TheEuroLeague, officially theTurkish Airlines EuroLeague, is a European men's professionalbasketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier men's league in Europe.[3][4] The league consists of 18 teams, of which 16 are given long-term licences and wild cards,[5] making the league asemi-closed league.[6][7] The league was first organized byFIBA in 1958, subsequently byULEB in 2000 and then solely byEuroleague Basketball.
The competition was introduced in 1958 as theFIBA European Champions Cup (renamed theFIBA EuroLeague in 1996), which operated under FIBA's umbrella until Euroleague Basketball was created for the 2000–01 season. The FIBA European Champions Cup and the EuroLeague are considered to be the same competition, with the change of name being simply a re-branding.
The EuroLeague is one of the most popular indoor sports leagues in the world, with anaverage attendance of 10,383 for league matches in the2023–24 season. This was the fifth-highest of any professional indoor sports league in the world (the highest outside the United States), and the second-highest of any professional basketball league in the world, only behind theNational Basketball Association (NBA).
The EuroLeague title has been won by 22 clubs, 14 of which have won it more than once. Themost successful club in the competition isReal Madrid, with 11 titles.
The FIBA European Champions Cup was originally established byFIBA and it operated from 1958 until the summer of 2000, concluding with the1999–00 season.Euroleague Basketball was created after the end of the FIBA European Champions Cup.
FIBA had previously used the flying pigeon name for the competition since 1996 but had never trademarked the name. As FIBA had nolegal recourse on the usage of the name, it started a new league named theFIBA SuproLeague. The following 2000–2001 season started with two top European professional club basketball competitions: FIBA SuproLeague (renamed from FIBA EuroLeague) and Euroleague.
In May 2001, Europe had two continental champions, Maccabi of the FIBA SuproLeague and Kinder Bologna of the Euroleague. Both organizations realized the need to come up with a unified competition and Euroleague Basketball negotiated terms and dictated proceedings which FIBA agreed to their terms. As a result, European club competition was fully integrated under Euroleague Basketball's umbrella and teams that competed in the FIBA SuproLeague during the 2000–01 season joined it as well.
The authority in European professional basketball was divided over club-country lines. FIBA stayed in charge of national team competitions (like theFIBA EuroBasket, theFIBA World Cup, and theSummer Olympics), while Euroleague Basketball took over the European professional club competitions. From that point on, FIBA'sKorać Cup andSaporta Cup competitions lasted one more season and then Euroleague Basketball launched the ULEB Cup, now known as theEuroCup.
In November 2015,Euroleague Basketball andIMG agreed on a 10-year joint venture. Both Euroleague Basketball and IMG will manage the commercial operation, and the management of all global rights covering both media and marketing.[10] The deal was worth €630 million guaranteed over 10 years, with projected revenues reaching €900 million.[11] Along with the deal the league changed into a true league format, with 16 teams playing each other team in the regular season followed by the playoffs. The A-licensed clubs were assured of participation for the following ten years in the new format.After the new format of the EuroLeague and FIBA implementing national team windows, aconflict between the two organizations emerged. EuroLeague has been criticised by FIBA as well as several national federations for creating a 'closed league' and ignoring the principle ofmeritocracy. In July 2019, EuroLeague announced that from the 2019–20 season there will be no direct access to the league through domestic leagues anymore.[12]
On 26 July 2010,Turkish Airlines and Euroleague Basketball announced a €15 million strategic agreement to sponsor the top European basketball competition across the globe. According to the agreement, starting with the 2010–11 season, the top European competition would be named Turkish Airlines Euroleague Basketball. Similarly, theEuroLeague Final Four would be named the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four, whereby the new league title would appear in all media accordingly. This title partnership was set to run for five seasons, with the option of extending it to an additional five.[13][14] On 23 October 2013, Turkish Airlines and Euroleague Basketball agreed to extend their partnership, up until 2020.[15]
FIBA European Champions Cup (1987–88 to1990–91): The champions of European national domestic leagues, competing against each other, played in a tournament system. The league culminated with aFinal Four.
FIBA European League (1991–92 to1995–96): The champions of the European national domestic leagues, the then current European League title holders, along with some of the other biggest teams from the most important national domestic leagues, played in a tournament system. The league culminated with a Final Four.
FIBA EuroLeague (1996–97 to1999–00): The champions of the best European national domestic leagues, along with some of the other biggest teams from the most important national domestic leagues, played in a tournament system. The league culminated with a Final Four.
*Euroleague (2000–01): Some of the European national domestic league champions, and some of the runners-up from various national domestic leagues, played in a tournament system. The league culminated witha best of 5 playoff finals.
*FIBA SuproLeague (2000–01): Some of the European national domestic league champions, and some of the runners-up from various national domestic leagues, played in a tournament system. The league culminated with aFinal Four.
Euroleague (2001–02 to2015–16): The champions of the best European national domestic leagues, along with some of the other biggest teams from the most important national domestic leagues, played in a tournament system. The league culminated with a Final Four.
EuroLeague (2016–17 to present): The champions of the best European national domestic leagues, along with some of the other biggest teams from the most important national domestic leagues, playing in a true European-wide league system format. The league culminates with aFinal Four.
Starting with the2016–17 season, the EuroLeague is made up of 18 teams, with each playing every other team twice (once at home and once away) in adouble round robin leagueregular season, for a total of 34 games played by each team.[citation needed]
The top eight placed teams at the end of the regular season advance toplayoffs, each playing a five-gameplayoff series against a single opponent. The regular season standings are used to determine which teams play each other, and in each pairing the higher placed team has home-court advantage in the series, playing three of the five games at home. The winners of each of the four playoff series advance to theFinal Four, held at a predetermined site. The Final Four features two semi-finals, a third place game, and thechampionship game, all on the same weekend.[citation needed]
Each team plays a maximum 41 games per season: 34 in the regular season, a maximum of 5 during the playoffs, and 2 in the Final Four.[citation needed]
Currently (and since the suspension of Russian teams because of theRussian invasion of Ukraine[17]), 12 out of the 18 EuroLeague places are held by licensed clubs that have long-term licenses withEuroleague Basketball, and are members of the Shareholders Executive Board. These twelve licensed clubs are:
The remaining six EuroLeague places are held by associated clubs that have annual licences, of which one has a two-yearwild card, three have one-year wild-cards and two are the finalists of the previous season's2nd-tier European competition, theEuroCup. From the 2020–21 season, however, if the better of the two teams from the EuroCup makes it to the playoffs, it keeps the place for the following year.[18]
Fenerbahçe are the only team which stayed undefeated at home after a 30-game regular season and secured the best record after a regular season (25–5) under the new format (2016–17 season to present). They are also the earliest EuroLeague Playoffs qualifiers ever in the modern EuroLeague era.[44]
In a small area of less than 40 km2 (25 mi2), north ofMilan, there are 3 clubs that have won a total of 10 FIBA European Champions' Cups, and played in a total of 16 finals:Pallacanestro Varese (5),Olimpia Milano (3) andCantù (2).
The most points ever scored in a single game by an individual in the league's overall history (since 1958), is 99 points, byRadivoj Korać ofOKK Beograd, on 14 January 1965, during the1964–65 season, in a game againstAlvik.[46][47]
^Season was curtailed due to theCOVID-19 pandemic. Four games, for different reasons, were played under closed doors and are not included in this table.
Note: Match betweenPanathinaikos andBarcelona on 18 April 2013, atOAKA Sports Center, was supposedly watched by about 30,000 spectators.[50] However, it is not included in the table as the official data is 18,300.[51]
As of 4/4/2023 Partizan holds 10 games in top 10 most attended games.[citation needed]
The EuroLeague season is broadcast on television, and can be seen in up to 201 countries and territories.[52] It can be seen by up to 245 million (800 million via satellite) households weekly in China.[53]
EuroLeague basketball has been televised in the United States through theESPN family of networks since 2023, starting with the playoffs of the 2022-2023 season.[54] It was also televised in the United States and Canada onNBA TV and available online throughESPN3 (in English) andESPN Deportes (in Spanish) until the 2017–2018 season. Starting with the 2017-2018 Final Four playoffs, and continuing into the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 seasons, the coverage moved toFloSports,[55] before returning later to the ESPN networks.
