's 1995 National League MVP and a Hall of Famer.

3 Igor Rakočević won the EuroLeague top scorer award three times, more than anyone else. Yet the Serbian guard never won the EuroLeague title itself.

2011 In 2011 Efes Pilsen had to change its name after Turkish regulators banned alcohol and tobacco advertising in sport. The club has been called Anadolu Efes ever since.

85:78 CSKA Moscow hosted the 2005 Final Four but lost their semi-final at home, 85-78 to Tau Ceramica. Lithuania's Arvydas Macijauskas scored 23 points for Tau.

10 Varese played in ten European Champions Cup finals in a row, from 1970 to 1979. They won five of them and lost the other five.

1961 The 1961 final was the first between two Soviet clubs. CSKA Moscow lost the first leg in Riga 66-61, then crushed ASK Riga 87-62 in Moscow in front of 15,000 fans.

23 Danny Ferry, the second pick of the 1989 draft, refused to play for the Clippers and spent a season in Rome instead, averaging 23 points for Il Messaggero.

1930 Olimpia Milano started out in 1930 as Dopolavoro Borletti. The Borletti company is regarded as the first sponsor in the history of Italian sport.

1955 Canned-meat maker Simmenthal sponsored Olimpia Milano from 1955 to 1973. In that time the club won ten Italian titles.

1979 Tal Brody, picked 12th in the 1965 NBA draft, chose Israel over the NBA. In 1979 he became the first athlete to receive the Israel Prize, the country's highest civilian honour.

6 American center Clifford Luyk won six European Champions Cups with Real Madrid between 1964 and 1978. He became a Spanish citizen in 1965 and later coached Real.

70 On 27 January 1987 Dražen Dalipagić scored 70 points for Reyer Venezia against Virtus Bologna. He made all 19 of his free throws.

40 Boston drafted Dino Rađa 40th in 1989 and signed him that summer. Jugoplastika took the Celtics to a US federal court and won, so Rađa only made his NBA debut in 1993.

3 Aleksandar Nikolić, known as 'the Professor', won three European Champions Cups with Ignis Varese, in 1970, 1972 and 1973. Later he coached Yugoslavia to the 1978 world title.

2 Mirko Novosel coached Cibona to back-to-back European titles in 1985 and 1986. Earlier he had led Yugoslavia to EuroBasket gold in 1973 and 1975.

83:80 In the 2010 Final Four semi-final Partizan led Olympiacos by two with seven seconds left. Josh Childress put back a miss with a dunk to force overtime, and Olympiacos won 83-80.

50 In March 2024 Nigel Hayes-Davis scored 50 points for Fenerbahçe, a EuroLeague record. At 43 he fouled on purpose, thinking the record was his, until he was told it stood at 49.

63 In January 2004 Žalgiris center Tanoka Beard posted a 63 index rating against Skipper Bologna. At the time it was a EuroLeague record.

130:126 On 6 January 2024 Real Madrid beat Anadolu Efes 130-126 in the first four-overtime game in EuroLeague history. Shane Larkin played a record 53 minutes.

2023 Dubai Basketball was founded only in 2023. It joined the EuroLeague in 2025, and in June 2026 it won the ABA League, beating Partizan 3-1 in the final.

103:90 The first Tel Aviv derby in EuroLeague history was played in Sofia, Bulgaria, in October 2025, for security reasons. Maccabi beat Hapoel 103-90.

2025 In April 2025 Hapoel Tel Aviv won their first European title, sweeping Gran Canaria 2-0 in the EuroCup final. That put both Tel Aviv clubs in the EuroLeague together for the first time.

24 In 2025 ALBA Berlin left the EuroLeague system after 24 years in a row and moved to FIBA's Basketball Champions League.

2014 In 2014 AS Monaco were still playing in France's third division. Eleven years later, in 2025, they played in the EuroLeague final.

426 In early 2025 Sergio Llull played his 426th EuroLeague game, the most in the competition's history. Every one of them was for Real Madrid.

2 000 In 2024 Nick Calathes became the first player to reach 2,000 EuroLeague assists. That same season he passed Dimitris Diamantidis as the all-time leader in steals.

10 In November 2014 Andrew Goudelock hit 10 three-pointers for Fenerbahçe against Bayern Munich, a EuroLeague record. Shane Larkin matched it five years later, also against Bayern.

18 762 Halfway through the 2025-26 regular season Crvena zvezda led EuroLeague attendance with 18,762 fans a game. City rivals Partizan were just 23 behind.

2014 During the 2011 NBA lockout Tony Parker played for ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne, and in 2014 he became the club's president.

4 Kyle Hines, a center just 1.98 m tall, won the EuroLeague four times: with Olympiacos in 2012 and 2013 and with CSKA Moscow in 2016 and 2019. He was voted Best Defender three times.

2022 In 2022 Rokas Jokubaitis of Barcelona was named EuroLeague Rising Star, the first Lithuanian to win the award.

2026 In 2026 French club Bourg-en-Bresse won the EuroCup, beating Beşiktaş 2-0 in the final series.

17,1 In 2010 Linas Kleiza of Olympiacos was the EuroLeague's top scorer with 17.1 points a game.

25,1 In 2004 Śląsk Wrocław's Lynn Greer was the EuroLeague's top scorer with 25.1 points a game, the only time the award has gone to a player from a Polish club.

19 By 2026 coaches from Serbia had won Europe's top club title 19 times, nine of them through Željko Obradović.

89:83 The 2002 Final Four was held in Bologna, but the hosts, Kinder, lost the final 89-83 to Panathinaikos. Dejan Bodiroga was named MVP.

Derbis In Greece, Olympiacos against Panathinaikos is known as the 'derby of the eternal enemies'.

41 In January 2013 Bobby Brown scored 41 points for Montepaschi Siena against Fenerbahçe, a EuroLeague record that stood until 2019.

19 In 2015 Crvena zvezda's Stefan Jović handed out 19 assists against Bayern, a EuroLeague record. Three more players later matched it, among them Facundo Campazzo.

11 In 2006 Jeff Trepagnier of Ülker made 11 steals against Partizan. At the time it was a EuroLeague record.

10 In 2001 Croatian center Stojan Vranković blocked 10 shots for PAF Bologna against Cibona. At the time it was a EuroLeague record.

24 In 2007 Antonis Fotsis grabbed 24 rebounds for Dynamo Moscow against Benetton. At the time it was a EuroLeague record.

2022 In February 2022, after Russia invaded Ukraine, the EuroLeague suspended its three Russian clubs: CSKA Moscow, UNICS Kazan and Zenit St Petersburg.

22 In 2022 three-time EuroLeague champion Dejan Bodiroga became president of Euroleague Basketball, as Jordi Bertomeu left after 22 years in charge.

5 000 AS Monaco's home, the Salle Gaston Médecin, is part of the Stade Louis II stadium complex and holds just 5,000 fans.

1985 Joe Barry Carroll, the first pick of the 1980 NBA draft, spent 1984-85 in Milan after a contract dispute with Golden State and won the Italian title with Simac.

2006 Dynamo Moscow won their first European trophy in 2006, beating Aris 73-60 in the ULEB Cup final in Charleroi.

11 Pablo Laso coached Real Madrid for 11 seasons and won two EuroLeagues. In 2022, after he suffered a heart attack, the club let him go, and he soon took over Bayern Munich.

23 In 2025 Sergio Scariolo returned as Real Madrid head coach, 23 years after his first spell at the club ended.

2023 Chus Mateo, Pablo Laso's former assistant, won the EuroLeague with Real Madrid in 2023, his first full season as head coach.

2025 In 2025 Kendrick Nunn of Panathinaikos was both EuroLeague MVP and the league's top scorer.

2 Alexey Shved led the EuroLeague in scoring twice, both times with Khimki, in 2018 and 2021.

2 Keith Langford was the EuroLeague's top scorer twice, with two different clubs: Olimpia Milano in 2014 and UNICS Kazan in 2017.

2016 In 2016 Fenerbahçe became the first Turkish club to play in a EuroLeague final. A year later they lifted the trophy.

2021 In 2021 Olimpia Milano reached the EuroLeague Final Four for the first time since 1992.

2018 In 2018 Istanbul's Darüşşafaka won the EuroCup, beating Lokomotiv-Kuban Krasnodar in the final series.

92:77 In 2011 UNICS Kazan won the EuroCup, beating Cajasol Sevilla 92-77 in the final.

2021 Bayern Munich reached the EuroLeague playoffs for the first time in 2021. They lost the quarter-final series 2-3 to Olimpia Milano.

90:78 In 2005 in Moscow, Maccabi Tel Aviv beat Tau Cerámica 90-78 to win the EuroLeague for the second year in a row.

4 Ettore Messina won four EuroLeague titles with two clubs: Virtus Bologna in 1998 and 2001, and CSKA Moscow in 2006 and 2008.

10 In 2018 Real Madrid won their tenth European title, known in Spain as 'La Décima'.

2010 In 2010 Ricky Rubio won the EuroLeague with Barcelona and was also named the league's Rising Star.

86:81 Anadolu Efes won their first EuroLeague title at the 2021 Final Four in Cologne, beating Barcelona 86-81 in the final.

4 Šarūnas Jasikevičius won the EuroLeague four times as a player, more than any other Lithuanian.

BCN Euroleague Basketball, the company that runs the EuroLeague, has its headquarters in Barcelona.

73:71 Berlin's first Final Four, in 2009, ended with Panathinaikos beating CSKA Moscow 73-71 in the final.

37 Xavi Pascual was only 37 when he coached Barcelona to the 2010 EuroLeague title.

58:57 In Belgrade in 2022 Anadolu Efes defended their EuroLeague title, beating Real Madrid 58-57 in the final.

79:77 At the 2018 Final Four in Belgrade, Šarūnas Jasikevičius's Žalgiris finished third, beating CSKA Moscow 79-77 in the third-place game.

73:67 In 2000 in Thessaloniki, Panathinaikos beat Maccabi Tel Aviv 73-67 for their second European title. It was Željko Obradović's first title with the club, and Željko Rebrača was Final Four MVP.

2016 In 2016 Barcelona's Álex Abrines was named EuroLeague Rising Star. That summer he left for the NBA and the Oklahoma City Thunder.

2 By 2026 three players had been named EuroLeague Rising Star twice: Nikola Mirotić (2011, 2012), Bogdan Bogdanović (2014, 2015) and Luka Dončić (2017, 2018).

2024 The EuroLeague introduced a play-in in the 2023-24 season: the teams finishing seventh to tenth fight for the last two playoff places.

20 The EuroLeague grew from 16 to 18 teams in 2019-20, and in 2025-26 it had 20 clubs for the first time. The regular season grew to 38 rounds.

2014 In the 2014 playoffs Maccabi Tel Aviv knocked out Olimpia Milano, the Final Four hosts. A few weeks later Maccabi won the title in Milan's own arena.

2014 When Maccabi Tel Aviv beat Real Madrid in overtime in the 2014 final in Milan, American guard Tyrese Rice was named Final Four MVP.

18 In 2019 Georgian center Goga Bitadze of Budućnost was named EuroLeague Rising Star. That summer Indiana picked him 18th in the NBA draft.

2008 In 2008 Danilo Gallinari of Olimpia Milano was named EuroLeague Rising Star. That summer the New York Knicks picked him sixth in the NBA draft.

1993 Svetislav Pešić coached Germany to EuroBasket gold in 1993, and ten years later won the EuroLeague with Barcelona, the club's first title.

78:70 In 2011 in Barcelona, Panathinaikos beat Maccabi Tel Aviv 78-70 in the final to win their sixth European title.

23 In 2021 Real Madrid big man Usman Garuba was named EuroLeague Rising Star. That summer the Houston Rockets picked him 23rd in the NBA draft.

2023 In 2023 Partizan Belgrade guard Yam Madar was named EuroLeague Rising Star.

2 Zaragoza hosted two Final Fours, in 1990 and 1995. In 1990 Jugoplastika Split beat Barcelona there to win their second title in a row.

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