 | |
| Season | 2024–25 EuroLeague |
|---|---|
| Tournament details | |
| Arena | Etihad Arena Abu Dhabi,United Arab Emirates |
| Dates | 23–25 May 2025 |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Fenerbahçe Beko (2nd title) |
| Runners-up |  Monaco |
| Third place |  Olympiacos |
| Fourth place | Panathinaikos |
| Awards and statistics | |
| MVP |  Nigel Hayes-Davis |
| Topscorer(s) | Alpha Diallo (41 points) |
←2024 2026 → | |
The2025 EuroLeague Final Four was the concludingEuroLeague Final Four tournament of the2024–25 EuroLeague season, the 68th season ofEurope's premier clubbasketball tournament, and the 25th season since it was first organised byEuroleague Basketball. It was the 38th Final Four of the modern EuroLeague Final Four era (1988–present), and the 40th time overall that the competition has concluded with afinal four format. Euroleague Basketball announced that the Final Four would be played at theEtihad Arena inAbu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on 23–25 May 2025, marking the first time in history that the EuroLeague's Final Four was held outside of Europe in the competition's history since2004.[1]
Turkish clubFenerbahçe Beko won its 2nd title, after beating French clubMonaco in the championship game.[2] In the semi-final round, Fenerbahçe defeated Greek clubPanathinaikos B.C. and Monaco defeated Greek clubOlympiacos B.C. Fenerbahçe'sNigel Hayes-Davis was awarded theEuroLeague Final Four MVP.
On 28 January 2025, theEuroLeague, theAbu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism, andEtihad Arena reached an agreement that the Final Four would be played at Etihad Arena inAbu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on 23–25 May 2025,[3][1] marking the first time the event would take place outside of Europe in the competition's history in 21 years. The venue has a basketball capacity of 12,000.[1] Three-timeEuroLeague Final Four MVP and formerNBA playerToni Kukoč was involved in marketing the tournament in Abu Dhabi.[4] Thousands ofTurkish andGreek basketballfans traveled to Abu Dhabi out of personal expense to cheer on their favorite teams.[5]
Critics argued that the move prioritized financial gains over fan engagement.Abu Dhabi reportedly paid €50 million to host the event, a sum that helped trigger a contract extension between EuroLeague andIMG until 2036.[6] Former EuroLeague CEOJordi Bertomeu acknowledged the decision as "risky" emphasizing the importance of fan experience.[7] Journalist Faustino Sáez ofCadena SER described the move as emblematic of sports becoming "purely a business that overlooks emotions", undermining the competition's foundations.[8]
Fans also faced logistical challenges due to the distance and cost of traveling to Abu Dhabi. The city's limited public transport and higher expenses compared to European hosts like Belgrade or Barcelona were highlighted as deterrents.[9] Technical issues during ticket sales further frustrated supporters, with many unable to purchase tickets due to platform errors.[10] To boost attendance, organizers resorted to incentives like daily car raffles and free tickets.[11] The venue choice also raised questions about the EuroLeague's European identity. With no EuroLeague teams based in the Middle East, critics viewed the move as brand dilution.[12] OnlyReal Madrid andOlympiacos openly opposed the decision, expressing concerns about the maturity of the Arabian market and the potential alienation of core European fans.[13] Others, includingŽalgiris coachAndrea Trinchieri, saw potential benefits in expanding basketball's reach, the consensus among critics was that the move compromised the competition's integrity and accessibility in favor of commercial interests.[9]
| Team | Qualified date | Participations (bold indicates winners) |
|---|---|---|
| Olympiacos | 1 May 2025[14] | 13 (1994,1995,1997,1999,2009,2010,2012,2013,2015,2017,2022,2023,2024) |
| Monaco | 6 May 2025[15] | 1 (2023) |
| Fenerbahçe Beko | 29 April 2025[16] | 6 (2015,2016,2017,2018,2019,2024) |
| Panathinaikos AKTOR | 6 May 2025[17] | 12 (1994,1995,1996,2000,2001,2002,2005,2007,2009,2011,2012,2024) |
| Semifinals | Championship game | |||||
| 23 May | ||||||
| Olympiacos | 68 | |||||
| 25 May | ||||||
| Monaco | 78 | |||||
| Monaco | 70 | |||||
| 23 May | ||||||
| Fenerbahçe Beko | 81 | |||||
| Fenerbahçe Beko | 82 | |||||
| Panathinaikos AKTOR | 76 | |||||
| Third place game | ||||||
| 25 May | ||||||
| Olympiacos | 97 | |||||
| Panathinaikos AKTOR | 93 | |||||
vMonaco| 23 May 2025 | Olympiacos | 68–78 | Monaco | Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20:00 (CEST) | Scoring by quarter: 17–17, 15–18, 19–22, 17–21 | ||||
| Pts:Fournier 31 Rebs:Vezenkov 8 Asts:three players 2 PIR: Fournier 27 | Boxscore | Pts:Diallo 22 Rebs:James 7 Asts: James 7 PIR: James 29 | Arena:Etihad Arena Attendance: 10,218 Referees:Ilija Belošević, Emilio Pérez, Milan Nedović | ||
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Olympiacos'Evan Fournier scored a EuroLeague career-high 31 points, but his team still lost toMonaco 78–68.[18][19]Nigel Williams-Goss was the only other Olympiacos player to reach double figures in scoring, with 12 points.Sasha Vezenkov had a difficult game offensively, with only 7 points and 8 rebounds; he also missed all six of histhree-point field goal attempts. Aside from Fournier, Olympiacos was 1 of 19 on three-pointers.[18] Monaco was ahead for most of the game,[18][19] led by the scoring ofMike James andAlpha Diallo, with 22 and 17 points respectively.[18] The game began with Olympiaco'sdefense locking down Monaco in the first three minutes; both team's defenses maintained an advantage over theoffenses throughout the first quarter, with the score tied at 17 apiece when it concluded. Monaco scored the first four points of the second quarter, but Olympiacos' head coachGeorgios Bartzokas'small ball lineup of threeguards responded with their own 6–0 run to take the lead.Nikola Milutinov of Olympiacos contributed with some help onoffense andrebounding, but this was not enough compared to his team's shooting woes combined with Monaco'sfast break, as Monaco went ahead by five (31–26).[20]
Olympiacos enteredhalftime just 2 of 12 onthree pointers, with sevenassists and eightturnovers, all far worse than their typical performance.[20] Monaco increased their lead throughout the second half by taking advantage of Olympiacos' low shooting percentage and questionable decisions.[18] Several key baskets to open the third quarter from Monaco'sDaniel Theis, Diallo, andJaron Blossomgame pushed their lead to twelve, but Olympiacos' Fournier answered with his own scoring surge to cut Monaco's lead down to four (55–51). Fournier alone had trouble keeping up, as he received little scoring help from teammates in the fourth quarter, while Monaco expanded their lead into double digits highlighted byMike James dishing out crowd-pleasingassists.[20] With two minutes remaining and his team down by seven, Fournier committed a crucialturnover, which Monaco converted into abasket to increase their lead to nine (74–65) with 79 seconds left.[20] As a result of the victory, Monaco became the first French team in 32 years to play in the final of the European highest level league, and only the second team to reach the stage, followingLimoges CSP in the1992–93 FIBA European League.[21]
vPanathinaikos AKTOR| 23 May 2025 | Fenerbahçe Beko | 82–76 | Panathinaikos AKTOR | Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates | |
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| 17:00 (CEST) | Scoring by quarter:22–14, 16–19,17–15, 27–28 | ||||
| Pts:Hall 18 Rebs:Melli 6 Asts:Hayes-Davis,Baldwin 5 PIR: Hall 18 | Boxscore | Pts:Osman 22 Rebs: Osman 6 Asts:Grant 4 PIR: Grant 17 | Arena:Etihad Arena Attendance: 10,218 Referees:Carlos Peruga,Robert Lottermoser,Mehdi Difallah | ||
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Fenerbahçe won 82–76 overPanathinaikos, who lacked consistency on bothoffense anddefense, and struggled with little to no scoring from several key players:Juancho Hernangómez (5 points),Ömer Yurtseven (2),Kostas Sloukas (2), andDinos Mitoglou (0). For offensive help, they relied onCedi Osman andJerian Grant, who scored 22 and 15 points respectively, though these two players alone had difficulty establishing momentum for the team. Fenerbahçe won the game with proficientthree point shooting and timely scoring runs, as well as successfully executing plays duringclutch moments. Panathinaikos'guards being outmatched by Fenerbahçe's was another deciding factor in the game's outcome.[22]
Panathinaikos had five first-quarterturnovers, which gave Fenerbahçe the chance to grab an early lead.[22] Panathinaikos continued to be behind for the majority of the first half, but were able to trim the lead down to five byhalftime.[23] A turning point came whenKendrick Nunn of Panathinaikos, the game's top scorer at the time with 19 points,fouled out with 5:45 remaining; his consistent scoring output had kept the game close. Without their main scoring threat, Panathinaikos was subsequently unable to overcome Fenerbahçe's high-percentagethree-point shooting, which had persisted all game long.Clutch perimeter shots fromDevon Hall andErrick McCollum following Nunn's disqualification maintained the lead for Fenerbahçe until game's end.[22] The game marked the return ofMathias Lessort, the Panathinaikoscenter who had sat out the preceding 150 days due to abroken left leg;[23][24] he had 14 minutes of action and scored seven points.[22]
vPanathinaikos| 25 May 2025 | Olympiacos | 97–93 | Panathinaikos | Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates | |
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| 16:00 (CEST) | Scoring by quarter:33–20, 24–26, 18–18, 22–29 | ||||
| Pts:Peters 32 Rebs: Peters 7 Asts:Vildoza 9 PIR: Peters 31 | Boxscore | Pts:Yurtseven 23 Rebs: Yurtseven 8 Asts:Brown 12 PIR: Yurtseven 25 | Arena:Etihad Arena Referees: Carmelo Paternicò,Ilija Belošević, Artūras Šukys | ||
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Thethird place game was contested betweentwo Greek rivals, withOlympiacos defeatingPanathinaikos 97–93.Fans of the two clubs clashed before the game, though these incidents were quelled bysecurity forces prior to the openingtip-off.[25][26] In spite of this, the gameplay on the court was considered to have a "friendlyexhibition feel",[27] with softdefense, minimal ball pressure, and fewfouls. Olympiacos took the early lead by making several open shots from long range, and enjoyed leads of up to 15 points on two different occasions. Panathinaikos had to rely on theirbench (led byAlexandros Samodurov) to score enough to keep the game close.[27]
Panathinaikos was able to reduce the lead in the final two minutes, but consistentfree throw shooting fromGiannoulis Larentzakis andAlec Peters helped clinch the victory for Olympiacos.[27] Olympiacos was ahead the entire game; Peters led all scorers with 32 points, tying a tournament record.[26] Olympiacos displayed proficient ball movement andoffensive efficiency with 25assists in the first 25 minutes.[27] By game's end, they set the Final Four single-game team record for most assists with 34, led byLuca Vildoza with nine andThomas Walkup with eight; this broke the previous high of 31 assists accomplished byMaccabi Tel Aviv in the2004 championship game.[28]
vFenerbahçe| 25 May 2025 | Monaco | 70–81 | Fenerbahçe | Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates | |
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| 19:00 (CEST) | Scoring by quarter:20–18, 13–17, 18–19, 19–27 | ||||
| Pts:Diallo 19 Rebs:Theis 8 Asts:Okobo 5 PIR: Diallo 13 | Pts: Hayes-Davis 23 Rebs: Hayes-Davis 9 Asts: Hall Baldwin 3 PIR: Hayes-Davis 30 | Arena:Etihad Arena Referees: Carlos Peruga, Robert Lottermoser, Milan Nedović | |||
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Turkish squadFenerbahçe claimed the championship by defeating French teamMonaco 81–70. The title game began with intensedefense from both teams, though Monaco hit several buckets (led byMike James) to build early leads of 13–4 and 16–8.[29][30] Production from the Fenerbahçebench byWade Baldwin,Tarik Biberović, andNicolò Melli reduced this gap down to a two-point 20–18 lead for Monaco by first quarter's end.[31][30] Baldwin opened the second quarter's scoring with athree pointer to put Fenerbahçe ahead by one, but Monaco responded with a 7–0 run sparked byAlpha Diallo, compelling Fenerbahçe to call atimeout; when play resumed, Diallo answered with another basket, this one a deep three-pointer to put Monaco ahead by nine, 32–23.[30] In response,Devon Hall led Fenerbahçe offensively on a 12–1 run to close out the first half while thedefense stepped up, putting the team ahead 35–33 athalftime.[32][30][29]
Monaco'soffensive rebounding andfree throw opportunities kept the game close throughout the third quarter, with the lead changing back and forth on multiple occasions;[30] keythree-pointers towards the end of the quarter byMarko Gudurić andNigel Hayes-Davis put Fenerbahçe up 54–51 at the break.[29] Thedefenses succeeded at the beginning of the fourth quarter, but then a Baldwinthree-pointer andErrick McCollumthree-point play concluded an 11–0 run that gave Fenerbahçe the game's first double-digit lead.[33] Additionalclutch offensive performances from Hayes-Davis and Hall increased and preserved Fenerbahçe's lead which they did not relinquish.[31]
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Hayes-Davis was awarded theFinal Four MVP. In the championship game, he did not shoot well, making only 4 of 13field goal attempts, but went a perfect 14 of 14 from thefree throw line. He was the game's leadingscorer andrebounder, with 23 points and nine rebounds respectively, and also had twosteals, ablock, and anassist.[34] Monacohead coachVassilis Spanoulis said, "We didn't distribute the ball properly. They hit some important shots, we played good defense, but their offense was better."[35] This was the second EuroLeague championship for Fenerbahçe, following their2017 title, and the first forŠarūnas Jasikevičius as a head coach.[31] The team celebrated the title with an open-bus parade through Istanbul on May 27.[36]
